I LOVE hiking at Mont Tremblant village. The trails are well maintained, the views are spectacular… And the best part? THE GONDOLA! You can hike up the mountain without having to hike back down!
Honestly it’s the perfect set up, especially for me at 35 weeks pregnant. The last time I hiked Mont Tremblant, I hiked the Grand-Prix des couleurs trail, which basically goes right up the mountain. It’s a much shorter route than the Grand-Brûlé trail, which clocks in at 5.7 km long.
I would say you should take one trail up and the other down, but the gondola… It’s right there! Plus Mont Tremblant is (apparently) the highest peak in the Laurentians so if you hike all the way up it you’ve earned a ride down.
Dogs are allowed on this hiking trail. It’s not open during the winter, which makes good sense as it crosses over a few of the ski runs. The gondola also shuts down for a period of time between the fall and winter season, so make sure to check the schedule before you go!
Views from one of the lookouts along the Grand-Brûlé Trail.
Quick Facts
Length: 6 km one way.
Difficulty: Moderate (On a scale of easy-moderate-hard)
Trailhead Coordinates: 46.213774, -74.584766.
Washroom at Trailhead: Yes
Dogs Allowed: Yes
Cell Reception: Good
Wheelchair Accessible: No
Parking: Paid parking in the village.
Getting There
The trailhead for the Grand-Brûlé trail (and most other hiking trails up Mont Tremblant) all start at the “top” of the village. WE usually try to get a parking spot at P1 (46.208704, -74.586584) or P8 (46.209330, -74.587799) because they’re the closest.
Then, we just start walking up the hill to the top of the village (the section where all the shops and restaurants are). If you start near the chairlift at the bottom and head up, you’ll find your way. At the “top” of the village the pavement ends and the ski hill starts- plus there’s a huge map of the trails posted so you’ll know you’re in the right spot. About a hundred metres further up the hill is another giant trail map. This is technically the start of the trailhead.
Look for these maps to find the trailhead.
The Ruisseaux Trail
To start out, we followed the Ruisseaux Trail up the mountain. This trail is marked by white and purple markers (all the trail markers match the colour of the trail on the map). Almost immediately, a Ruisseaux trail sign let us know we should turn right, off the wide-open path and into the forest. Here, two waterfalls traversed a tall open rock face. Not too shabby for only hiking about 300 metres!
We climbed up a few steep sets of stairs, which were cool because they brought us right up close to the waterfall. After hiking just 400 metres we reached the trail split where the Grand-Brûlé actually began. Here, a posted sign let us know that we had to head off to our right. The colour of the trail markers immediately changed from purple to maroon.
Stairs near the waterfall!
Trail Markers
The trail markers were painted onto trees most often. Where there were open swaths of land along the trail, markers were either painted onto rocks, or onto posts set up entirely for the purpose of marking the trail. The trail marking was super consistent, and we could always spot the next one as we hiked along.
Another neat thing was that at certain spots long the trail, signs were posted, labelled G-1 thru G-8. These spots were to allow for search and rescue services to pinpoint your location more easily if you were to call and need them. It’s a bit worrisome that these are necessary, and probably points to the fact that this trail IS tough and some people probably get in over their heads… But also a really nice safety feature at the same time.
Trail markers along the way.
Anyways… Then we crossed a short bridge that covered the creek feeding the waterfall- very cool.
The First Lookout
The terrain had already become fairly technical, with lots of roots and rocks demanding that we watch where we placed our feet. This eased up at various points along the trail, but never consistently or for very long!
At 800 metres we arrived at a mountain bike trail, turning right and walking along it for just a few metres before a sign directed us back into the forest on our left-hand side.
Continuing along, we arrived at a lovely little lookout after hiking 1.35 km. Here there was a bench situated atop the open rock face, making it a lovely spot to sit and enjoy the view.
Views from the first lookout.
The trail alternated between being somewhat steep, and giving us breaks where it was flatter for a little ways. In this way, despite it being twice the length of the Grand-Prix des Couleurs Trail, it was kind of easier.
The trail itself also varied- for the most part it was so skinny that we had to walk single file, but there were also sections where it randomly widened up, or where we crossed over open ski runs, and could walk side by side.
We had come the day after an incredibly heavy rainfall, and so many of the sections of the trail were muddy and wet. In most spots where the water collected and was deep, there were short foot bridges in place to help us navigate and keep our feet dry (ish).
At 2.03 km the trail widened up a ton, and we could see the hill that we still needed to climb ahead of us. Here, it was obvious that a lot of water travelled down hill as it had brought tons of rocks with it over time. We carefully made our way up the hill.
This picture does NOT do the number of rocks justice.
A Second Lookout!
Despite the map saying there was only one lookout along the trail, we arrived at a second amazing view after hiking 3.9 km. There was no bench here, but I liked this view better and think the open rock face here would make a great spot for a lunch break.
Here, the composition of the forest also changed, and we found ourselves surrounded by rock, evergreens, and lichen everywhere. I absolutely love the “alpine” feel that accompanies this type of terrain so this was absolutely my favorite section of the trail.
Near the 5 km mark, we found ourselves hiking around a tiny little lake (pond?). Then, we crossed over a few ski runs.
Not the easiest terrain we’ve ever hiked along, but the views were worth it!
Almost There
About a kilometre later, we arrived at the trail split for the “Tour du Timbre” Trail. Here, we knew we had under a kilometre left to get to the top of the mountain.
The last kilometre proved to be fairly annoying.
…But I may have just been tired! It was super rocky, but with small and medium sized, loose rocks which meant you really had to pay attention to your feet. There was also a TON of run off- as we were walking up, water was running down the trail and over our toes.
This is not a picture of annoying rocks, it’s a picture of how little footbridges were in place to get us through the wet sections of trail (in most spots!).
After hiking 6.7 km we arrived at a maintenance road. Soon after, we arrived at the trail split for the 360 trail. A gravel road to our right brought us up one final steep hill, and then we were at the summit!
Trail Thoughts
The summit has a lot of cool stuff, like an observation tower and a food truck. I was most interested in the chairs to sit at and the gondola to bring me down the hill!
By the time we arrived at the top we had hiked a total of 6 km. It had taken us just under 4 hours. I don’t think it normally would have taken us that long, but I was moving slow and needed a lot of breaks.
It was noticeable colder at the top (as it is with most mountains), so we were happy to have our jackets. We were able to buy a one-way ticket for the gondola at the top. It was less than $7 each and the best money I’ve ever spent.
In conclusion, this hike was hard and the gondola is a joy.
I’m officially back in love with Mont Tremblant village and can’t wait to head back!
Map and Elevation Gain
Our GPS tracked route up the mountain. Trailhead is on the left, summit on the right.
Whenever I’m hiking somewhere new, I tend to wonder about who was on, and who took care of that land before me. I’ve enjoyed using this website as a place to start learning more about the Indigenous people whose land I’m on: Native-land.ca.
Elevation gain along the trail. It’s a lot!
OMG! I’ve hiked down the shortest route possible and was stiff and sore for days afterward. And you have hiked up within a week or so of your due date for delivering a baby and rate it as a moderate hike. My hat certainly is off to you!
Jim, you’re the sweetest!