After a night of wining and dining at the annual X-mas dinner, a hearty group of 29 Beaver Tailers were able to rouse themselves for a 10:00 AM start at the 
suitably named Beaver Lake Chalet in the heart of Mount Royal Park. The weather was brisk and brilliant, and after a detailed route plan from President Ventser, we were off.
Up we went to the calèche road (Chemin Olmsted) where we headed down and down some more… to the big stairs. At the base of them, Mr. V pulled a fast one by leaping up on to a large boulder and revealing to all that he was leaving for another engagement, but not to worry, as we were now all in the capable hands of Scott Brydges. This proclamation generated a ripple of discontent as wee Scott is not well known in the Beaver Tails hiking group and has a very questionable sense of direction to boot. However, off we went with Christine in the lead and Ken clucking away, gathering in the stragglers.
A sharp left off from Olmsted Rd and on to the path up through the woods towards Camillien-Houde had us still on course. At this point, a regroup and democratic discussion was held where Scott realized why Tom needs an iron hand (and megaphone) to lead this club. So we went rogue and headed straight up to the Camillien-Houde lookout for superb views of the eastern side of Montreal.
This shortcut had two other benefits… 1st shortening the hike significantly and 2nd and more importantly… avoiding climbing the aforementioned stairs, from bottom to top. A quick turn around the top loop by ‘The Cross’ brought us out at the Belvédère (built in 1906 for those that were asking) and a perfect view over the southern side of the city. Now it was only a short (downhill) walk to either coffee at the Maison Smith for some, or back to the Beaver Lake starting point. Total distance covered was 8.2 km.
Mount Royal Park was established in 1876 and Montreal is one of the few cities that can boast of our own mountain park in the downtown. In short… we are blessed to have it and today we all appreciated this.