Crowds head out to Gatineau Park for fall colours, beautiful weather

Thousands flock to Gatineau Park Saturday was busy at Gatineau Park, as people came out in droves to take in the warm weather and fall colours. CTV's Kimberley Johnson.

The unusually warmer temperatures are bringing out the fall colours – and hikers who want to take it all in.

Waiting for the Gatineau Park shuttle for almost an hour near the museum of history, Sylvia Megally is happy with the dozens of others early on Saturday morning.

"Hopefully, on the way back it’s going to be much easier," she said while laughing.

Environment Canada’s forecast calls for unseasonably warm weather, which is a great opportunity to go out and enjoy the red, yellow and orange colours on the trees in the Gatineau - Ottawa area. .

Megally says she's happy to wait.

"Skies are clear. It can’t get any better. So, it's a great opportunity to see all these wonderful trees changing their colours," she added.

Collin Chen and his family are also visiting the park this Saturday. They are grabbing one of the first buses to leave the Museum of History in Gatineau. He says the trip came with a plan.

"Be the first ones aboard, beat the crowds, wrangle the kids (and) make sure everyone happy, (as) we have a lot of time to do what we need to do," Chen added.

In a statement to CTV News Ottawa Saturday, the National Capital Commission (NCC) said it is normal for parks in the region including Gatineau Park to reach visitor capacity in the fall.

"Visiting the park during the week, at off-peak hours, is the best way to enjoy an outing at the popular destination of Gatineau Park. If you are set on visiting destinations along the parkways on weekends, the Gatineau Park free shuttle runs every 20 minutes, from 9:10 a.m. at the downtown stop in Pindigen Park. The full shuttle stop schedule is available on our website," reads the statement.

"On weekends, the shuttle can fill up very quickly and operates on a first-come, first-served basis. We have shuttles on stand-by to assist when the scheduled shuttles are full. We dispatch these shuttles as needed.

"If you're planning an outing this weekend, we recommend visiting lesser-known destinations like Meech Creek Valley (P16), or Philippe Lake. These two areas are magnificent in the fall and away from crowds. You can head there by car or on the free Philippe Lake shuttle, offered in partnership with Transcollines."

The weather agency says the temperatures are expected to hold steady for the next few days, even into the low 20s -- doubling what the average temperature is this time of year.

The average temperature for this time of year is a high of 11 C and a low of 3 C.