02 Nov, 2009
Exploring a bit of Barrhaven: the Nepean Quarry (aka the Barrhaven Quarry!)
Posted by andrea tomkins in: Easy ways to make kids happy|Ottawa
Edited to add: Ottawa police are patrolling and ticketing at the Nepean Quarry. It is considered private property and I don’t recommend anyone go there.
After a good long stretch of yard work on Sunday we decided to explore a hitherto unknown (unknown to us anyway!) part of Barrhaven. I heard about an abandoned quarry so I wanted to check it out before all the leaves had fallen.
The trail was very easy, and quite pretty in parts:
… but it was noisy. (That’s what happens when you build a hiking trail alongside a highway!).
There were things to see and do along the way:
And this was the scene when we got there:
Not pictured:
- The many dogs we met along the way, including a very cute fluffy white dog and a terrifying pitbull that raced across the length of a field to “greet” us. This seems to be where all the locals go to walk their dogs.
- The garbage. Wow. Once we got to the quarry it was everywhere. I get that this is a teen hangout in the summertime (in fact Mark has been swimming here) but can’t they clean up after themselves?
The quarry itself was pretty, but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it as a great destination unless you had a dog who loved the water.
It wasn’t until I did a bit of googling that I discovered that this quarry was called the Nepean Quarry and it was where sandstone blocks were mined, but not just any old sandstone. These became the principle building material in the construction of the parliament buildings.
Otherwise I couldn’t find a single other thing about the quarry. Weird. Maybe my google-fu is off?
To get to the Barrhaven Quarry (a.k.a. the Nepean Quarry):
- Park your car at Lytle Park off Fallowfield Road
- Cross the soccer field
- Follow the path into the woods (it runs parallel to the highway) for about 1.5 (?) kilometers until you see a semi-destroyed/spraypainted no trespassing sign on your left
- Follow that path to the quarry. The location is easy to find.
On the walk back to the car I fired up our iPhone geocaching app to see what kind of treasure hunting was nearby.
But more about that tomorrow.
