Tuesday August 1, 25.8km/16.0mi

Lac Des Isclots (389.0km/2398m) (France) to La Besurta Trailhead (414.8km/2000m) (España)

Today was expected to be one of the most difficult days on the trail, so we got an early start at 6:30.

The other campers at the lake were still in their tents, only the frogs were awake to see us hike by.

We hiked up to the next lake, and could see our campsite behind us at Lac Des Isclots.

Surprisingly, there were sheep way up here.

Adam coming up the talus climb behind me.

It was a slow climb up to the pass, Col des Gourgs-Blancs. So much talus!

Two hours after we had left camp, we arrived at the top of the pass.

Pretty grand views from an elevation of 2877m.

The descent down the other side of the pass was quite steep, and we took our time to find the best way down.

At the bottom of the largest talus field, I saw a large piece of ice under the rocks. At that point I realized we were technically hiking on a glacier. Cool!

It took us about an hour to hike to the next pass, Col du Pluviomètre. The talus was never ending.

There are some little tarns hiding between the rockpiles which was a nice surprise.

I even got to hike on a little patch of snow for about 10m. Sweet.

From the top of the pass, Col du Pluviomètre, I could see the little tarn behind me, and Adam coming up a few minutes later.

The view down into the next valley was filled by a giant lake, Lac du Portillon.

But first, the trail went over that gently sloping peak on the left edge of the photo. The trail was easier to hike now.

It was pretty quick to the top, which was basically a large flat plateau.

And it had a grand view of the lake, Lac du Portillon, and the hut which is just below the dam.

Half an hour later we were at the hut and bought some lunch.

We both decided that an omelette was the best calories for our money, and it was a ton of food. I was feeling a little full, but we still had one more pass to hike over. So we crossed the dam and started up the next climb.

For a very short stretch the trail skirted just above the lake on a narrow ledge.

From there we had about an hour climb up to the final pass for the day, Col Inférieur de Literole. Of course there was talus.

Adam coming up behind me.

I can see that the rocks were sitting on a sheet of ice, which once again meant we were hiking on a glacier.

There was a short patch of snow which was easily walked across, but I decided to put on my microspikes because I had carried them all this way, and not used them yet. After that ridiculous scene, we were soon at the top of the pass. There were heaps of views ahead.

From the top of the pass, we had to descend a very steep little cliff, which required some care and turning around to face into the rock.

Nothing was growing at this elevation except for these little flowers.

The lakes we had seen from the top of the pass were getting closer.

The guidebook describes this section as a “chaotic granite wilderness.” Yup.

After a couple hours of descending we finally left the talus and rocks, and followed a nice stream down the valley.

The valley kept going down, sometimes next to waterfalls.

We descended almost 1500m from the top of the pass.

I made it down to a road at 7pm and 20 minutes later Adam caught up with me. This area was more touristy so we saw a few people walking along the path near us.

It was great to see green and trees again after being up so high all day.

There were no camping signs posted throughout the valley, plus there were plenty of cows, so we hiked a little further until we came to a flat spot that was relatively clear of cow poop. There was a hut down a side trail but it would require 40 minutes of uphill hiking….no thanks. I finished all my evening chores just as the sun went down and very quickly fell asleep. Long day!

Monday July 31, 20.9km/13.0mi

Camping El Forcallo (368.1km/1680m) (España) to Lac Des Isclots (389.0km/2398m) (France)

I left the campground a little after 8am, and for a little while it was a pleasant road walk. Morning hiking is the best, and it was really cool to see a diagonal shadow cast by the mountains.

Once I left the road, I passed by this little pasture area with a bunch of old stone buildings. Apparently it is a UNESCO heritage area.

I was still hiking on the GR11, so it was a nice trail, and now it started to climb.

I came to a junction where I would leave the GR11. The HRP goes directly up this hillside to the right of the creek.

