Ottawa Outdoor Gear Library - OOGL

Very proud to have launched our brand new Huckleberry Hiker Cascade Cart at the OIPSE/Adapt Expo on May 9th!

The Cascade Cart works across a multitude of terrain, and aids in accessibility along trails by replacing the need for a wheelchair. It is designed to accommodate a wide range of Sherpa (the person pulling the cart) and Passenger body types. The maximum passenger weight is 150 lbs and Huckleberry Hiking recommends a Sherpa height of 5’ to 6’ 8”, and a Passenger height of 3’ to 5’ 6”.

You can learn more about the Cascade Hiking Cart with a quick internet search, or come by OOGL to see it in person. Send us an email ahead of time if you plan to reserve it/want to give it a look as it is not in our inventory system yet.

Thank you to for the donation of the hiker to OOGL, and thank you to Emily Glossop and the rest of the team for inviting us to participate in the Expo!

Looking for more resources on adaptive gear and accessible programming? Check out !

We were happy to attend MEC Ottawa’s Gear Swap & Demo event on May 2nd. Pictured here is Malak, who joined OOGL’s Board of Directors this last year.

Malak and Chris had some really great convos at MEC. Thank you to Nancy and Jennifer from Ottawa for inviting us!

Let us know if you saw us or spoke with us in the comments!

The Ottawa Outdoor Gear Library (OOGL) is looking for an outdoor enthusiast to lead our volunteer team in volunteer engagement! As a small volunteer-run organization, volunteers are integral to our structure. We aim to improve our volunteer organization and management systems to better support the operations of the Gear Library.

Please note, this is an unpaid, volunteer position.

Apply at the link in bio!

Questions? Email [email protected]

Happy belated Earth Day!! This weekend two of our board members, Chris and Chahneet, took part in and ’s 2026 Earth Day Festival 🌿

Thank you to everyone who came by our table to chat, including .l.armstrong from Arc’teryx, it was great to meet you!

While the weather was beautiful here on Saturday, we couldn’t help but think of the ongoing destruction to the planet by way of mass over-consumption, capitalism, environmental racism, and multiple ongoing genocides and ecocides - remember folks, it is all connected! Earth day is not just a day to celebrate the Land and be outdoors, it is also a day to reaffirm our commitment to environmental justice, Land Back, and community solidarity!

Find the full list of participants from the festival at centretowncitizens.ca/events/earth-day-festival-2026 and get connected!

We are currently in the thick of our seasonal gear change over! That means Winter gear is being swapped for the Spring/Summer/Fall gear you know and love.

We’ve decided to close down to help us get organized, but we’ll be back open for loans starting May 5th (ps. we’ll probably still be organizing at that point, but don’t want to keep you waiting any longer). See you then!

In 2024, OOGL was awarded a grant from the Public Health Agency of Canada (). The “Healthy Canadians and Communities” fund allowed us to conduct a research project focused on evaluating OOGL’s impact on communities in the National Capital Region and the outdoor health behaviours of our members. It also allowed us to hire a full-time staff member to lead the project — Tianna (they/them)!

After two fantastic years, marked by significant growth for OOGL, this project has officially come to an end. Thanks to the funding from PHAC, we’ve been able to offer and support several community programs, engage more deeply with our partners and users, and ultimately strengthen the case for the value and importance of our work through evidence-based research.

The conclusion of this project also means we’re saying goodbye to our staff member, Tianna. Tianna has been an enthusiastic and creative addition to our team at OOGL, leading initiatives such as: Fat Hikers’ Club, BIPOC Intro to Paddle Boarding (w/ ), BIPOC Intro to Tennis (w/ + ), revamping our website, and the emergency fundraising campaign to rehome our organization. Tianna is deeply committed to outdoor accessibility and fun — we will miss them terribly!

