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THE PARK:
MacKenzie King, longest governing
Prime Minister in Canada, first visited the Gatineau Hills in
1900 and bought a small piece of land on Kingsmere Lake. Here
he would entertain guests such as Winston Churchill and Charles
Lindbergh, showing off antiquities he placed in his magnificent
gardens.
King left the property to Canada after his death in 1950 and
it spurred
additional acquisitions that built the park to more than 200
square miles.
WALKS:
Much of the more than 100 miles of
canine hiking is easily reached in the point of this giant wedge
of a park near Ottawa. A good place to start is the MacKenzie
King Estate where bucolic paths dip into mature woodlands to
visit a small waterfall. Also in the southern part of the park
is Lauriault Falls and a pleasant access trail less than two
miles long.
Another easy exploration is on Champkin Mountain where a short,
heavily-wooded trail bursts out to an observation platform at
the edge
of the Eardley Escarpment overlooking the Ottawa River Valley.
The cliffs are more than 1000 feet above the valley floor and
a hot, dry micro-climate hosts 61 endangered plants in the thick
understory of the woods. The stands of red
cedar are Quebec's finest.
More spirited canine hiking can be found on the Escarpment, including
the challenging 5-mile Wolf Trail. Glaciers gripped this
land 10,000 years
ago and shaped the rocky landscape.
NOTE
All canine hiking at Gatineau must
be day-hiking - dogs are not allowed
in the campgrounds. This makes expeditions deep into the Laurentian
Mountains problematic. Dogs are also prohibited atbeaches, picnic
areas and Pink Lake, King Mountain or Luskville trails.
DIRECTIONS
The park blankets the area north
of Hull and Highways 5, 105, 148 and 366 all lead to Gatineau.
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