10 years ago
Somerset House
Ottawa, Ontario
Ottawa, Ontario
Ottawa, Ontario
Ottawa, Ontario
Ottawa, Ontario
Ottawa, Ontario
Recent status | Unknown |
Location # | 1061 |
Abandoned military communication facility!!
Not much left, the concrete foundation and outer walls remain, but otherwise the building was completely gutted. The main feature that makes this worth checking out is the - guesstimated - two hundred foot tall microwave tower. See photos.
Getting here is easy, drive by during daytime and you can see it from the road. Just North of the building there is a dirt parking lot leading to a small dirtbike course. From here there is a trail leading south to the site. Follow the trail until you come to a dirt road, head east on the dirt road continuing around the site until you come to the wide open gate in the surrounding fence.
Yes, I did climb the tower. However, I am a somewhat experienced climber. If you do not have good upper body strength - ie. you exercise regularly - DO NOT attempt the climb, your muscles will wear out halfway and you wont be able to get down. The view from the top is incredible. At the very top there is an obstacle, they welded a huge cable at the top section of ladder that makes it very hard to reach the top platform.
Even if you are an experienced climber you really should not attempt it, very very dangerous.
ADDED BY AZREAL, 2012:
I don't know much about the history other than what I've been told by a friend. This tower and building have been empty for a couple of decades.
Getting to the building:
At the corner of Old Prescott and Thunderbird Road: At the intersection of Old Prescott, coming off Thunderbird there is a trail directly across from Thunderbird that goes into the woods. Follow this trail until it brings you to an open field. Turn left and follow the filed up to another set of trails. You should clearly see the tower from the field. Good luck!
*Added by fiso, Oct, 2014
The site is actually a Mid Canada Line Test Fence Site (012). The wiki for the MCL is included below. What is more intriguing is that there were allegedly FOUR sites in the Ottawa area.....see the second link. Anyone?
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Be sure you also have the proper harness and safety gear, as well as bring a friend, with a cell phone. Don't forget Uninspected towers will fail eventually. Bolts are better then welds, so should last a while.
Thanks for coords. The GPS pegs it right on top of a pre-existing location. Merging the two together.
Thank you! I really did enjoy walking around this skeletonized building, and the friend that took me was old enough to be able to tell me what he remembered about the location before it degraded to what you see now.
Very interesting visuals inside the open-roof ruin. These kinds of abandoned ruins are, in my opinion, fun photographic locations.
1 year ago
Went here last summer, it’s still there if anyone’s wondering