Overview
For over seventy years, the MOC has offered its members a chance to escape the stresses of the city by staying at our House in the Laurentian town of Prevost! Located 45 minutes north of Montreal by car, the House is a great place to relax and spend the night after a day of hiking, climbing, skiing, shinny, or swimming! The house is heated and has a two stove kitchen, four bedrooms, and two bathrooms.
The house is actually now owned by FPAM which the MOC has an agreement with to use. There is some interesting history behind this arrangement which you can read here if you are interested.
Who’s invited?
Any MOC member may stay at the House and bring up to two guests each.
The House is communal – you could be sharing it with others who booked slots.
House Fees
Members
- $15 first night, $10 first night if sleeping outside.
- $10 each night thereafter, $5 each night thereafter if sleeping outside.
Guests
- $20 first night, $15 first night if sleeping outside.
- $15 each night thereafter, $10 each night thereafter if sleeping outside.
How to stay at the House in 3 easy steps
- Check the booking calendar for availability.
- Fill out the form below the calendar (one per person!) and click send.
- House Management will review your booking and get back to you with details.
TIPS
- If you are a member bringing non-member guests (max 2 per member), write down their names in the appropriate box.
- If you do not know your MOC number, log in to your MyTurn account: https://mcgilloutdoorsclub.myturn.com/library/myTurnLogin/auth
and go to your account info
Official House Rules
Please read the house rules before you go.
Respecting other MOC members, guests, and our neighbours and friends in the town of Prevost is very important! Please help us do our part to maintain our relationship with the community.
MOC House Rundown
- It’s in a village, with other houses all around.
- It’s accessed via two doors at the back that have lockboxes for the keys.
- There is a driveway on the lot. It can sometimes be very snowed over. There are shovels in the shed between the two access doors. There is a municipal lot at the park around the corner that also provides overnight parking. There is no street parking allowed.
- There is also public transit access. From Montmorency metro there is an exo bus that goes to St-Jerome, and from De La Concorde metro there is an exo train that goes to St-Jerome. From the St-Jerome dropoff, the same for both train and bus, there is a regional bus service called Transport Laurentides that will take you to Prévost. You have to call the stop. I believe that they only accept cash on the spot. Alternatively between St-Jerome and Prévost, there is a rail trail called the P’tit Train du Nord whose snow gets groomed for xc skiing in the winter.
- The House has the following amenities:
- a kitchen with a sink, two stoves, a fridge, cooking ware, flour salt and sugar, dish soap,
- electric heat plus a wood fireplace with wood free to use in the shed,
- two indoor washrooms stocked with toilet paper and soap. One washroom has a shower.
- foam mattresses, and rarely washed sleeping bags and pillows
- hot water tank (located in the downstairs washroom)
- The House does not provide clean bedding, towels, nor dish cleaning tools.
- The House has a gear room with skates pucks and sticks, xc ski gear, and snowshoes available at low daily rates between 50 cents and four dollars. Those fees can be paid in cash into the honesty box just outside the gear room, by etransfer with note of what the payment is for, or at office hours after the stay.
- On departure, return the thermostats to 10 degrees, make sure everything is closed and locked, and put your waste out in the large bins that we keep in a row along the street beside the driveway, somewhat spaced out because the garbage truck picks them up with a robotic arm.
- The House is community maintained in return for its low price per person, so apart from regular cleanup, we much appreciate users doing things they see that could be done.
- The Alfred-Kelly nature reserve, which has a fee to enter, contains the MOC trails, which were made by MOCers in the mid-20th century in collaboration with Jackrabbit Johanssen, who was a frequent House guest at the time. The trails are very hilly, and can be hiked, showshoed, or xc skiied, but skiing will get you skeptical looks from other trail users and sees many fall.
- The P’tit Train du Nord has flat, groomed trails and runs right through town.
- the Parc Régional du Rivière du Nord has lovely forest trails along the river for free.
- At the park around the corner with the overnight parking, there is a stellar outdoor rink.
- And while the House isn’t isolated, it gets many amenities, including a brand new Metro grocery store that has opened up on the highway 117 a 7 min walk away, and the Shawbridge brewery with great beer, such as the famous ‘Shaw Light.’
MOC Trails
Over many decades, the MOC helped cut most of the trails in the Prévost area, and we continue to help maintain them. They are great for hiking and cross-country skiing. In Fall 2013, the MOC created a new map of the trail network. Bring a copy with you when you head up and enjoy the trails!
Detailed Biking Directions to Prevost
- From Gouin Boulevard, go North at the railroad tracks across an old railroad bridge into Laval.
- Continue to follow signs for the Route Verte 1 (they can be tricky). You should be continually moving NNW.
- Turn left onto the Boulevard-Sainte-Rose.
- Turn right onto the bridge out of Laval. There will be a bike path across the bridge and then it will kind of peters out. This is the only segment without a solid bike path. You will be biking along the Curé-Labelle (117N) for about 3km.
- Turn right on Chemin de la Cote Saint Louis. You are back on a bike path!
- Turn left on Route Verte 2.
- Continue to follow signs for the Route Verte 2 all the way to St Jerome, where it turns into the P’tit Train du Nord.
- Continue along the P’tit Train until kilometer 14, the old Prévost Train Station.
- Turn left onto rue de la Station. You are now within 500 meters of the House. If you’ve reserved your spot and paid your house fees, then you know the exact address and how to get the key. If you haven’t shame on you.
- Google Maps of the directions above
History
The house has been under the auspices of the club since 1954. Numerous improvements have been made, mostly by members themselves. We are quite handy, (and cheap!) so we welcome anyone with experience in home repair to contact us! You can read more about the purchase of the house here.
Interested in helping AT the House?
The general rule for house work is that 4-5 hrs of work is worth one night’s free stay. If people do more in a day, we cover transportation or food, or both. Work should be pre-approved by the house managers – unless it’s an emergency, of course!
Also, any expenses can be reimbursed or subtracted from house fees owed – but we ask that basic supplies only be bought in small amounts from Prévost when absolutely necessary – since ideally we are told in advance and buy them in bulk in Montreal and bring them up (because it’s cheaper).
For house custodian, the main responsibilities are to:
- Ensure the house is kept clean and rules are respected
- Maintain an accurate head count
- Collect house fees
- Report the condition of the house (if work needs to be done, and what supplies are getting low)
For taking care of this, members get a free nights’ stay. If there’s some work that specifically needs to be done (like mowing the lawn), and we really need someone to go up on a specific weekend, then we would cover transportation as well.
House Custodians are pre-arranged, and expected to fill out a form after each visit detailing how much money was collected, how many people were at the house, a checklist of what supplies are present, the general condition of the house, what extra work they did (if any), and how much transportation reimbursement is requested.
If you would like to be put on the contact list of house custodians, email the house manager!