Stay tuned for the public release of our impact evaluation report! Our sincerest thank you to PHAC (), Tianna, and our community that made this project possible. 💚

We’re reminiscing on a winter season packed with programs at the gear library! ❄️

Through the support of the Canadian Parks & Recreation Association’s () Reaching Each & Every One grant, we had the opportunity to support so many partner organizations with skates, helmets and hockey equipment for Learn to Skate/Intro to Hockey programs⛸️

Here are some photos from two programs in collaboration with and ! We are grateful to host programs for children, youth and adults as we want to support anyone getting outdoors no matter the age or experience. Thank you to all the participants who came out on those cold days to try something new🥳.

Thank you to our wonderful volunteers for your program development skills, on-ice support, master skate tying abilities, and fun games you led! You made getting on the ice easier for our community who have never skated before. ✨

Stay tuned for more library updates

It’s been a few weeks since our Learn to Cross-Country Ski program wrapped, so we wanted to take a moment to share some of the wonderful smiles of our course participants. Here you can see some of our students taking part in the Rideau Winter Trail’s annual Loppet on February 22nd, putting their newly learned skills to use!

This program was so much fun, not just for participants, but for OOGL staff and RWT volunteer instructors. Thank you to all of our course participants who brought such amazing energy week after week. We know this course was in high demand, so we really hope we can offer it again next year (so stay tuned)!

This program would not have been made possible without the extensive support of our volunteer instructors at the , and funding support from the Canadian Parks & Recreation Association’s () Reaching Each & Every One grant.

If you see yourself, let us know in the comments :)

Update: SOLD OUT

Come learn to cross-country ski with OOGL and the Rideau Winter Trail ()!

Starting February 1st, OOGL will be hosting a free four-week program for those 18+ to learn the basics of cross-country skiing, finishing off with a fun race between participants.

Each class builds on the previous class, so you must be able to attend (at minimum) the first 3 weeks of classes; the fourth week (February 22nd) is optional.

Registration can be found via the ‘Events’ link in our bio. If you are an OOGL member, please use the “member ticket” option. If you are not yet a member, please sign up as a member via our website before registering for the course. Once you have registered, please email your phone number, shoe size, and height to
[email protected] ahead of our first class.

A friendly reminder: the Ottawa Outdoor Gear Library’s vision is just access to nature-based experiences for all, in all their intersecting identities. If you are someone who has access to the financial resources to take courses elsewhere, we encourage you to save the spot in class for someone who does not.

If tickets are sold out by the time you go to register, please email [email protected] to be placed on the waitlist.

This program is made possible through the funding support of the Canadian Parks & Recreation Association ().

Come learn to cross-country ski with OOGL and the Rideau Winter Trail ()!

Starting February 1st, OOGL will be hosting a free four-week program for those 18+ to learn the basics of cross-country skiing, finishing off with a fun race between participants.

Each class builds on the previous class, so you must be able to attend (at minimum) the first 3 weeks of classes; the fourth week (February 22nd) is optional.

Registration can be found via the ‘Events’ link in our bio. If you are an OOGL member, please use the “member ticket” option. If you are not yet a member, please sign up as a member via our website before registering for the course. Once you have registered, please email your phone number, shoe size, and height to [email protected] ahead of our first class.

A friendly reminder: the Ottawa Outdoor Gear Library’s vision is just access to nature-based experiences for all, in all their intersecting identities. If you are someone who has access to the financial resources to take courses elsewhere, we encourage you to save the spot in class for someone who does not.

If tickets are sold out by the time you go to register, please email [email protected] to be placed on the waitlist.

This program is made possible through the funding support of the Canadian Parks & Recreation Association ().

Happy snow day everyone! The library will be closed today due to inclement weather, we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. We’ll be back open for drop-ins and reservation pick-ups/drop-offs this Saturday, January 17th.

Catch us on the Rideau Winter Trail () this Sunday, January 18th, from 12-3 pm for World Snow Day ❄️

We’ll be on the trail lending out snowshoes for you to try, alongside with some binoculars for some winter bird watching.

Come enjoy this beautiful snowfall with us, have some hot chocolate, and check out our new MOOGL (Mobile OOGL) which we’ll be using to transport our gear.

Thanks to our current funders:


Public Health Agency of Canada
Ottawa Community Foundation
Jean Boutin Fund