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Belmont Park is the emerald jewel of Lakeside Heights. Its official pedestrian trail runs west from Parkdale Avenue, then meanders south, sloping down to the corner of Coolbreeze and Belmont. If you enter the park from the west or south, you can walk up the steep Sunnyside Hill and enjoy the view all the way to Lake Saint-Louis. Entering the park from the northern segment of Sunnyside Avenue will allow you to access the hill with a fraction of the effort. The eastern exit on Parkdale also connects to a green path leading to the schools on Broadview and Summerhill.

I’ve always marvelled at how beneficial the Belmont Park path can be. Some locals walking to school in the morning can follow the path to the northeast, while others who need to get to the train station or bus loop can follow the path south, and a short walk will take you the rest of the way there. For those just passing through who want to stop and contemplate life, there are several benches, each offering a beautiful view. There’s even a rock wall surrounding a wooden bridge that overlooks a small creek and one of two rainwater gardens.

The paved path through the park is incredibly useful, which made me wonder who built it, when, and why? The city was able to tell me that the Canadian Pacific Railway had a right-of-way path there until the land was transferred to the city in 1955. They told me that an Agglomeration water main runs beneath the path through the park, and likely the path’s paving happened right after that infrastructure was laid. The city also said the trail was likely paved around 1960 when Lindsay Place High School, now St. Thomas, was constructed.

My guess is that the paved trails through the park are the culmination of what started as “desire paths” — something created when people repeatedly walk the shortest or easiest way between two places. They couldn’t be improved in any way. This is why I was a little nervous when I saw a fence being erected on Sunnyside Hill in early February. While it’s true that fewer of us walk up and down the path in the winter, it is still an effective way to get where you’re going. Would whatever they were building obstruct the hill entirely and prevent us from accessing this very useful path?

Through the power of social media, I learned that the city had contracted Snotech to build a month-long version of the much-enjoyed snow park that had been erected for two weekends last winter. Specializing in urban winter installations, their website lists its main objective as collaborating with municipalities to create unique setups that bring together multiple winter sports in one location.

Snotech knew the assignment in Belmont Park. What impressed me most was that these builders clearly understood the necessity of allowing the unrestricted flow of people and dogs up and down Sunnyside Hill while snow park fun was happening at the same time.

The snow park was up for four weeks in total, and each time I walked past it was being used and appreciated, sometimes by classes of school children and their teachers. It was nice to see folks enjoying the outdoors, despite the colder temperatures.

We are lucky to have so much public greenspace in Pointe-Claire, and thanks to good city planning, we can appreciate it across the seasons. We can enjoy Terra-Cotta Natural Park’s groomed trails all winter and its wood-chipped paths and well-maintained trees the rest of the year. Valois Park offers baseball, splash pads, swimming, and tennis in summer and two skating rinks in winter.

But Belmont Park will always remain the jewel of Pointe-Claire for me because, no matter the season, it is always the perfect place to spend time outdoors, enjoying our beautiful city.