First Climb to Pink Lake of the Season

As I mentioned recently, spring is here, which, among other things, means that the Gatineau Park Parkways are closed to traffic (or what it actually translates into: the parkways are wide open for cycling)

Gatineau Park is a pretty large green space in Quebec, quite close to downtown Ottawa. Folks camp, hike and ride bikes (road and mountain) in the nice seasons, and ski and snowshoe (is that an actual word?) in the winter.

Anyway, access in Spain/Summer/Fall is free of charge, the roads are wide and well maintained, nature is gorgeous, and the climbs are challenging, so it’s a pretty good place to go to if you like to be out on a bike, as I do.

Today was the first day the parkways were closed to cars, and initially I was not planning on going any close to the park, but, when I got to the junction where I had to choose between turning right (and go on with my usual morning loop) or left (and head towards the park) somehow I turned left.

Long story short, I made it to Pink Lake. The climb is okay, expect for the final 1-2 km, which, for me, are pretty hard.

I saw some wildlife (turkeys and a pretty large deer) on the road, which was nice. Trees have not grown leaves yet.

And, the descend was very fun at times (got as fast as 49 Km/h at some point).

Highly recommended, will try to climb again as many times as possible over the summer. 5 stars.

★★★★★