Driftwood Provincial Park

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.

Links of interest

• The Friends of Algonquin Park
• Ontario Parks