Ottawa Rideau River walking tour

This scavenger hunt has a difficulty level of EASY.

Buy either an individual or a group ticket. The ideal group size is 3 to 6, but it is not limited to that. In fact, children are welcome and will enjoy most of the challenges.

After purchase, to begin your Ottawa Rideau River scavenger hunt, you will need to head to the parking lot of Rideau Falls Park at 50 Sussex Dr, Ottawa, ON K1M 2K1. This is the starting location

Once there, to begin your hunt, click the link provided and log in to this website, or go to My Account and follow the instructions there.

Ancient history

Ottawa was founded in 1826 along the Rideau River for the construction of the Rideau Canal. Then, in 1857, Queen Victoria chose the site to host the new capital of the Province of Canada (a province of the British Empire at the time).

It lies on the border of Upper and Lower Canada and resolved the conflict among Montreal, Toronto, Quebec, and Kingston, all vying for the permanent title.

In 1959, Ottawa became the capital of the Canadian Confederation under the British Parliament and Monarchy. On July 1st, 1867, it became the capital of the sovereign country of Canada. It remained linked only to the British Monarchy, no longer to the British Government. As a matter of fact, all of its principal federal institutions, including Parliament, the residence of the Governor-General (the British Crown’s representative), and the Prime Minister of Canada, are located here.

Recent history

In 1916, a major fire burned down most of Parliament, except for the library at the back. Canada repatriated its construction in 1920.

Ottawa, now home to over 900,000 inhabitants, became Canada’s fourth-largest city. Moreover, its metropolitan area spans 2 provinces and includes over 1.2 million inhabitants. Indeed, 34% of Ottawa’s population is bilingual (French and English).