By now the morning was getting pretty warm and I had to hike uphill with no shade. I definitely got sweaty on the climb, but fortunately I was parallel to the creek most of the way and was able to get cold water whenever I wanted.

At one point there was a very short talus field to scramble through and it was a ton of fun!

I continued to follow the creek uphill, which by now had become quite steep.

Near the top of the pass I caught up to a German couple, and we all marveled at the view behind us and what we had just hiked up.

Yup, The view from the top of the pass was pretty grand. There was even a little interpretive marker that explained the history of this pass and how it affected people living on either side of the country border.

Looking ahead down into the next valley:

I descended from the pass on some very steep switchbacks for about half an hour, before the trail finally leveled out in the bottom of the valley. Once again I was following a creek which was perfect for this hot day.

I came across this little cabin, which was a nice surprise. It’s called the Refuge de Prat-Cazeneuve.

Coincidentally it was also about lunchtime, so I decided to take a break there and eat.

The upstairs was a sleeping loft with room for 10 people, it was actually pretty nice! It was similar to some of the huts in Tasmania.

After lunch I continued further down the valley, and now the small stream had grown to a larger creek with a bunch of waterfalls.

There were more interpretive signs at odd intervals. I ignored most of them because it takes me a long time to read the Spanish version (can’t read the French at all), but this one was about marmots!

I descended down the valley further, and as I got close to the next hut I started seeing people.

And then around the corner, I saw these two massive pipes coming down the mountainside.

As I got closer I could see that they flowed into a hydroelectric building.

Yup, massive pipes.

The hydroelectric building and the hut were right next to each other, separated only by some ancient railroad tracks.

I could tell it was a pretty old building, but the guy in charge of the hut did a good job at keeping it nice.

I hung out at the hut (Refuge de la Soula) for almost an hour while I had a snack, bought a cold soda, and charged my phone. I saw that it was after 3:30pm, and I still had 2 hours of hiking to do, so I started up the next climb. It was a very gradual climb on some nice switchbacks.

I made pretty good time up the switchbacks and just over an hour later I arrived at Lac de Caillauas.

It was so blue! And apparently it is a manmade lake, since there was a large dam at its outlet.

I hiked around the lake, to get up to the next lake. Once I was a little ways above it, it looked even more deeply blue.

Almost an hour after leaving the previous lake, I arrived at Lac des Isclots (lake of small islands).

It was a little after 6pm, and I decided to stop and camp here. It was tempting to keep going up to the next lake another 30 minutes away, but I had found a perfect camping spot. It was near the lake but also 30m/100ft above it. And much to my happy surprise, Adam showed up an hour later!

We caught up each other on our experiences over the past two days, and made dinner. Three friendly guys from Slovenia were camped nearby and walked over to say hello, and we had a nice conversation while watching the setting sun. Tomorrow is expected to be one of the most difficult days of the entire trail, so I am going to bed early to get an early start in the morning.

Sunday July 30, 35.9km/22.3mi

Lacs de Barroude (332.2km/2370m) (France) to Camping El Forcallo (368.1km/1680m) (España)

I woke up late just before 7am, and saw the fog had cleared and there was an amazing view of the lakes and surrounding mountains.

And by the time I had finished eating breakfast and packing up, the sun had risen and turned the mountains orange!

It was a pretty amazing sunrise in all directions.

I hiked out alone at 7:45, since Adam and I had slightly different routes today and we would meet up this evening at a campground. It was fun to watch the play of clouds and sunlight on the mountains as I climbed up to a small pass.

On top of the pass, Port de Barroude, I could see some fog behind me on the French side.

And looking ahead into Spain it was pretty clear.

For two hours I descended on long switchbacks into a valley.

I saw a few people hiking up hill and chatted with them for a minute. It’s funny how when I cross the country border, people switch from saying “bonjour” to “buenas días”, regardless of their native language. As I hiked lower, it became less windy and I was able to take off some clothing layers.

At the bottom of the valley, I followed a stream through a pine forest. It felt like being at home.

