Fall colours hitting their peak in Gatineau Park

Beautiful weather had people out in Gatineau Park to take in the fall colours as the season reaches its peak. CTV’s Natalie van Rooy reports.

The fall colours are starting to pop in Gatineau Park this weekend as the leaves are at the mid-way point of the season.

Already crowds are flocking to the park to soak up the sea of orange and red.

A beautiful walk through the foliage of the park was on Karen Riley’s bucket list during her trip to the nation’s capital for a friend’s birthday.

“I came in April two years ago when there was a bunch of flooding, so I thought if I came back, I would like to see it in the fall,” said Riley. “I love it. I love the colors. I came out here to see the reds.”

Riley is from an area not far from Canmore and Banff National Park in Alberta.

“The colours are starting at home. We’ve got the larches that are going golden, and our parks are filled with people just like yours are, so I’m here to see the colours out east.”

Hundreds of thousands of people make the trip into Gatineau Park for the fall colours every year.

“It’s so beautiful. We love to take family pictures here and just go walk,” said Rosa LeBlanc, who was visiting the park with her family. “It’s just absolutely stunning and it’s something that I never take for granted even if I live close by here.”

Crowds lined the streets of Chelsea on Saturday. To help deal with traffic, a free National Capital Commission shuttle transports people from downtown Ottawa to popular spots in the park like Pink Lake, Mackenzie King Estate, Champlain Lookout, and Camp Fortune.

The shuttle runs every day except Wednesday and will become more frequent starting on Oct. 4.

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