18+ heart-pumping places near Ottawa for thrill seekers

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Attention, adrenaline junkies! If you’re the sort who thrives on challenging yourself and/or giving yourself a good scare, have I got some tips for you. Within a few hours’ drive of Ottawa-Gatineau, you can experience Canada’s fastest roller coaster, highest bungee jump and largest aerial park, among other thrilling fun. Pumped? Read on.

Zip line from Ottawa to Gatineau

Interzip Rogers opened in June 2021 and was an immediate hit with thrill seekers. You get your gear at the Zibi site in Gatineau, walk across the Chaudière Bridge to an island on the Ontario side, climb 120 stairs up a 37-metre (120 foot) tower, then zip 366 metres (1,200 feet) across the Ottawa River back to Gatineau. It’s a ton of fun! Here’s my post about my trip down the zip line.

Go whitewater rafting on the Ottawa River

Several companies—including OWL Rafting and Wilderness Tours on the Ontario side, and Esprit Rafting and HorizonX in Quebec—offer whitewater rafting trips on the Ottawa River northwest of Ottawa (some also run outings on other nearby rivers). You can choose from half-day, full-day and multi-day adventures, on rapids ranging from mildly frothy (suitable for families) to truly daunting. In most cases, you’ll have to do some somewhat serious paddling, and you should be OK with possibly being thrown from the boat. Some packages include meals, camping privileges, evening entertainment and more.

Hit Canada’s largest aerial adventure and zip line park near Mallorytown

Off the Thousand Islands Parkway, between Brockville and Gananoque, a one-time campground is now Treetop Trekking 1000 Islands (formerly Skywood Eco Adventure). The park features a range of zip lines, rope bridges and other challenges high enough in the trees to give most people a serious adrenaline rush; they’re open to visitors nine and up. Kids aged 5 to 8 can try gentle courses a bit closer to the ground, while very young children can safely wander along rope bridges and slip down slides connecting treehouses in the Treewalk Village. There’s even a Night Trek, open to visitors 12 and up.

P.S.: If zip lines are your thing, you can also check out three zip line attractions in the Outaouais, at Camp Fortune in Chelsea, Arbraska Laflèche in Val-des-Monts and Chutes Coulonges Park in Mansfield-et-Pontrefract (Fort Coulonge).

Drive a race car in Calabogie

Like to think that you, too, could win the Indy 500? You can polish your racing skills at Calabogie Motorsports Park in, naturally enough, Calabogie, Ontario. Bring your own wheels or rent a Mustang race car. Would you rather sit in the stands and cheer on the pros? You can do that, too.

Hurtle down an Olympic bobsled run in Lake Placid

The last time I tried to do this, the windchill was -37C, so they closed the bobsled run. But I’m determined to do it someday! At Mt. Van Hoevenberg in Lake Placid, New York, you can sign up to climb into a sleek bobsled, put on a crash helmet and race down a 800-metre (half mile) track at speeds of up to 89 km/h (55 mph).

For more sedate adventure options in the Adirondacks, check out my posts about winter hiking and snowshoeing in Lake Placid.

Go indoor skydiving in Laval

If you’re too nervous to toss yourself out of a plane but you’d still like to experience the thrill of falling from the sky, iFly Montreal (formerly called SkyVenture) in suburban Laval, Quebec, is for you. In a nutshell, you’ll receive a safety and skills briefing, put on a jumpsuit and helmet, and then walk into what looks like a silo with a mesh-like floor of stainless-steel airline cables. Beneath that mesh is a super-powerful fan. After the door closes behind you and your instructor, someone switches on the fan, and suddenly you and the instructor are being shot skyward.

The flight chamber is 13.7 metres (45 feet) tall, but as a novice, you won’t go quite that high. Even the beginners’ height was thrilling enough for me, though. Once you get to your maximum height, the fan slows down a bit so that you experience pretty much the closest approximation of freefalling you can experience without skydiving. I’m a big chicken, and I enjoyed it immensely.

