Updated August 27, 2019.
Disclosure: I visited the Ottawa Valley as a guest of the Ottawa Valley Tourist Association, which neither reviewed nor approved this post.
As I write this post, Ottawa is still in the grips of summer. Eventually, though, the warm temperatures will give way to the crisper days of fall, and that will be the perfect time to point your car west and enjoy the Ottawa Valley fall colours.
First, a disclaimer. The term “Ottawa Valley” is a bit amorphous and actually includes places on both sides of the Ottawa River. However, for my purposes, I’m going to focus on an area of Ontario roughly between Barry’s Bay, Cobden and Calabogie.
So why should you take a road trip west this autumn? Here are five good reasons.
Revel in Ottawa Valley fall colours
Sure, you can see changing leaves in Ottawa. However, the densely forested rolling hills of the Ottawa Valley put on a spectacular fall show. Two of my favourite spots to leaf peep are the stretches of highways 132 and 41 around Dacre, and the area bordering Calabogie Lake.
If you’d like to get some exercise as you admire the leaves, head to the Shaw Woods Outdoor Education Centre near Eganville. There, excellent interpretive trails lead you through mixed forests of sugar maple, American beech, white birch, eastern hemlock and other trees, including some old-growth forest. I was there in summer, but I bet this place is also one of the best places to enjoy the fall colours.
Make maple syrup in Killaloe
I hear you asking, “Who the heck makes maple syrup in the fall?” Don Deakin, that’s who. Don and his wife Mary Helen run the Deakins on Mountainview B&B in Killaloe. Each spring, he boils some of the sap from their sugar bush until it is about two-thirds of the way toward becoming maple syrup, and then he freezes it.
On educational tours from spring through fall, visitors get to finish and bottle their own maple syrup in a 1910-style sugar shack. Advance reservations required.
Take a cooking lesson in Barry’s Bay
Continuing the maple theme, guests can help the chef rustle up maple-accented dishes during a cooking class at the Spectacle Lake Lodge near Barry’s Bay.
On my recent visit, one highlight was a sundae topped with maple syrup (naturally) and maple-marinated bacon. Yes, bacon. You’re welcome.
Catch a live band in Wilno
The legendary Tuesday night blues jam at the Wilno Tavern has been running weekly for over two decades. Come early if you have any hope of snagging a table; by 8:30 on the night I dropped by, every seat was taken and a queue of everyone from teenagers to retirees was forming outside.
If you can’t make it on a Tuesday, the homey restaurant is still worth a visit for its pierogies, cabbage rolls and other rib-sticking Polish specialties. (You can get non-Polish dishes, too.) Across the road, the Polish Kashub Heritage Museum tells the story of the emigrants who first came to this region in 1858. After the Labour Day weekend, it is open on weekends until mid-September.
And if you’d like to learn more, here’s a whole post about Wilno.
Raise a glass in Cobden
Tired of the same old beers? Pop by the Whitewater Brewing Company in Cobden. Not only can you bring home lots of craft beers, but you can also get a great meal in the sunny pub. The menu includes fun twists on burgers, sandwiches, curries and other pub favourites, made with local ingredients. The brewery has a second brewpub in nearby Foresters Falls.
Bonus tip: To check out an even smaller craft brewery, drop by Square Timber Brewing Company in Pembroke, where owner/brewmaster Marc Bru will be happy to guide you through the variety of beers on tap, including a Belgian quad made with maple sap, as well as more traditional beers, such as a pale ale and an IPA.
Disclosure: I visited the Ottawa Valley as a guest of the Ottawa Valley Tourist Association, which neither reviewed nor approved this post.
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