Gatineau Park, Hike from P10 to the Carbide Ruins. Nudity Ensues.

Today was another hot one. Of course, I basked in the heat! I am a lover of the heat and humidity - probably because our winters are so long and our summers so short. But anyway - today was a GREAT day. I went to my brother's work BBQ for lunch, and then I met my two best hiking buddies, Gord and Jivka, at P10 for a little afternoon hike.

P10 is accessed from Dunlop Road, which can be accessed from Meech Lake Road, Fortune Parkway turn.

Anyway, we arrived at P10 by 3pm, and began our hike by 3:15.

We walked on the Fortune Parkway for about half a kilometer, then turned right onto trail #36, which takes us to the O'Brien Beach parking lot (aka, P11).

The P11 (O'Brien) parking lot is a paid lot during the summer due to it's beach access. P10, however, is totally free, and it's not a far hike at all from P10 to O'Brien - so if you feel like walking for 45 minutes or so to get there and save yourself paying parking, I recommend this hike.

The trail is very dry right now due to our unusually dry spring/ summer weather, and it's very easy to navigate. It's a bit rocky in parts, and it's a trail, not a road, so wear appropriate footwear. There are rolling hills to O'Brien, and then, if you continue past that lot, and press on, there is one or two steep hills, but very, very manageable.

We did press on, and went to the Carbide Ruins. For all of my hikes in the Gatineau Park, I'd never yet been to these famous ruins. I suppose because we usually start this trail at p11, and the ruins are too short a trip - we would always continue on to McDonald's Bay or to Healey. But this hike started further away, and so the ruins were a good destination today.

I'm so glad I stopped. The Carbide Wilson ruins are the ruins of the mill made by Thomas "Carbide" Wilson in 1907 (need to double check all this). Anyway, the waterfalls are lovely,, the ruins are atmospheric, and, well, despite the Park's efforts, there are still nudists!! We stumbled upon a few naked dudes and a lady, what joy!

That was today's hike - from P10 to the Carbide Wilson Rinds and then back again.

OOH, and I've actually started to enjoy photography again! I brought my real camera - my Nikon D90 - along for the trek, and got some nice shots of Gord and Jivka.

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