Saturday, April 21, 2007

Luskville Falls and the Fire Tower, Gatineau Park

Luskville Falls

Yesterday was a stellar day. The weather was nothing short of fabulous. Sunshine and 23°C. Perfect conditions for a hike to the top of Luskville Falls in Gatineau Park, Quebec.

Mike and I met up with Ken in the parking lot shortly after 9:30am. Technically it was alongside the road just outside the parking lot as it was still gated while the clean up crew did their spring thing.


Kenmore snaps a few pics of the falls
Kenmore stops for a shot with his awesome Canon Rebel XT



From there we hiked down the road and then up the 2km ascent, stopping once in a while for one of the many great photo ops.

Spring is definitely the time of year to make this climb. The lack of mosquitoes or even black flies is certainly a plus and the melting snow provides for an amazing cascade of water falling down the side of the Eardley Escarpment (certainly more impressive than the trickle that falls in November).

Snow by the falls A blackberry brew

Once we reached the top we stopped for a little break to take in the breathtaking view. Sweet.

From there we crossed over the falls, hopping rock to rock, and headed up even further to the fire tower.

Fire Tower, Gatineau Park

Thumbs up Luskville Falls view

Poor Kenmore
While Kenmore took the "fast" way down, Mike and I opted for the safer route.

After some lunch and a refreshing Grolsch we headed down yet another trail towards a newly planted geocache, GC10BQW. As we approached the cache (from the wrong angle) a rock climber stuck his head over the top and then rapelled back down. Needless to say we would not be logging a find on this cache today. Regardless it was yet another great spot to stop, soak in some more rays, and enjoy another great view. From here you could see the long line of cars parked just outside the gate. Seems we weren't the only ones enjoying a spring hike.

All in all it was yet another great start to the GAT hiking season.

Group shot at the top of Luskville Falls

Cheers.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

How did you get on the tower?

Anonymous said...

How did you get on the tower