Walk high above downtown Toronto on a CN Tower catwalk

Given that I’m a bit of a scaredy-cat, people are often surprised when I say I wasn’t frightened out of my mind when I tried EdgeWalk high atop the CN Tower a few years ago. The thing is, I’m not afraid of heights, per se; I’m afraid of falling. It seems like a tiny difference, but it isn’t.

If I’m 100 percent confident I’m not going to plunge toward the ground, I (perhaps foolishly) lose most of my fear. And when I was walking around this narrow metal catwalk, 356 metres (1,168 feet) above Toronto’s streets, I was tethered by so many harnesses and cables that I felt as safe as though I were strolling through my neighbourhood park. When instructed by our fearless guide, I even leaned over the edge and pretended to fly, like Superman. (Here’s my post about my EdgeWalk adventure.)

However, in my small group of seven people, there were two who had signed up for the experience as a way to try to overcome their fear of heights. They were truly scared, so I wouldn’t recommend this outing to anyone who isn’t already fairly OK with the whole concept.

Try Canada’s highest and fastest roller coaster, or leap off a fake cliff, near Toronto

Canada’s highest and fastest roller coaster, Leviathan, opened in Canada’s Wonderland in Vaughan, Ontario, in 2012. Passengers rocket downhill from a peak of 93 metres (306 feet) at speeds of up to 148 km/h (92 mph). More recently, Wonderland opened Mountain Bay Cliffs, a cliff-diving attraction where you can leap 7.5 metres (25 feet) off a fake cliff into a pool below.

Inch across a cliff face beside a waterfall in Quebec City

A few years ago, I scared the daylights out of myself by setting out along the via ferrata next to Montmorency Falls on the outskirts of Quebec City.

What’s a via ferrata, you ask? It’s a contraption that allows you to experience all the nausea-inducing vertigo of rock climbing while remaining relatively safe (you can still get some nasty scrapes and bruises, though). Basically, it’s a series of strong cables bolted to a rock face. Climbers wear a harness and clip themselves to the cables, then use footholds, hand grips, handles and other things sticking out of the rock to manoeuvre themselves along the cliff face while trying not to faint (OK, the fainting part may have just been me). Real thrill-seekers at Montmorency Falls can sign up for a package that adds a zip line to the mix.

P.S.: Closer to Ottawa, you can also try a via ferrata at Chutes Coulonges Park in Mansfield-et-Pontrefract in the Outaouais, where you’ll also find an obstacle course, zip lines and more. There’s also a via ferrata at Parc national du Mont-Tremblant in the Laurentians.

Leap off Canada’s highest bungee jump in Wakefield

Great Canadian Bungee, about halfway between Chelsea and Wakefield in Quebec, bills itself as Canada’s highest bungee jump. Fling yourself off a platform toward a water-filled quarry 61 metres (200 feet) below—if you dare. (I’ll be the one on the ground taking photos, thank you very much.)

Cycle across a zip line in the Eastern Townships

Finally, this is an adventure for the gentle at heart. Sure, you’re high above the trees at VéloVolant, an unusual attraction at the Au Diable Vert outdoor adventure centre in Glen Sutton, Quebec. However, you can travel as slowly as you like, as you’re strapped into a recumbent bike hanging from a cable. It’s actually kind of meditative. I loved it.

Looking for more tips on things to see and do in Eastern Ontario, the Outaouais, northern New York state and beyond? Subscribe to my free weekly newsletter or order a copy of my book, Ottawa Road Trips: Your Weekend Getaway Guide.

As the owner of Ottawa Road Trips, I acknowledge that I live on, work in and travel through the unceded, unsurrendered territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg Nation. I am grateful to have the opportunity to be present on this land. Ottawa Road Trips supports Water First, a non-profit organization that helps address water challenges in Indigenous communities in Canada through education, training and meaningful collaboration.