Escape to these magical forest skate trails near Ottawa!

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Did you know that you can skate through the forest, on one of a growing number of groomed skate trails in Ottawa, the Outaouais and beyond?

The ice trails craze started about a decade ago and is still going strong. These days, there are several skate trails near Ottawa where you can glide through the trees.

Note: PLEASE check a skate trail’s website and/or social media before heading out! Skate trails are very weather dependent, and may close with little notice due to poor ice conditions. Also, most skate trails are only open on certain days of the week, and some require you to buy tickets in advance. The websites will also provide detailed information on amenities such as snack bars, indoor change rooms and equipment rentals, which may affect which trail you choose.

Ice trails in Ottawa

In York’s Corners (between Metcalfe and Russell), the River Oak Estates ice trail is popular with families, dog lovers and hockey players, as strollers, sleds, toboggans, hockey sticks, pucks and pooches are all allowed on the ice. You can also rent skates, helmets and other gear, if you don’t bring your own. Some of the skating trails are illuminated at night. It is now open for the season.

Icelynd Skating Trails is a two-kilometre route off Fernbank Road near Stittsville. Along with trails, there’s a canteen and an outdoor rink, and you can warm up around one of the bonfires. Strollers are allowed but hockey gear is not. Trails are partially lit at night, but a headlamp might come in handy, too. You must buy your tickets in advance online. It is opening for the season on January 17, 2024.

Skate trails in the Outaouais

In 2017, CBC Radio wrote about the 3-kilometre Patinage en forêt skate trail in Lac-des-Loups, Quebec, just beyond the northwestern edge of Gatineau Park. That one has been a visitor magnet since it opened. It is now open for the season. Insider tip: It occasionally offers torchlit skating evenings, which usually sell out quickly.

Click on the link below to hear Hallie Cotnam’s entertaining 2017 interview with the Lac-des-Loups skate trail’s creator, Dave Mayer. (I tried the trail one morning when it was -26C and, honestly, once I got going, the cold wasn’t so bad. And the ice was like a sheet of glass.)

Here are two more Outaouais ice trails to check out.

• The Little Penguin Trail is a five-kilometre ice trail that wends through the Touraine Golf Club in Gatineau.
• In the La Pêche sector of Wakefield, you can explore two to five kilometres (length depends on weather conditions) of the frozen water mazes at Eco-Odyssée Nature Park. On certain nights, one kilometre of the route is illuminated. Note: These trails take longer than forest trails to freeze because the water is deeper, so be sure to check this page on the park’s website for the latest information on the trail’s 2024 opening dates.

Other skating trails in Ontario and Quebec

• There’s a three-kilometre skate trail at Countryside Adventures in Moose Creek, partway between Ottawa and Cornwall. The site also offers a tubing hill, snowshoeing trails, a petting zoo and a food truck.
• In Pembroke, a two-kilometre snowshoeing trail parallels the 1.5-kilometre wooded Laurentian Valley Skating Trail. The trail is usually illuminated a couple of nights a week. The trail opened for the season on January 20, 2024.
• The Snow Moon Skating Loop is a 1.5-kilometre skate trail in (also on!) Golden Lake. It includes two skating rinks and a hockey rink, as well as benches for changing your footwear. Here’s a bit more information.
• If you’re up for a longer road trip from Ottawa, the Deep River Skate Trail is a forested ice trail. (Note that it is currently closed, as I write this in January 2024.)
• In Muskoka, there’s a 1.3-kilometre ice skate trail at Arrowhead Provincial Park and a 1.2-kilometre skate trail through a cranberry bog in Bala.
• A reader recently alerted me to Domaine Enchanteur, a 15-kilometre network of skate trails about 20 minutes from Trois-Rivières and Shawinigan, Quebec.
• The first skate trail I ever read about was Domaine de la Forêt Perdue, north of Trois-Rivières (see the video below).

If you visit one of these skating trails (or find another one I haven’t mentioned), come back here, leave a comment and let me know what it was like!

Updated on January 16, 2024.

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As the owner of Ottawa Road Trips, I acknowledge that I live on, work in and travel through the unceded, unsurrendered territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg Nation. I am grateful to have the opportunity to be present on this land. Ottawa Road Trips supports Water First, a non-profit organization that helps address water challenges in Indigenous communities in Canada through education, training and meaningful collaboration.

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