P'tit Train du Nord

Antoine Labelle, curé of Saint-Jérôme, pushed for a railway into the Laurentians in the 1870s and 1880s as a way to open land for settlement and stop French Canadians leaving for the mills of New England; the line reached Mont-Laurier in 1909. It carried settlers, timber and, from the 1920s, the ski trains that made the Laurentians a winter destination. Passenger service ended in 1981 and the corridor became a rail trail of two hundred and thirty-two kilometres, mostly stone dust and flat, with old stations converted into cafes, information points and shelters along the way.

What you actually see

• The converted stations - old depots as cafes and rest stops along the route.
• The flat grade - a railway alignment with almost no climbing.
• The Laurentian landscape - lakes, rivers and forest through the corridor.
• The settlement history - Curé Labelle's line and its colonisation purpose.

When to go

June to October for cycling; the northern sections become groomed cross-country ski and snowmobile trails in winter, with the use varying by segment. Autumn colour is the best season.

Honest expectations

A trail pass is charged on maintained sections. Some segments are shared with snowmobiles in winter, which rules out skiing there. Services along the route are seasonal.

Nearby

Mont-Tremblant lies on the route; Montreal is south.