Mont Tremblant National Park

Vache Noir, near the Diable entrance

The most popular posting we have on this blog is about hiking in the Mont Tremblant National Park. After a couple of amazing visits to the park in October 2013, we realized we didn't have an entry about the park itself and some of it great features, hence this post.  Here are a few key items we'd like to pass along, in no particular order:

1. Shuttle to the park!  If you're staying in the Tremblant resort and don't have a car, you can now access the Mont Tremblant National Park via the daily shuttle. It runs from early July to mid-October, several times daily from the Place des Voyageurs.  This gives you easy access to the canoe/kayak trips, Via Ferrata and all the hiking the park has to offer.  Full details are available on the Tremblant website.
2. Free access for locals.  If you have a place in the Tremblant area, your "carte citoyen" now gets you access to the park for free.  Just drop by with your card at the visitor's centre inside the Diable entrance gates, and they'll issue you a pass valid for the entire year!  Thereafter, you can breeze past the visitor centre, flash your card at the security checkpoint, and they'll provide you a day pass to hand on your rear view mirror.
3. Diable entrance.  There are several sectors and entrances to the park, and the Diable entrance (named for the major river that runs through it) is the closest to Tremblant.  You get there by taking Chemin du Lac Superieur, about 10 minutes north of the actual Town of Lac Superieur.  The road is well signed so no problems finding your way.  This sector is loaded with offices...the first is immediately on your right, where you can get information and sign up for activities.  It was still active as of the writing of this post although I suspect this office is being phased out.  Just a few metres past this office, you pass through a checkpoint with park officials, and then the next office is about 10km north, this time on your left at Lac Monroe.  This is where we checked in for our kayak trip (it was awesome...read about it) and there's also a mini-grocery store here for the campers.  About a minute further along the road and at the top of Lac Monroe is the beautiful new Discovery Centre, and I believe this is where the park plans to conduct more business after they close the first building near the entrance. 
   

View of Lac Monroe from the Discovery Centre