Our Visitor Services people at Ottawa Tourism often get asked this question.
It’s fair to say that usually the peak of fall colours in our area usually comes around Thanskgiving weekend — that’s CANADIAN Thanksgiving (for our American readers!), which is the second Monday of October — however, Mother Nature doesn’t always cooperate!
The Arboretum at the Central Experimental Farm (located near the Canada Agriculture Museum and Dows Lake) is a riot of colour each fall in Ottawa.
So here are a few tools you can use to keep up-to-date on the progress of the fabulous fall colours:
Ontario Parks maintains a website that shows how the leaves are doing in the various provincial parks throughout Ontario. Click on the Ottawa area on the map in the upper left of the page and you’ll get a listing of various parks in eastern Ontario with an estimate of the percentage of leaves that have already changed.
For Gatineau Park (just 15 minutes north of downtown Ottawa, in the province of Québec), there’s great information on the National Capital Commission’s website, including a handy colour meter.
There are activities planned over the first three October weekends in Gatineau Park as part of the Fall Rhapsody program, that are certain to please.
Now get out there and enjoy the leaves!
