{"id":18052,"date":"2016-10-04T07:15:28","date_gmt":"2016-10-04T11:15:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/?p=18052"},"modified":"2020-03-26T03:50:46","modified_gmt":"2020-03-26T07:50:46","slug":"shuttle-buses-and-drones-fall-foliage-time-in-gatineau-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/2016\/10\/04\/shuttle-buses-and-drones-fall-foliage-time-in-gatineau-park\/","title":{"rendered":"Shuttle buses and drones: fall foliage time in Gatineau Park"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Fiery<\/a>

Fiery red maples around a bog in Gatineau Park. Photo: James Morgan<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Leaf-seeking<\/a>

Leaf-seeking drivers on Meech Lake Road in Gatineau Park. Photo: James Morgan<\/p><\/div>\n

Fall brings out that homey, comfortable feeling in people. The cooler temperatures, pumpkins, preserves, and piles of firewood have a way of doing that. And of course there are the leaves. People just love looking at them turn shades of red, orange, and yellow. A tree\u2019s annual slip into dormancy has become a big tourist industry. For several years, it\u2019s been billed as the Fall Rhapsody in Quebec\u2019s Gatineau Park, just across the river from Ottawa. This year\u2019s edition runs until October 16. Nature\u2019s paintbrush has just begun the first strokes of scarlet red and bright orange in Gatineau Park, mostly in low-lying areas in the park interior.<\/p>\n

I basically gave up going into the park during the Fall Rhapsody for the past two years. Over 1.2 million people live in the National Capital Region. Gatineau Park is the closest wilderness, and for many people, it\u2019s their first opportunity to discover the Canadian outdoors. The traffic on weekends was awful, making it more of a cacophony than a rhapsody. The narrow parkways were jammed with cars full of \u201cleaf peepers,\u201d\u2014that\u2019s what residents of New Hampshire and Vermont often call fall foliage seeking tourists. Roads were barely passable in places because of parked cars with no space left at picnic areas and lookouts.<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Foliage<\/a>

Foliage followers disembark the Fall Rhapsody shuttle bus.<\/p><\/div>\n

This year, the National Capital Commission (NCC)\u2014the federal agency that manages Gatineau Park, is aiming to cut down on the chaos. After all, why should enjoying the natural environment be harmful for it? The NCC has teamed up with Gatineau\u2019s transit authority and is operating free weekend shuttle buses between certain points in the park. The goal is to encourage visitors to park and ride to see the leaves so there are fewer cars causing traffic havoc. It also gives people who don\u2019t have cars an opportunity to enjoy the park. Roadside parking has been completely banned too.\u00a0 RCMP and NCC Conservation Officers are diligently patrolling\u2014and enforcing the rules.<\/p>\n

Based on my observation, the shuttle buses and parking restrictions have been a good thing. Traffic is moving more smoothly, and people really are using the buses. Wisely, the transit authority\u00a0is using hybrid models as a nod to environmental consciousness. They\u2019re also accessible for baby strollers and people with mobility limitations, so everyone from baby to great-grandmother can ride the bus to leaf land. And there\u2019s more than just leaves to look at too. There are artistic, musical, and cultural events taking place at locations throughout Gatineau Park. The only really unusual thing I noticed on my recent trip into the park was visitor flying a drone at the popular Champlain Lookout. That\u2019s a modern reality that takes a bit of getting used to in natural surroundings.<\/p>\n

The Gatineau Park Fall Rhapsody is pretty much an annual tradition for many in Ottawa-Gatineau.\u00a0 The colorful foliage turns the forest into nature\u2019s art gallery.\u00a0 And with the addition of shuttle buses this year, visitors can leave<\/em> the car at home if they want to.<\/p>\n

\"Fall<\/a>

Fall leaf viewing has entered the drone age. Photo: James Morgan<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fall brings out that homey, comfortable feeling in people. The cooler temperatures, pumpkins, preserves, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18052"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/112"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18052"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18052\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22043,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18052\/revisions\/22043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}