Otter Pond Climbing

This digital Otter Pond climbing guidebook gives you GPS navigation, verified topos, and beta for hundreds of climbs. Explore classics and hidden gems with offline access to maps, directions, and beta videos. Whether it's your first visit or fiftieth, KAYA makes your Otter Pond days smoother, safer, and more dialed.

The largest, most established, and most diverse of the bouldering areas, Otter Pond offers some very high quality problems, with mostly flat landings in a beautiful forest setting. Most of the problems are in the V0-V5 range, but Ontario’s first V14 is also found here. If you’re only going to spend a couple of days bouldering in Calabogie, this is the spot to visit.

Access

The approach trail and boulders are located on Crown land. The parking lot requires a fee, which is managed by the Township of Greater Madawaska.

Good to Know

From the parking lot, walk down the road t... Show more

This digital Otter Pond climbing guidebook gives you GPS navigation, verified topos, and beta for hundreds of climbs. Explore classics and hidden gems with offline access to maps, directions, and beta videos. Whether it's your first visit or fiftieth, KAYA makes your Otter Pond days smoother, safer, and more dialed. The largest, most established, and most diverse of the bouldering areas, Otter Pond offers some very high quality problems, with mostly flat landings in a beautiful forest setting. Most of the problems are in the V0-V5 range, but Ontario’s first V14 is also found here. If you’re only going to spend a couple of days bouldering in Calabogie, this is the spot to visit. Access The approach trail and boulders are located on Crown land. The parking lot requires a fee, which is managed by the Township of Greater Madawaska. Good to Know From the parking lot, walk down the road to the trailhead. It’s not the trail directly across the road! The parking lot can fill up on weekends during leaf-peeping season. Do not park on the side of the road if it’s full; you will be ticketed. Geology These boulders have likely broken off the Eagle’s Nest cliff above. Most of the boulders are granitic gneiss, but the Frontier area features a weird quartz monstrosity, full of pockets and quite sharp. History This area was first developed in the early 2000’s by a crew from Coyote Rock Gym. In 2012, the closing of most of the climbing in Gatineau Park sparked a new wave of interest, and it has seen pretty steady development and traffic since then. Otter Pond is accessed from the Eagle’s Nest Trail parking area, a large gravel lot that can accommodate 70 vehicles. From the Bogie General Store, drive south on Calabogie Road (County Road 508) for 9.1 km. The parking lot will be on your right. You can’t miss it. From the parking lot, cross the road and walk west along it for 100 meters. You will come to a wooden bridge spanning the ditch. This marks the beginning of a well established trail that meanders through the woods and alongside Otter Pond. The bouldering areas are spread out along this trail, beginning with the Gateway area, at around 1 km, and ending with the Frontier area, at around 1.4 km. The approach should take around 15 to 25 minutes, depending on where you are heading.