This loop crosses the forest to the top of Mount Royal allowing a discovery of its fauna and flora. Beautiful views offer a unique perspective of the city and its history, including that of the Chalet which offers a stunning view all the way to the river. The tour includes a stop at the Smith House, headquarters of Les amis de la montagne. The house holds, among others, the permanent exhibition "Mount Royal, A Territory" which offers a comprehensive overview of Mount Royal: its history, its nature and its conservation issues.

Some tourist guidebooks, such as the Michelin Guide to Montreal, state that Mount Royal is an extinct volcano. The mountain is the deep extension of a vastly eroded ancient volcanic complex, which was probably active about 125 million years ago.^[1] The mountain was created when the North American Plate moved westward over the New England hotspot,^[1] along with the other mountains of the Monteregian Hills, by a process known as intrusion: The magma intruded into the sedimentary rocks underneath the area, producing at least eight igneous stocks. The main rock type is a gabbro composed of pyroxene, olivine and variable amounts of plagioclase. During and after the main stage of intrusion, the gabbros and surrounding rocks were intruded by a series of volcanic dikes and sills. Subsequently, the surrounding softer sedimentary rock was eroded, leaving behind the resistant igneous rock that forms the mountain.