Hiking Gatineau Park - Luskville Falls

Yesterday was a bit chilly, but we figured Nova Scotia mornings may be equally as chilly and decided to brave the cold and head up to Luskville. It was fairly quiet, but probably because of the weather. This is definitely the toughest trail we've done since we've begun 'training' for Cape Chignecto. It's a 4.5 km (5 km if you hike up to the fire tower and back) and is listed as difficult on the NCC website, the website says it's about  a 2.5 hour hike, but we powered through to improve our cardio and rock climbing skills and finish in just over 1.5 hours.

On our way back down

Part of the falls near the beginning of the trail (after this, the trail gets tough!)

I really enjoyed this trail, it was a lot of climbing, I'm talking about 1 km right off the bat to get up to the lookout, then you continue on up a little more and reach the fire tower before heading back down. You cross the falls at the top and again near the bottom to get back to the parking lot, however both crossings are fairly easy granted you watching your footing on the rocks. The designated crossing spots are in calmer parts of the streams the waterfall flows into so you don't really have to worry about the current. 

One section of the streams

Can you see the trail?

A lot of the trail looked like the photo above, essentially climbing up or down rocks depending on which part of the trail you're on. The trail is fairly easy to follow and as with all NCC trails it's clearly labelled. This is the first NCC trail I've been on that has consistent white arrows spray painted on rocks to ensure you stay on the trails and don't get lost.

I seriously love lookouts

This was absolutely one of our favourite trails, we plan to hike this at least twice more to help us get ready for our Nova Scotia trip, including one time with our full packs on which will definitely be killer on the legs!

Another very rocky section of the trail

Another view of the falls near the beginning of the trail

What's your favourite trail? We're heading to the Toronto area this long weekend and we're planning to stop at Bon Echo on our way home and do the Shield trail. Hopefully we get to see all the rock paintings!