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| A lumber tug boat on
the Ottawa River |
Information
There are many interlocking trail loops from
1 km to 3.7 km long, in a forested location, skirting a bay with sandy
beaches on the Ottawa River. Lookouts from high points or at the river’s
edge afford picturesque views across to the Laurentian Hills and to the
mouth of the Dumoine River in Quebec. Day and campsite passes can be purchased
at the park office (Tel: 613-586-2553, 705-744-2276). Although the park’s
gate is closed for the winter, visitors may enter for hiking, snowshoeing
and cross-country skiing.
How
to get there
Driftwood Provincial
Park is on Hwy 17 at the northern tip of Renfrew County, 35 km northwest
of Deep River. Driving northeast, the park is on the right, 3.5 km beyond
where the road/rail causeway crosses at Mackey. Drive 1.5 km from the
park gates to the office. Look at the grounded Ottawa River tugboat
found behind the park office. Drive down another 0.5 km down Driftwood
Park Road and at the sign for the Chevrier Creek Trails, park in the
car lot on the left. For the Oak Highland Trails, start from the riverside
car lot.
Directions
Oak Uplands
Hiking Trails
consists of two loops with interpretive posts. Mosses and lichens survive
on the exposed bedrock, and red oak and blueberries grow in thin soils.
The Riverside Loop (Loop 1) has a lookout, Station 1, on a rocky outcrop
of grey and pink gneiss with white quartz crystals. On the Beaver Pond
Loop (Loop 2) at Station 2, is an active beaver dam and lodge where
if approached quietly. Visit seven interpretive stations in all, Stations
6 and 7 are on a short spur trial.
Chevrier Creek
Trails consists of four interlaced loops. Loop 1, wends its way
between red pine, with a scenic look-out from the top of a steep-sided
dune ridge, 15 to 30 metres high. Loop 2, the longest loop, runs along
part of the dune ridge, which originated from a large sand plain surrounding
a post-glacial lake now gone, named Lake Brennan.
Loop 3, skirts Chevrier’s
Creek, where near the mouth of the creek is found Bur Oak, at its northern
limit. Also called Mossycup Oak, because of the distinctive fringe on
the acorn cups. The trail around the rocky point on the Ottawa River
is a good place to stop and admire its natural splendour.
If you were here before 1950, a small lake occupied Driftwood Bay, with
the Ottawa River over on its far side. The present shoreline of the
Ottawa River was created, when the Rapides Des Joachims (locally pronounced
Swisha) hydroelectric dam, 12 km down river from the park, was built,
raising the water level by 30 metres. Loop 4, in the most westerly portion
of the park, runs through forest dominated by large white pines, more
than 30 metres tall.
Map
-- Driftwood Provincial Park
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