Forêt-la-Blanche Ecological Reserve- An Easy 3.7 Km. Hike in Outaouais

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

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Adventure Report Ottawa Hiking Challenge Route Specification: Hike Trails #3, #4, and #5.

We’ve been wandering around Quebec a little more lately, looking for new trails. We’ve hiked almost all the trails in Ottawa, and now it’s time to branch out! Fortunately for us, our neighbours to the north have tons of trails for us to visit. I recently headed out to Forêt-la-Banche Ecological Reserve with a friend, and the baby. By the way, can someone let me know when I need to stop referring to her as a baby? She IS one now, after all.

Anyways… There was only a light dusting of snow when we visited Forêt-la-Banche. But, the trails are open year round, so it would make a great spot for snowshoeing as well. Apparently, this Reserve is home to one of the “last old growth forests in Eastern Canada,” with trees that are 400 years old!

There are six different hiking trails there, which can be put together in any number of combinations to design a hike that’s as short or as long as you’d like. The trails were numbered and named. I had hiked #6, “L’original,” before, so this time around we decided to put together #3, #4, and #5. Or “Le ouaouaron,” “Le cendré,” and “La prucheraie respectively.

There were tons of beautiful lookouts and resting places along the trails that we explored, and we had a great time!

Trails are open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. everyday. On the weekend, the interpretation centre is open. We paid our trail fee directly to the staff member there. When the Centre is closed, you can put your trail fee into the little mailbox near the doors. Dogs aren’t allowed on the trails.

One of the coolest boardwalks at Forêt-la-Banche .

Getting There

The Forêt-la-Banche Ecological Reserve is about fifty minutes from Ottawa. The last little bit of the drive really feels like driving through cottage country. I could feel myself starting to relax even before we got there. You can use these coordinates to get there: 45.709653, -75.295207.

The road basically ended at Forêt-la-Banche, where the parking lot was. There was space for a ton of cars there, but we were the only ones! Considering it was a Sunday morning, I really couldn’t believe it.

We took our time getting ready, and filling the baby full of snacks before heading out. Near the back of the parking lot, there was a huge arch over a path leading up to the Interpretation Centre. Since all the trails started at the Centre, we headed off in that direction.

The Trails

Approaching the Interpretation Centre, the trails we were going to hike branched off to our left. Trail #2, “Le forestier,” was also to our left. The trails I had hiked before began closer to the Centre.

We veered off to the left, and passed under another cute little arch, which I’m pretty sure said “start of the trails.” I’m working on my French, but it’s slow going!

Before we headed out, the staff had told us that in the winter they typically mark where there are stairs on the trail. They warned us that this hadn’t been done yet, and to keep an eye out for stairs along the trail so we weren’t surprised by them.

With the light dusting of snow that we had, it wasn’t too tricky to see them, but if the snowfall had been a bit thicker, it might have made for some interesting footing. Nobody likes a surprised when they’re snowshoeing!

Immediately after the trailhead, the trail split in a bunch of different directions! There were signs posted though, so we knew where we wanted to head. We decided to hike the trail clockwise, and wanted to take the widest loop. We followed the sign for Trail #4, and began to head up a gentle hill.

Probably the only time the baby was awake for this hike… The beginning!

The First Lookout

Almost immediately, we reached the first lookout on Trail #4. We hiked right by a little pond on our left hand side. Then, we crossed over a short footbridge near where the pond ended.

After hiking 0.65 Km., we reached a trail split for the “shortcut” on Trail #4. Turning to our right, we could have used this shortcut and headed back to the trailhead if we wanted a really short hike. We veered to the left to continue on.

We had just gotten fresh snow, so there were no footprints for us to follow. Despite this, the trail was really easy to follow, because it was wide enough that it was really obvious where the trail cut through the forest.

I love a snowy trail with no footprints!

Down the Longest Stairs Ever

After an easy hike of just over 0.8 Km., we traversed a short set of stairs, and then came upon the longest set of stairs ever. These would be very annoying in the winter with snowshoes, and had we been wearing them, I definitely would have taken them off. There was a small platform and picnic area before the descent down the stairs began.

