La Boucle de Centenaire, a 9.6 km Hike in Mont Tremblant National Park

This summer my husband and I headed to Mont Tremblant National Park for two days without our kids. The entire Mont Tremblant region has so much to offer and I feel like we’ve just started scratching the surface, so I was excited to go!

We camped in the Secteur de la Diable, and hiked two of the longer trails in that part of the park while we were there. This trail is about La Boucle de Centenaire, which was way harder (but a little more rewarding) than Le Toit-des-Laurentides, which we hiked on our second day in the area.

Quick Facts

Length: 9.6 km
Difficulty: Hard
Trailhead Coordinates: 46.281328, -74.531827
Washroom at Trailhead: Yes
Dogs Allowed: No
Cell Reception: None
Wheelchair Accessible: No
Parking: Yes.
Cost: $9.85 for a daily access pass to Mont Tremblant National Park
Open in Winter: Yes

 

Getting There

The trailhead for La Boucle de Centenaire is near the de la Sablonnière campground, in the Secteur de la Diable. This part of Mont Tremblant National Park is the most southwest part of the park, and closest to Mont Tremblant Village.

Driving into the park along Chemin du Lac-Supérieur, there’s a 4 way intersection where we turned to the right to access the campground, parking, and the trailhead.

There was a big brown sign at the trailhead, making it super easy to find.

The Trail

Setting out the trail was super wide and flat. It was actually such easy walking that at first I thought the park had maintained it and put sand down… but I think there’s just a lot of sand in that section of the park! We walked along for half a kilometre before the trail connected to the campground – so you could actually roll right out of your tent and hike this trail. We made a hard left, following the posted arrow.

There was a trail marker that noted when we had hiked to 1 km, although these would prove untrustworthy as we continued along.

At 1.3 km we reached a picnic table with a lovely view over the river. Soon after, we hiked up a set of natural rock stairs and the trail immediately changed. We had our first real taste of elevation gain, and we were now walking single file, dodging roots with every footstep as we continued along. And a few rocks, but this trail was seriously root-y.

Trail Markers

We also started to spot trail markers for the first time around this mark. Up until this point there had been no need for them as the trail was so wide. From here on the yellow markers were fairly consistent, with a few orange ones thrown in for fun, but the trail was also so well-worn with so few herd paths that we never once thought we might have lost it.

After walking just 1.6 km we got another little lookout through the trees on our right-hand side. 2 km in was marked on the trail, but we wouldn’t see another one of these for quite some time (and when we did see it, it would be inaccurate because the trail had been rerouted in years past).

The Loop + Lookout

We continued to travel uphill, with one steep downhill thrown in for fun, and then we arrived at the trail split that formed the loop of the trail after hiking 3 km. There was a sign posted here with an arrow pointing us ahead, instead of off to our left, and so we mindlessly followed the sign.

The trail had been steep up until this point, and we continued to huff and puff our way along after the split. Just after 4 km, we approached the first of several stunning lookouts. It had taken us an hour and a half to get to this point and it was a HOT day, so we sat here for a bit to rehydrate and eat some snacks while enjoying the view.

Then, just beyond the lookout we headed downhill (fairly steeply!). We hiked along a ridge where it dropped off very sharply on our right-hand side – this is a spot where you’d want to be extra careful with kids and dogs.

More Lookouts!

We passed a trail split at 4.4 km that we hadn’t seen indicated on any map that we had viewed so far. Posted signage indicated that La Vache Noir was to our right, and that the trail leading there was only open during the summer. This offshoot would have added an additional 6 km to our hike, so we decided to skip it as our quads were already talking to us about all the uphill.

For our efforts, we were rewarded with a second lookout at 4.6 km and then another at 4.8 km! The first and the last lookout were probably the best to stop and rest at, as they were a little more open to the view. Immediately after the last lookout we climbed the steepest section of trail we had seen so far.

Continuing along, after hiking 5 km we passed a trail sign that said “3.5 km,” but we knew that was inaccurate and wondered how the trail had been rerouted over the years. We continued heading downhill and noted that this direction seemed to have us going downhill on steeper sections, so if you were to hike the looped section clockwise instead, you would find yourself going UP the steeper side.

Trail Thoughts

We arrived back at the trail split after hiking 6.4 km, and headed back down the trail the way we had come. Our legs and feet were tired, so we were very happy to get back on the last kilometre of trail that was so flat and easy on our feet.

When we arrived back at the trailhead, we had hiked a total of 9.6 km, and it had taken us 3 hours and 40 minutes. We had also covered 1411 feet of ascent, and we were tired!

I found this trail more challenging than Le Toit-des-Laurentides despite being shorter, because it felt much steeper. But I also found it more rewarding, because the views were so lovely, and we got there more quickly! I can’t wait to visit more of Mont Tremblant National Park in the future.

Map and Elevation Gain

I acknowledge that I live and recreate on stolen land. You can use this website to learn more about the Indigenous people whose land I’m on: Native-land.ca.

Gear We Brought

Daypacks
5 litres of water (between 2 of us)
Lunch + snacks
Sunscreen
Bug Spray
Hat + Sunglasses
Map
Compass
Headlamp
First Aid Kit
Platypus Water Filter
Hiking Boots
Hiking Poles
Garmin inReach + Whistle