We didn't get to stay in France for very long. We started our morning early in hopes to get a lot of hiking done before it got too hot. Unfortunately none of the hotels served breakfast before 7:30 so we never got to start too early. This day started with a beautiful flat walk through the Chamonix valley. We look so innocent. We have no idea what we are getting ourselves into:)
Once we got 6 miles in we walked through Argentiere. Then we started hiking some nice rolling hills.
They are having a heat wave in Switzerland this year so we got to hike in unusually hot weather. While it was hot it was not as hot as Utah or California so luckily training in our states more than prepared us for the heat. And we were quite fortunate because typically everyone gets rained on and we really didn't.
8.5 miles in we hit the first gondola and ski lift. Virginia and I had previously decided that we might split up in these situations in order to save time and energy (there is a few years age difference between us). She decided to ride up and I got 3.5 miles of straight uphill with very few switchbacks and no shade.
The views were amazing as I slowly watched the beautiful little Chamonix valley get smaller and smaller.
Really such a great place to hike.
The uphill was hard and I felt my legs really starting to notice the increased elevation. But who doesn't like their legs to burn a little when working out?
The views and the wildflowers were breathtaking. It was so nice to finally be hiking in the Alps.
I was hiking up to the Col de Balme which is the border between France and Switzerland. On the top of the Col it is Switzerland and there is a nice little refuge called the refuge of col de balme.
Look at the amazing French alps in the back.
The many signs that greet you on the trail!
Saying goodbye to France at the Col. I hope to go again someday! I borrowed someones picture because I totally forgot to take one....LAME! That is Mt. Blanc to the left there. It's a massive mountain.
Greeting Switzerland from the Col.
My thought at this view was where exactly is my lodging for the night. You definitely could not see it from here. That meant we had a long way to go.
Due to some miscommunication between Viginina and myself we were exhausted by the time we got to this Col. We had hiked a long time and knew we had a ways to go. We started the steep descent and the going was rather slow.
We finally made into Trient at dark which was about 9:30pm. We had been hiking all day. As it started to get dark we started frantically looking for our accommodations. Luckily a nice couple noticed us limping and exhausted and pulled over to help. Unfortunately the news was bad. Our hotel was a 45 minute hike up a different mountain. Seeing, what I can only guess was, despair in our faces they took pity on us and offered us a ride to our hotel. We obviously jumped in the car before they could change their mind. I will love that couple forever. This began our journey of meeting some of the most amazing people ever. We got into the hotel just after 10. They made us an amazing dinner and we showered and went to bed. I hiked between 17-20 miles this day and have never been so happy to sleep!
No comments:
Post a Comment