Hiking Gatineau Park - Pink Lake

I did the Pink Lake loop last summer with a group of friends, it's a very easy hike with a small chunk of the route being on a boardwalk to protect the delicate ecosystem that is Pink Lake and to make it wheelchair friendly. The route is 2.5 kilometres long and listed as a moderate hike on the Gatineau Park website. The hike took us about 45 minutes and we strolled along at an easy pace, stopping to take photos and check out different views of the layered lake throughout.

The route is fairly flat and takes you around the entire perimeter of the lake. One half has a considerable amount of uphill  and stairs, while the remainder of the route is nice and easy.

Pink lake is definitely one of the coolest lakes I've ever seen. It is a "meromictic" lake, meaning the water at the top of the lake and the water at the bottom of the lake never mix, giving the lake a somewhat layered effect, and meaning that the bottom of the lake has 0 oxygen. You can read more about this lake here.

Although you can't see the layers in this photo, you get an idea of how pretty the terrain is and how close you can get to the water to see the layers!