Trail 73 was, hands down, the most challenging snowshoe trail I’ve ever done in Gatineau Park. Don’t get me wrong, it was absolutely stunning in places. But, writing this the day after, it’s really how challenging it was that’s sticking with me right now.

A friend and I had been thinking about this trail almost all winter. We had tackled some of the shorter trails earlier in the season, and knew that Trail 73 is only open during the winter. When the new snow started to fall mid-March, we knew it was time to get out there.

We headed out on a beautiful Saturday morning. Temperatures were predicted to be between -8°C and -16°C, which really isn’t all that bad for snowshoeing.

Getting There

The trailhead for Trail 73 started right of off parking lot 19. You can use these coordinates to get there: 45.624585, -76.010711. Every time I have driven down Chemin du Lac Philippe, it’s always been really well maintained, and the parking lot is always plowed.

It was super crowded when we arrived. P19 is the parking lot for a lot of different trails in the area (like Trail 74 and Trails 50 to 55), and there were a lot of people out wanting to enjoy the great winter weather while it lasted.

We drove up to the aid station to pick up a map to take with us. To get to the aid station, we turned right when we reached the parking lot, and drove to the buildings on top of the hill.

After a quick break at the outhouse beside the parking lot, we paid our trail fees at the trailhead. We made sure to take our trail passes with us. Trail fees can only be paid in cash, but at the back of the parking lot there’s a small cabin where an attendant can make change for you. The fee to access the trails is $8.00 per person, although there are some exceptions, like only $6.00 for students.

The Route

After strapping on our snowshoes, we were all set. Trail 73 shares a trailhead with Trail 50, at the back of the parking lot. Trail 50 is a cross country ski trail. To start, we set off along the snowmobile track that’s to the side of Trail 50. We didn’t want to mess up the ski tracks by walking on them. We only had to follow Trail 50 for about 200 metres, and then we came to a sign letting us know that trail 73 branched off into the forest to our left.

And now, the challenge began. We had a few hills to conquer within the first kilometre, which got us warmed up quickly. Before we had even reached the split in the trail, at 1.1 kilometres, we had started unzipping our jackets.

At the split, we debated whether we should turn left or right. We chose to turn left, in order to complete the loop clockwise. THIS WAS ABSOLUTELY THE RIGHT CHOICE. At least in my mind. Doing it the other way would have been far more challenging, and we found it challenging enough.

At the time though, we chose to head left because we knew that section of the trail took us further away from the lake, and we thought we’d end up with nicer views of the lake at the end of our trip this way.

Just after the split, we caught a few nice glimpses of Lac Philippe, but then the trail took us deeper into the forest and away from the lake.

Uphill, Both Ways

Carrying on through the forest, we continued to head uphill. There were short breaks after each hill, when we would get to go downhill for a little bit. But for the most part, we were headed uphill for the first 3.8 kilometres of the hike. See the elevation chart at the end of this report for a better idea. It turns out, this first part wasn’t even the hardest part!

When we had been hiking for 2.8 kilometres, we came across a fire pit with two benches alongside it. It would have made a nice spot for lunch, but we were early into our hike and wanted to keep going for a bit.

After 3.8 kilometres, we had a beautiful downhill section. It was just long enough to trick us into thinking things might get easier. Spoiler alert: They didn’t. Not yet. But, we did start to get some nice views of Lac Philippe back, and not long after we stopped for a snack at a beautiful lookout spot.

Around the 5 kilometre mark, we reached a second fire pit. This one had two benches as well, and wood stacked up nearby. It would have made a great spot to stop and rest, if we had been completing the loop counter clockwise. There were also some neat old ruins nearby that looked like they had been someone’s house or cabin at one point.

The Southern Shore of Lac Philippe

After hiking for 5.6 kilometres, we reached the south side of the lake, and we were sure we’d be heading back in no time!

We crossed over Trail 50 again, and set off on Trail 54, which Trail 73 follows for a little over a kilometre. Trail 54 is a backcountry ski trail, and I have to say, with the hill we were hiking up, there’s no way you’d ever catch me skiing this thing. But that’s just me.

We came across a split in the trail that (during the summer) could have taken us to the lusk caves, and carried on until we had hiked 7.6 kilometres and reached another split in the trail. Here, we turned right to stay on Trail 73. Trail 54 continued straight ahead of us, but finally, we were headed back!

From kilometre six to kilometre eight we had been hiking steadily uphill, and had gained about 100 feet of elevation. We were starting to feel tired, and we knew we had to stop and eat lunch soon. We hadn’t really seen anywhere to stop since the last fire pit, and we were hopeful we’d be reaching the beaches soon.

Lunch- Finally Somewhere to Sit!

The last two kilometres before we reached the shoreline of Lac Philippe were downhill, thank goodness! After hiking for a total of 10 kilometres, we crossed back over Trail 50. Then, we found ourselves by the shoreline once again. We decided to carry on for a bit because there wasn’t really anywhere nice to sit. We walked right along the shoreline on a lovely ridge until we came to Parent Beach.

Having hiked about eleven kilometres in total, we were absolutely stoked to see a covered veranda with picnic tables underneath it, and we happily sat down to eat lunch. There was also a fire pit in this section, but we were feeling so tired that we didn’t want to bother cleaning off the benches. The picnic tables served us just fine!

The Last Few Kilometres

After a good lunch, we continued on along the shore of Lac Philippe. We walked along Parent Beach, and then got onto a section of the trail that was surrounded by campsites. I had wondered before why this trail was only open in the winter, but seeing these sites it made sense. I’m not sure that I would want hundreds of people hiking by my campsite every day.

After hiking through the campground, we reached Breton Beach. There had been lovely views of the lake the whole length of the trail from Parent Beach onward, and Breton Beach was no exception.

Shortly after Breton Beach (about 300 metres), we stumbled across a split in the trail that we hadn’t anticipated. We had thought our only option was to head back towards where the trail had originally split. But, there was a little sign on one of the trees tempting us to turn left and rejoin Trail 50 in order to get back to P19. If we had gone down the split to the right, it would have taken us (likely) about 500 metres to the original split in the trail.

We were SO TIRED at this point. Having hiked for about 12.6 kilometres so far, the thought of any more hills was, frankly, terrifying.

We quickly opted to take the easy way out, and headed merrily towards Trail 50, which I knew from previous experience would be really easy hiking all the way back to the parking lot. From the split, we only had to hike another 300 metres before rejoining Trail 50 on Chemin du Lac Philippe.

Just under a kilometre later, we were back at the parking lot. We were SO glad to see it, and totally content to sit down in our warm, comfy car.

Final Thoughts

All together, we had hiked 13.7 kilometres on Trail 73. Gatineau Park’s map has it listed as 12.8 kilometres, but we somehow found an extra one to add on! We were hiking for a total time of four and a half hours, but that included our lunch breaks, and other short breaks. We actually saw someone trail running this trail while we were out, and we were in AWE.

Despite it’s challenges, Trail 73 really is quite beautiful. It also has enough variation when it comes to the terrain to keep it interesting. I cannot tell you how deadly the hills feel when you’re hiking it clockwise, but there’s no way I would do it the other way. Ending off our hike with flatter terrain, AND with the option to take the easy way home? It’s the only way to go, in my opinion.

Trail 73 is absolutely worth the effort. But if you’re thinking of doing it, make sure you’ve gotten some good winter hikes under your belt before heading out on this one. It’s long, it’s challenging, and it’s not for those who are just starting out snowshoeing.

Map and Elevation Gain

Gear I Brought