After walking down a million stairs, the trail continued to descend gently. We found ourselves near the shoreline of Lac la Blanche, and spotted a few beautiful views through the treeline. We hopped over a few more small foot bridges, and then found ourselves on a lovely little platform with a great view across the lake.

Never ending stairs. Better than a hill!

Onto Trail #5

Shortly after, at 1.2 Km., we reached the spot on the trail where Trail #4 and #5 met. There were signs here, making it easy for us to know which direction to head in. Trail #4 would have taken us back to where we started, so we took Trail #5, slightly off to our left.

Trail #5 had another great lookout for us. At 1.5 Km. there was another viewing platform for us to stop at. It was kind of a grey day, but we could make out the hills on the other side of the lake (a welcome contrast to Ottawa’s flatness). The trail brought us along the shoreline at the end of Lac la Blanche, and then at 1.7 Km. we arrived at a set of signs telling us that ahead of us was another lookout. Trail #3 was to our right, but before getting on it we went to go see the lookout point at Lac en Ciel.

So far, there hadn’t been many trail markers along the route, but the trails had still been quite easy to follow. Plus, there were detailed signs at every single trail split, which was helpful. Especially because there were a lot of trail splits!

A behind the scenes look at me recording info for you guys! And a good spot to see how well the splits are marked.

And Then Trail #3

Trail #3 had us heading uphill (I guess it had to happen at some point!). So far, the hiking had been really easy.

At the 2.1 Km. mark there was another sign for a second lookout over Lac en Ciel to our left. Honestly, Forêt-la-Banche had SO many lookouts. It was great!

Lac en Ciel seemed to be at the bottom of a valley in the forest floor, with the forest rising on every side of it. At the previous lookout, we had been above the lake, but at this one we found ourselves nearer to the bottom of the valley.

Then, we crossed a bridge over a creek running down the forest floor into the lake. There was a bench built onto the bridge, and I thought that it would be a really great spot to stop and relax, listening to the gurgling of the water.

At the 2.3 Km. mark, we reached the split in the trail where Trail #3 split in two different directions. We could have taken either the northern or southern side of Trail #3, but there were more lookouts on the southern trail. So of course we chose that one!

So. Many. Lookouts!

The Waterfall

But, at the trail split there was a sign indicating there was a waterfall only fifteen metres to our right along Trail #3. So we headed in that direction to see it. It turned out to be a really lovely little creek with a small waterfall rushing down along the forest floor. There was a viewing platform and bridge almost right above the waterfall, making another great spot to sit and enjoy the scenery. We could have continued on in this direction and still been on Trail #3, but we headed back to the split to hop on the southern loop.

We crossed over another bridge above ANOTHER creek, and then found ourselves on a boardwalk skirting Lac au Hérons. This boardwalk was the coolest, because it brought us along the shoreline of Lac au Hérons, with an awesome view over the lake for the entire length of it. There was a little bench about halfway down the boardwalk, which I guessed was about 100 metres long in total.

My favorite boardwalk from a different angle.

Lac Amik

After hiking 2.9 Km., we noticed a sign for another lookout off to our left. We checked it out, and found ourselves looking out over Lac Amik. Only a few hundred metres later, we reached the last lookout, a platform just off the trail on our left hand side.

Then, we started going uphill. It felt very steep, and very long! It probably wasn’t as bad as I’m remembering it, but it was DEFINITELY uphill. We climbed some stairs, and soon the Interpretation Centre came into view.

We reached the original split in the trail at 3.5 Km., and headed back to the parking lot to drop off some stuff before letting the baby run around for a bit. Naturally, we had to wake her up to do that. Is it just my kid who can’t seem to stay awake while we’re hiking?

Trail Thoughts

All in all, we had hiked roughly 3.7 kilometres. It had taken us just over an hour and a half. The sheer number of cool bridges, boardwalks, and lookouts definitely slowed us down, and this hike could be done a lot more quickly. But what’s the fun in that?

I think these trails would be really perfect for anyone! Especially families with older kids who like a little bit of variance in the terrain and infrastructure along the trail. Considering how few people were there, I’m sure these trails would be amazing for snowshoeing too, and a great spot to get on some fresh snow.

Winter hiking is officially here and Forêt-la-Banche is a great place to celebrate!

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

Our GPS tracked route.

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.