Outdoors

Kate Punnett, founder of City Love Flowers, creator of the Elderflower campaign, which was recognized by Awesome Ottawa and showcased by Ottawa Matters, is a multidisciplinary artist, activist, and community volunteer who gives back to the 613 daily in myriad ways.

“We’re at a very ground-level stage here where we don’t even necessarily know what tree species we have within 20 kilometres of Ottawa,” says field naturalist and tree expert Owen Clarkin. “There’s a lot of change happening. There’s a lot of clear-cutting occurring. There is climate change. Our push has been documenting what’s there today, […]

In previous geotours we’ve focused on specific 613 locations to visit for your geographic education and edification. This week though, we’re doing the exact opposite: telling you where not to go. This geotour is all about viewing the fall colours and we’re suggesting you NOT go to Gatineau Park.

This week’s geotour is a scenic spot with some nice walking trails around it. If you haven’t been to Princess Louise Falls in Orleans before, then it’s definitely worth a visit. It looks like something that you should be seeing in a tropical jungle in South America, not in the suburbs of Ottawa.

Well, we blinked and it’s September. That means two things: pumpkin spice and back to school.

This week’s geotour starts and ends where the Rideau Canal enters the Ottawa River, just below the Chateau Laurier. The tour will feature a moderate walk or bike ride between two provinces and reveal the history of why the Rideau Canal ends where it does.

This week’s geotour will take you to a newly reopened NCC site – the Carbide Willson ruins in Gatineau Park. You’ll get a moderate hike, a scenic ruin with lots of Instagram cred, and a dose of local history that you may not be aware of.

We have made it into summer’s wind down and it is time to soak up all we can of these remaining summer weekends. Make it a priority to get outside and enjoy the sunshine while we can. There are plenty of reasons to get out and about this weekend, if the fleeting warmth of the season’s sunny skies isn’t enough to draw you from your living room. Here are just a few of them.

Have you ever wondered why it was called Mer Bleue, since it’s neither a sea nor particularly blue?

We’ve done a geotour to a beach in a forest… but this week we’re going a little more traditional with a beach on a river.

Up until 1908, the Chaudière Falls had been a major tourist attraction that rivalled even Niagara Falls. Some people even preferred it to Niagara.

Up until this week you’ve been able to drive right up to our geotour locations. This time, we’re adding some serious exercise and a healthy dose of adventure to our geotour choice.

Stromatolites are only found in a few spots in Canada. We’re lucky to have some clearly visible ones in the region at the base of the Champlain bridge, on the Quebec side of the river. They are the most easily accessible ones in Canada.