Hiking Mont Tremblant - Casino Edition

Ever start a hike on such a beautiful path?

By now, you may have read my other posts about hiking in the Mont Tremblant area, both at the ski resort and in the National Park.  The hiking is excellent at either location and they offer a wide range of trails at all levels, not to mention the gorgeous scenery.  This past weekend Karen and I tried something a little different, and definitely off the beaten path: we started our hike at the Casino!  That's right, and we even played a few hands of blackjack before we started.  Here's how we did it.

First, we drove to the Casino, which is about a five minute drive from the main ski resort area.  If you're lucky enough to be there when the Casino gondola is running, definitely take advantage as it's the quickest way there and the views are amazing.  It only runs on Friday and Saturday nights, and Sunday afternoons from 11-6, so perhaps a Sunday hike!  But if you're driving, you'll find ample parking in the lot as long as you get to the Casino before about 3pm, when the gamblers start turning up.  Walk towards the casino, but look just to the left of the building and you'll find a covered staircase leading down to a beautiful brick walkway.  This paved walkway was built in part to accommodate the throngs of casino visitors from the ski resort, which hasn't materialized, in part probably because they run the gondola so infrequently.  Anyway, Turn left at the walkway and follow it along until you get to the gondola station.  Turn right here and head towards the Soleil chair lift.

Still some snow in May by the Soleil chairlift

It's kind of weird seeking the ski hill with no snow...after months of skiing down this wonderful slope, it now looks more like a farmer's pasture.  Since we did this hike in May, there actually was still some snow on the hill in a couple spots, and of course I had to take full advantage and make a couple snow balls.  What perhaps best about doing this in May is that there is still considerable snow melt run-off, so we ran into a couple of amazing waterfalls right at the base of the mountain.  I'm a sucker for waterfalls so this made my day.

Anyway, we continued past the chair lift and in the distance was a wide, slowly rising trail.  This is the green run on the Soleil side of the mountain.  We made our way up this gentle slope and enjoyed seeing a few of the multi-million dollar houses built along the trail.  The views across the Laurentians here are quite different than what you get on most of the other Mont Tremblant lookout points, and that's what we came for.

We had limited time so had t turn around in fairly short order, but the hike promised to be a good one with a gradual ascent to the top.  We'll add to this post once we've done it.  If you beat us to, do let me know and I'll be happy to add your comments to this post!

Not the greatest packing snow...

Great waterfall