The weather looked a little dubious as the three of us left to meet the multitude at Dorval, multitude did I say , well at least one person showed up, so of we set thinking about a short walk and early coffee. Arriving at the trail head three other walkers were already there, soon 6 other brave souls arrived and we were 13. Short walk and early coffee looked less likely now. Given the weather was still a little dubious I proposed going towards Lake Côté instead of Le Summet, secretly knowing we really did not have to decide for a least 3kms. Funnily enough no one else seemed to have any form of mapso they were at my mercy. Of we set up the heart pumping climb from the trail head (800 ft in about a kilometre) I put that in for Tom, he likes numbers. We then reached a larger trail that seemed to draw us along like a Siren, as it initiallyappeared to be going in the right direction. At this crucial point I became involved in a discussion with Egon perhaps instigated by those devilish Sirens, on the Wall Street demonstrations and it wasn’t for a while before I noticed the trail did not look right and referring to my gps confirmed the error, so we had to back track as I blamed Egon for the distraction. Soon we were back on the correct much smaller trail and heading forward. Unfortunately Bob P had a call which meant a return to Montreal. Linda and Joanna volunteered to also return to the parking lot rather than risk losing a single person in the woods. So we now down to 10.
Although we had some light showers the weather was looking good so the ascent to Le Summet was on, and we turned up the hill. Soon we reached the open summit and the cold wind, oh why had we not listened to those Sirens, still the sky was clear and the views excellent. Not staying too long, just enough to grab some food we searched for the trail to complete our loop. Fortunately hawk eye Helene took the lead with her crony Cheryl and they were able to follow the faded red markers on the rock. A message on my Blackberry Messenger confirm the returning trio had arrived safely at the parking lot and Linda and Joanna were going to climb a local viewpoint. The descent went without incident although it was quite steep and sometimes slippery, occasionally we came across crude benches where everyone sat down. I needed a crowbar to get them to their feet and moving again. Following a few random trails we eventually popped out at the trail head. Only one problem, my ride had gone, no car… However Linda did return having completed our original plan of a short walk and early coffee.
You all think I was joking about the Sirens, well I wasn’t , in the little shelter at the trail head was a pair of trousers but no legs. Looks like the Sirens had had a good day.