This hike is part of the Adventure Report Ottawa Hiking Challenge! If you hike this trail, you’re officially working on the Views Edition!

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Adventure Report Ottawa Hiking Challenge Route Specification: Hike all three loops at Rock Dunder- the Morton Bay Loop, the Cabin Trail Loop, and the Summit Loop.

The Rock Dunder Trails are some of the best trails that we’ve been on in the Ottawa area. We went on the long weekend at the beginning of September, but I have no doubt this trail would be stunning in the fall as well. There are some really exceptional views along this 5.25 kilometre hike!

The Rock Dunder Trail is open from sunrise to sunset, May 15th to November 15th. They’re on the Rock Dunder Nature Reserve, which is owned and managed by the Rideau Waterway Land Trust. Dogs are welcome.

Before I tell you how to get there, I really want you to read about Leave No Trace principles. A place as beautiful as Rock Dunder, so close to Ottawa AND Kingston, runs the risk of being instagrammed to death. I think often, people want to help take care of the environment around them, but they’re just so new to hiking they’re not sure how. That’s when you get people stepping off the trail to get a really nice picture (and trampling new growth in the process), or leaving snacks behind thinking they’ll just decompose.

Getting There

The Rock Dunder Trails are an hour and a half from Ottawa. There’s not too much around the nature reserve itself, but a trip out there makes for a fun day trip. You could easily stop for lunch and shopping in Smiths Falls or Perth on your way. You can use these coordinates to get there: 44.532009, -76.203369.

Turning into the nature preserve, there was a sign right away announcing that we had arrived. The road leading to the trailhead was gravel, and really well maintained.

We stopped and paid our daily parking fee to a volunteer there. It’s $10 to park for the day, and we filled out a short form that we left on our dash when we parked. The volunteer said they or someone else was there every day. She also gave us a map of the area.

Driving a very short distance beyond where we had paid, there were two small parking lots. Each had parking spots for about fifteen cars. We pulled into the parking lot to our left.

The Trailhead

The trailhead from the parking lot we were in had a big map up on a bulletin board, beside two lovely benches.

Less than 100 metres down the trail there was an outhouse. After a quick visit, we set off in earnest. The trail was really wide and flat to start with.

According to the map, there are technically three trails on the reserve. There should probably only be two, because the Cabin Trail and the Summit Loop trail come together to form one big loop, and then the Morton Bay Loop forms its own little loop off of the Cabin Trail.

We wanted to save the best for last (the Rock Dunder Lookout), so we decided we would complete the loop counter clockwise. We also wanted to get the longest hike possible in, so we planned to add on the Morton Bay Loop.

Trail Markers and the Morton Bay Loop

We had been hiking for only 300 metres when we came to the split for the Morton Bay Loop. It was well signed, and so we turned confidently to our right. When we had hiked 0.7 kilometres, there was another split in the trail, but this time the split to our right was blocked off with logs. The trailmarkers had been really well placed so far, and it was no exception at this junction. The Rock Dunder Trails are marked by yellow arrows that point you in the direction you should be going. We had already become accustomed to following these markers, so even though we weren’t 100% sure which direction to take by looking at the trail, we spotted a trail marker and set off to our left, in the direction it pointed us to.

There were a couple of good lookouts on the Morton Bay Loop. We stopped at the first one after hiking only 1 kilometre. There was no sign pointing us to the lookout, we just happened to notice a little trail veering off from the main trail towards Whitefish Lake. We decided to explore it and were rewarded with a beautiful, brand new bench overlooking a channel at the east end of the lake.

Hiking another 200 metres, we found ourselves on top of a lovely rock outcropping, with views of the lake where it started to widen.

The Morton Bay Loop was slightly less well travelled than the trail before it, but still well-worn into the dirt, and very easy to follow. There were a few little ups and downs, but so far, the hiking had been fairly easy. Don’t let me give you the wrong idea though! Proper clothing and gear is still a good idea on this trail. You are, after all, in the middle of the woods- it’s not a walk downtown.

This section of the trail also had some very cool trees- some of the shapes we saw were really unique.

