Alfred Kelly Nature Reserve: Beautiful Hike From Montreal

Alfred Kelly Nature Reserve is one of my favourite spots to hike near Montreal. There are 15 km of free hiking trails that you can discover, I’ve barely even scratched the surface!

In the Laurentians, the Alfred Kelly Nature Reserve is part of two towns; Prévost and Peidmont. It’s known for being home to 80% of Quebec’s birds of prey species, so you might get lucky and spot one!

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Driving To Alfred Kelly Nature Reserve

On a good day, it’s only a 45 minute drive from the Montreal (that means without any traffic). This makes it one of the closer hikes to do from the city that you can easily do in half a day. We’ve woken up early for a morning hike, but have also gone after lunch.

As I mentioned, it’s so large that there are actually different entrances to start from, although the quickest access would be from the Prévost entrance. I didn’t even know there was a second entrance in Piedmont for a while because Google Maps will automatically bring you to Prévost. 

Both entrances have free parking, and reach countless trails. Prévost would be the easier entrance to park in and access Alfred Kelly Nature Reserve. Here, there are two parking lots behind the restaurants. I’ve noticed they tend to fill up quickly, but there’s always countless street parking you can find. 

Read More: Unbeatable Hikes Near Montreal

Be Wary Of The Piedmont Entrance

The Piedmont entrance is a bit of a different story. The website makes it seem as though the Piedmont entrance to Alfred Kelly is quite simple to reach. Find directions to the Piedmont entrance more information here. You pretty much drive all the way down Chemin de la Rivière until you reach the end of the road.

You’re parking on a narrow road, and there are only a few places to park. The few times we went, we were lucky and always had a decent spot. But we saw some cars parked mostly in a snow bank. 

What they don’t tell you though, is that it’s another 30 minute walk to the entrance of Alfred Kelly from where you park. 

It’s a beautiful hike through the Piedmont park, although it isn’t the easiest. It’s all uphill, so by the time we reached the actual entrance to Alfred Kelly we turned back. We also went in the winter, so it was 45 minutes to get there with our big boots and we were EXHAUSTED!

I’d love to come back in the summer and see if I can make it any further!

Every Season At Alfred Kelly

What I love most about Alfred Kelly is that you can come here regardless the season (yep, even during winter!).

Hiking at Alfred Kelly during the summer months is definitely the easiest. The trails are clean (no slippery mud) and it’s 90% in the shade so you stay a lot cooler. But you’ll have to make a point to visit in the fall because the colours are unreal!

Favourite Season To Visit: The Fall

If you can only choose one month to hike at Alfred Kelly, it has to be during the fall. The leaves on the ground and the view of the lake is arguably the best with the colourful reflection in the water.

Fall in Montreal is also the perfect hiking weather; it’s not too hot or too cold! Plus it’s good to get out as much as possible during the fall before winter hibernation starts.

Adventures In The Winter

Visiting Alfred Kelly in the winter is an ADVENTURE to say the least! The trails are almost unrecognizable with all the extra snow on the ground! Sometimes it’s hard to know which way to go because they aren’t too well defined. But, you figure it out eventually!

The ice patches you slip on while trying to walk uphill are a bit harder to avoid though. We were slipping and falling all the time. We even started keeping score of who fell more! So although trekking through the snowy/icy path was hard, it was also a lot of fun!

In the winter, there are also extra trails for cross country skiers and snow shoers. You can also go ice climbing… although, I don’t think I’ll be trying that anytime soon!

How Are The Trails At Alfred Kelly

As I said, The Alfred Kelly Nature Reserve is HUGE! It’s 15 km of trails, so I’ve only been on a few so far.

What I like the most about the trails at Alfred Kelly is that it has a good mix of uphill, downhill, and flat paths. It can make for a decent cardio workout! There’s some uphill that’s quite steep and rocky at certain points.

There are several trail options depending on how long you want to hike for. We’ve done one hour all the way up to 3 hour hikes there.

If you start in Prévost, you’ll start on the MOC trail for about 20 minutes. I’ll admit this is the hardest part of the trail, and there’s no way to avoid it. The MOC path leads to other trails like the Tour du Lac, JE, and Mount Shaw.

Sometimes you might see that a private property sign on the trial, which you can’t walk on. There are other signs saying you’re simply leaving the reserve though. These are totally fine to continue hiking on, the trail continues a bit after. 

A Must-See: Lac Paradis

After hiking 20 minutes on MOC you’ll reach the Tour du Lac (lake tour). This path will take you to Paradise Lake and loop you around. This is an absolute must-do at Alfred Kelly. Paradise Lake is BEAUTIFUL!

The lake always seems to be so calm which makes for the most serene reflections, I swear, I could stare at it all day.

Once you arrive at the lake, it’s only a 10 minute walk around. So the hike would take an hour total to walk to the lake, around it, and back.

Once you’re on the other side of the lake though, you’ll have access to a few more trail options. If you’re visiting during the winter, this is where you’ll find ice climbing, snow showing, and cross country skiing paths.

Hiking To The Peak: Mount Shaw

Mount Shaw is a short hike up to the peak of the hill. Again, you’ll break off from MOC to walk on the Mount Shaw trail. Be aware that there isn’t a view point once you arrive at the top though.

Normally, there are other paths that you can loop you back down, but when we visited they were closed. It’s about 30 minutes to walk up and down Mount Shaw.

Nonetheless, it’s a good quick uphill to do that takes about an hour from start to finish.

Key Takeaways Before Hiking Alfred Kelly

Hiking Alfred Kelly from Montreal gives you a vast array of hiking trails for all hiking levels. I especially love the view of Paradise Lake, but be aware that when you hike to any of the peaks, there aren’t any views. You’ll mainly get a view of the highway and some Laurentian homes. It isn’t spectacular at all to say the least.

I also like paths that loop (taking a separate path up and down, so you have a different hiking experience). From the Prévost entrance, although there are several trails they don’t loop. It’s always the same trail both way. I did notice that when we went a lot of the trails were closed, so this could have been why.

The quality of the path is sometimes not the easiest either, you can be walking on some difficult terrain. There are rocks you have to climb, or even trees that have fallen down on the path that have to jump over. We’ve always seen a lot of families hiking this trail with young children, but I don’t know if it’s the safest.

Another downside to Alfred Kelly is that dogs aren’t allowed. It really limits those wanting to take their furry friends out for the day with them. Unfortunately, Alfred Kelly is not going to be the place for you.

But, the biggest issue is actually the lack of any bathrooms! You can also go into one of the restaurants at the entrance in Prévost, or drive to the Gare de Piedmont where there are bathrooms. 

My Hiking Must-Haves

Before you hike anywhere, the AllTrails app is a MUST to have downloaded on your phone. This gives you all the trail information you need.

You can also get walking sticks to help with the incline, I don’t use them but my mom swears by them!

We never go on a hike without our Nomader Collapsible water bottles. We love that it has a string to hold onto them by, we let it dangle on our wrists (like I said, we’re not serious hikers). Once we finish with one, we squish it up and put it in our bag.

More Montreal Guides!

• Unbeatable Hikes An Hour Or Less Away From Montreal!
• Easy Bike Paths Near Montreal
• The ultimate guide to McGill’s Morgan  Arboretum

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Last update on 2024-04-29 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API