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Meech Lake

Lakes of OutaouaisNational Capital Region (Canada)Nude beaches
MeechLake OBrienBeech
MeechLake OBrienBeech

Meech Lake (French: Lac Meech) is located within Gatineau Park in the Municipality of Chelsea, Quebec, Canada. It is located about 20 km northwest of Gatineau. The lake was named after Reverend Asa Meech, an early settler in the area. Near the lake, on Meech Creek, are the ruins of a fertilizer plant built by Thomas "Carbide" Willson during the 1900s. In 1981, Willson's former summer home (the Willson House) on Meech Lake was converted into a government conference centre. The house is notable for its use, in 1987, as the site of meetings on the Meech Lake Accord (which proposed the overhauling of Canada's constitution) between the provincial premiers and then-Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. The lake is a multi-use area with picnicking, beach goers, boats, paddle boards, and historic cottages dating to before the park was formed. It is a popular lake for people who like to train in open water swimming. It is also the site of the annual Meech Lake Triathlon. In 1988, a study conducted for the NCC confirmed that Meech Lake residents are responsible for most of the human-produced phosphorus flowing into the lake, i.e., 70.2%, whereas visitors only account for 29.8%. Phosphorus, in excessive amounts is responsible for the proliferation of blue-green algae, a problem that has afflicted the lake in recent years.The National Capital Commission (NCC), steward of Gatineau Park, operates beaches on the lake during the summer. Although it is not condoned by the NCC, there is a secluded beach often used by naturists. Lack of clear signage on the lake that fires are prohibited as well as enforcement is one problem of this highly used area. For example, in the summer of 2016 a fire on one island caused by a picnicker resulted in 25% of the island burning.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Meech Lake (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Meech Lake
Chemin du Lac-Meech,

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Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 45.535 ° E -75.889166666667 °
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Chemin du Lac-Meech

Chemin du Lac-Meech
J9B 1H9
Quebec, Canada
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Camp Fortune
Camp Fortune

Camp Fortune is a commercial alpine ski centre located in the municipality of Chelsea in the Gatineau Hills north of Gatineau, Quebec, approximately fifteen minutes from Downtown Ottawa, Ontario. Camp Fortune is composed of three mountainsides, including the Valley, Meech, and Skyline. Pineault, Clifford and Alexander are jointly referred to as The Valley and are considered to host the easier slopes of the ski centre. Meech offers intermediate terrain, and Skyline offers advanced terrain. During the summer, Camp Fortune operates an aerial park with zip lines and offers downhill and cross country mountain biking in addition to a disc golf course. In addition, the ski lodge is available for rent as a banquet venue. Ryan Tower is a 228.9-metre (750 feet) tall guyed mast that was built in the 1960s, and is located at the summit of the Clifford slope. A shorter tower of 38 metres (123.5') dating from 1961 was the original antenna support structure for the radio station CFMO-FM. It was taken down on Sunday, November 4, 2012, and its functions were transferred to a new, nearby replacement tower.Camp Fortune Ski Club operates at the hill, providing competitive and 'house' ski racing programmes for children and young adults aged 5 to 18 based on the Nancy Greene and Snowstars approaches. For the 2021 summer season, Camp Fortune introduced an alpine pipe coaster, accessible from the Valley chairlift that runs from the top of the Clifford slope back to the bottom of the hill. The pipe coaster is approximately 1 kilometer long and riders can reach max speeds of 40 kilometers per hour. In the 2022 summer season, Camp Fortune introduced a peak to peak Zipline experience which features a 3 zipline course that spans 4,478 feet between the Clifford and Axelander slopes and includes an optional 50 foot free fall jump attraction.