Odell Park: Fredericton's Old-Growth Forest in the Middle of the City

A 175-hectare forest in the middle of the city

Most cities would kill for a park like Odell. It sits just south of downtown Fredericton, a five-minute drive or a decent walk from the centre, and it is big: roughly 175 hectares of mostly forest, which is why you will also see it described loosely as a 300-plus-acre or even 400-acre park depending on where you draw the lines with the neighbouring botanic garden. Whatever the number, the feeling is the same. You step off Rookwood Avenue, the traffic noise fades within a couple of minutes, and you are standing under trees that were here long before the city was.

The land was once the estate of Reverend Jonathan Odell, a United Empire Loyalist, and part of it carried the name Rookwood. The City took it over as public parkland in the mid-1950s, and it has been Fredericton's flagship green space ever since. It is the park locals default to: for a lunchtime walk, a first date, a stroller loop, a trail run, a family picnic, or just to show a visitor that yes, this small capital really does have an ancient forest hiding inside it. If you only visit one park while you are here, make it this one.

The trail network

Odell has about 16 kilometres of trails looping through the forest, and the nice thing is that you can make your walk as short or as long as you like. Wide, well-groomed gravel paths run from the main entrances and form the backbone, with narrower footpaths branching off into the trees. From the Rookwood Avenue lodge you can do a gentle 20-minute loop past the pond, or link paths together into a proper hour-plus circuit that climbs the slope to the back of the park.

The terrain is genuinely varied for a city park: flat and easy near the entrances, then rolling and rooty as you get up into the older forest. Trails are packed dirt and gravel, generally well signed, and stroller-and-sneaker friendly on the main routes, though the side paths get muddy after rain and rooty on the climbs. It is popular with runners and, in the shoulder seasons, mountain bikers use some of the singletrack. For a wider look at how Odell fits alongside the river trails and other options around town, our real guide to Fredericton trails lays out the whole network.

The old-growth stand

This is the part that makes Odell special rather than just nice. Tucked in the park is a stand of old-growth Acadian forest, dominated by eastern hemlock and white pine, where some of the trees are estimated to be more than 400 years old. That is rare anywhere in the Maritimes, where most forest has been logged at least once, and Odell has been recognised among the best old-growth forests in the country.

You do not need to be a botanist to feel it. The old hemlocks are huge, dark and close-canopied, the ground underneath is soft with centuries of needles, and the light goes green and quiet. On a hot summer day it is noticeably cooler in there. The park's mix of habitats (old-growth conifers on the cool lower slopes, spruce and fir higher up, hardwoods in between) also makes it one of the better spots for photos and for birding in the city, with warblers, tanagers and grosbeaks all turning up in season. Please stay on the trails through this section: the root systems and understorey are exactly what make an old forest fragile.

The arboretum and the New Brunswick tree collection

Built in 1985, the Odell Arboretum and New Brunswick Species Collection is a self-guided tree walk showcasing the province's native trees. It is laid out along a roughly 2.8-kilometre trail with around 41 species stations, so you can walk it as a loop and actually learn which conifer is which by the time you come out the other end. It is a genuinely good, low-key thing to do with kids who like a scavenger-hunt angle, or with anyone who has ever squinted at a tree and wondered what it was.

Fair warning: the arboretum took a beating from Tropical Storm Arthur back in July 2014, which tore down mature trees across the park, and you will still see gaps and younger replanting in places. It has recovered well, but it is a reminder that even a 400-year-old forest is not permanent. Interpretive signage identifies the species along the way, and it links up with the main trail network so you can fold it into a longer walk.

The Fredericton Botanic Garden next door

Wrapping around the west end of Odell is the Fredericton Botanic Garden, a separate non-profit-run space of about 21 hectares that most visitors treat as part of the same outing. It was established in 1969 on a hillside of terraces, streams and springs, and today holds close to 20 individual gardens designed to peak at different points across the growing season, including what is billed as the largest collection of rhododendrons in the province.

The best news: it is free and open all year, dawn to dusk. A central corridor path runs the length of the garden, with foot access straight in from Odell Park, or you can drive to it via Prospect Street near the ball fields or Cameron Court off Hanwell Road. Late spring into early summer, when the rhododendrons and azaleas are going, is the showstopper, but it is a pleasant, quiet stroll any time the ground is not frozen. Photographers, painters and wedding parties all use it, so on a golden June evening you will not be the only one there.

The pond, playground, picnic shelters and the lodge

Beyond the trees, Odell has the family stuff sorted. There is a duck pond (sometimes called the lily or waterfowl pond) near the main entrance that is a favourite short-loop destination, a children's playground, and picnic areas with tables and shelters scattered near the lodge end of the park. There is also a disc golf course laid out through part of the grounds if that is your thing.

The park is also home to a small deer pen and a resident population of deer, a long-standing quirk that kids tend to love. The centrepiece building is the Odell Park Lodge, a rentable hall with public washrooms that was, in a nice bit of local trivia, opened by the Queen Mother during a royal visit in 1967. You can book it through the City for gatherings, and it functions as the practical hub of the park: parking, washrooms and the start of most of the popular loops are all right there. If you are lining up a full day out with kids, our guide to Killarney, Mactaquac and Odell for families compares the three and helps you pick.

Odell in winter

Odell does not shut down when the snow comes, it changes jobs. The trails get used for cross-country skiing (parts are groomed) and snowshoeing, the slopes near the entrances become sledding hills that fill up with families on a fresh snow day, and the City sets up an outdoor rink for skating. The old hemlock stand under a load of snow, with almost nobody around, is one of the quietest and prettiest walks you can take in the city in January.

Bring proper footwear or traction cleats, because the packed main paths turn to ice. Skiers and snowshoers should share nicely and try not to walk down the set ski tracks. If winter trails are your thing, we go deeper in our guide to cross-country skiing and snowshoeing around Fredericton. Odell is the easiest, most central place to try it, no drive out of town required.

Dogs, parking, access and how it compares

Getting there and parking: the two main entrances are at 350 Rookwood Avenue (the lodge, playground and pond) and 695 Prospect Street, with the botanic garden reachable off Prospect near the ball fields or from Cameron Court off Hanwell Road. There are free parking lots at the main entrances. They are big enough most of the time, but on a sunny summer weekend or a good snow day the Rookwood lot fills, so arrive earlier or park on a nearby street.

Dogs: Odell is a popular dog-walking spot and they are welcome, but Fredericton bylaws require dogs to be leashed and cleaned up after in city parks, so keep the leash on and bring bags. (Confirm current rules with the City if you are counting on an off-leash area.)

How it compares: Fredericton has good green space, from the riverfront Green trail to Killarney Lake and the sprawling Mactaquac provincial park upriver. But nothing else in the city combines Odell's size, its central location and an actual old-growth forest. Killarney has the lake and the beach; the riverfront Green has the water views and the flat easy walking; Mactaquac has the day-trip scale. Odell is the one you can reach in five minutes and still feel genuinely lost in the woods. It is, quietly, the best park Fredericton has.