The Cabin Trail

We reached the junction where we would rejoin the Cabin Trail after hiking for 1.8 kilometres. Once again, it was very well marked, and we headed off to our right to get some more views!

First though, we were lucky enough to check out two old Boy Scout Cabins. The first one we came across right after we had joined the trail. Both cabins were open, and so we popped inside for a look. The first cabin had obviously been there for some time, and wasn’t in great shape, but I could totally picture a little group of Scouts having a great time camping out there.

Not too long after, we came across another bench with a nice view of the lake. We didn’t stop at this one though, and there was another one at the 2.2 kilometre mark that we also didn’t stop at.

After hiking about 2.3 kilometres, we found ourselves hiking along a ridge over the lakeshore. While the trail was still wide with fairly good footing, this was definitely an area that I wouldn’t want to fall at. And if I had young kids with me, I would want to make sure they stayed close, just in case!

We came across the second cabin after hiking for 2.7 kilometres. It was in much rougher shape than the first, mostly because people had gone in and vandalized the inside. Delightful.

The Lookout

Right past the second cabin, things started to go uphill a little more steeply. I was definitely huffing and puffing by the time we reached the top of the slope, because it went on for about half a kilometre!

When we had hiked about 3 kilometres, we left the forest and found ourselves on an expanse of open rock face. Because there were no trees on this section of the trail, the rock face itself was marked with arrows to help guide our way. We followed faded red arrows to the summit.

It was super easy to tell we’d arrived at the summit, because there was a ton of people there. And who could blame them? The views over Morton Bay were pretty phenomenal. And the breeze coming off the water felt fantastic! We hung around for a bit, taking in the land and water, and enjoying watching people take pictures of themselves and each other.

Getting Back

After a little while, we decided to head back. In order to complete the loop, we followed the blue arrows painted onto the rock surface. Soon enough, this brought us back into the forest.

There were no great views on this section of the trail, and we headed downhill to the end of it. It was still a really nice section of trail though, and we enjoyed walking through the forest and across a few small rock faces.

Nearing the end of the trail, there were quite a few small boardwalks built into the path. I’m guessing this section might get very wet and muddy in the spring. We passed a big cabin off the trail to our right, and hiked down one final small hill, then rejoined the original path we had set out on.

All in all, we had hiked a total of 5.25 kilometres. We were able to cover that distance in just under two and a half hours. It could certainly be done more quickly, but there was a lot to check out along the way!

Thoughts on the Rock Dunder Trails

I really loved the Rock Dunder Trail. The views alone made it worth the trip. But we also really loved the Morton Bay Loop because of how unique some of the trees were.

I think the Rock Dunder Trail is perfect for just about anyone, but is just challenging enough that you feel like you’re really getting out there.

You could always choose not to complete the Morton Bay Loop, if you wanted a hike that was a little bit shorter. Or, you could hike directly out to the main lookout and then hike back. Since the lookout is 2.25 kilometres one way on the south side of the trail, your hike wouldn’t be that much shorter though- and then you’d miss all the good stuff on the north side! Whatever you decide to do, you should definitely go check it out. I’m guessing it would be absolutely stunning there in the fall. Maybe we’ll go again!

I hope this trip report has enough info to get you there too. Let me know in the comments, or share and tag a friend to start planning your next adventure!

Map and Elevation Gain

Whenever I’m hiking somewhere new, I tend to wonder about who was on, and who took care of that land before me. I’ve enjoyed using this website as a place to start learning more about the indigenous people whose land I’m on: Native-land.ca.

Gear We Brought

Map

Wool Socks

Hiking Boots

Hiking Capris/Pants

Light Shirts

Hiking Poles

Coghlan’s Bear Bell

Hydration Pack (with 2 litre bladder)

Nalgene 32 Ounce Bottle

Bug Lotion

Sunscreen

Sunglasses

Cell Phones

Snacks

First Aid Kit (with water purification tabs and Tick Removal Tool)

Toilet Paper

Plastic Bag (to pack out garbage)

Gear We Forgot