First day of Eastern Standard Time and a welcome reward of an extra hour in bed. Not only that but it was a bright sunny day if a trifle cool, and so 24 club members arrived at Val David to enjoy the day. It took a little time to gather together twenty people to get a club discount, the hard part was finding twenty people with the correct change as you have to make a bulk purchase.
A team formed to lead the walk with a welcome new route. Joann C had the map, Christine D searched for the trail, Rick B acted as the father figure and Ken B as the sweeper. And so we were off , the gates opened and the greyhounds sped into the distance towards Mont Césaire. Now the greyhounds did not know that the hare that they were chasing was a wily old hare and soon led them astray. Still after sniffing around a little and retracing some of our steps we were back on trail and starting a longish steep climb to the top of Mont Césaire and following a series of ups and downs, the view points. Impressive views from the top of the cliffs. Then down we went to join the 33 at the chalet and welcome toilets. A little rumbling was heard from the troops quoting someone’s comment about a “moderate hike and less climbing than Oka” with the result that a few decided, due to time restraints and the thought of more climbing to take the easier route back to the chalet, whilst the rests girded their loins and set off up. We were on more familiar ground now, passing the view point at Condor and finally the large terraced view point over looking Val David. A great spot to start the descent back to the Chalet. However the wily old hare had not finished with the greyhounds who were surprised to find that they were ascending the trail that the main group was descending. “this is not good” expressed one greyhound as tail between the legs they turned and retraced their steps to the correct trail.
A great day thanks to the team and a new route.
Now let’s explore “ But it is otherwise a moderate hike. The amount of climbing is actually a 
bit less than we do on the Oka hike” , a quote from someone’s email. Check out the profile in the jpg and draw your own conclusions.
Last post script: the days adventures were not over for some, Helene D misplaced her car keys somewhere on the trail however she was a member of CAA who duly arrived and opened the car. The team father figure and Duane H were still there with Helene and drove her home whilst the CAA duly delivered her car to her home a little later. All’s well that ends well.