I passed this strange stone snake-looking thing, I think it’s an ancient aqueduct.

Then for an hour I had a road walk on a bigger road which had some traffic.

It wasn’t a bad walk, as pretty much every car moved over to give the required 1.5m of space. Apparently in the opposite direction, this road leads to a tunnel under the mountain and goes to France.

I took a 20 minute detour to go to the small town of Parzán, and buy some more groceries.

The grocery store was small and only had some of what I needed but it was close enough. It did have an entire section for wine that you could pour yourself, kinda like a bulk candy aisle in the US. Amazing.

I had also grabbed some snacks, and I had lunch at a nearby picnic table next to the store. There was a large group of 10 hikers there who were doing the GR11, which parallels the HRP on the Spain side.

I was still hungry, so I went across the street to a cafe and ordered a chicken burger and fries. Finally I left the little town at 1:30, and began my long slow uphill hike. It was entirely on an old dirt road that was an access road for a dam.

I hiked uphill for a couple hours and finally I saw the power station and dam.

It was an uneventful afternoon, and I listened to several podcasts, and a few more chapters of my audiobook “a promised land”. Looking behind me, at the valley I had just climbed up.

I still had another hour of climbing to do, and now I was above the trees with better views.

All afternoon I was also on the GR11, which the HRP overlaps with in this area.

I got to the top of the pass at 4:30pm, and I had a brand new view to look at for the rest of the day.

I had 10 km further to the campground, and it was completely downhill.

Once I was low enough on the descent, I was back in another pine forest. I like this drier side of the continent.

I saw a couple cool looking old cabins along the way, most of which were unlocked.

It was an easy stroll on a nice downhill wide path, so I made pretty fast time.

I arrived at the campground, Camping El Forcallo, just a couple minutes before 7pm, which is when Adam and I had agreed to meet here.

The view from the campground was pretty epic.

I paid my €10 at the reception office and setup my tent and took a shower. The tent spots are pretty great, and they’re all under trees.

I walked around the campground and didn’t see Adam’s tent, so I made dinner at a nearby picnic table. I had a nice big dinner with the extra food I had bought at the grocery store today, and the campground manager gave me a free beer when I checked in. Perfect. By 9pm I still hadn’t seen Adam so I sent him a message and went to bed.

Saturday July 29, 32.6km/20.3mi

Gavarnie Village (299.6km/1365m) (France) to Lacs de Barroude (332.2km/2370m) (France)

We packed up early, so we could hike our first climb in the shade. We left the campground at 6:45am, and I so the morning rush hour go by. 12 mules and one car!

We climbed steeply on switchbacks for a couple of hours, and once we were above the forest, I could see the mountains ahead.

We stopped by the Refuge Des Espuguettes for a quick bathroom stop. The refuge was operated by the National Park service (instead of the French Alpine club), and it had a smaller, cozier feel to it.

We continued on toward the past to finish our climb. It was still in the shade which was nice.

We got to the top of the pass just after 9am and found sunshine. We spent the rest of the morning descending into a valley.

It was a beautiful Alpine valley and a nice trail, the only downside was that we passed probably a hundred people.

After a couple of hours we approached a lake and a dam. We had to move over for hikers so often it was a little difficult to make forward progress.

I always love seeing these civil engineering structures, and I took the time to read the interpretive signs even though they were only in French and Spanish.

Once we got past the dam and the nearby parking lot, we saw no more hikers, which was a relief. We continued to descend down into this valley on a small road.

It was a pleasant roadwalk, and after an hour we left the road and got on another trail. We had lunch at the trailhead and sat by a creek where I rinsed out my socks and dried my tent. The usual. After lunch we had a big 1000m climb up to another pass, and by now it was pretty hot so we took it slowly.

Fortunately the trail mostly followed a small creek, so we were able to get cold water whenever we wanted. Then we took a short snack break at this little stone cabin.

Across from the cabin was this strange little memorial that was difficult to read and it was pretty damaged by time and weather.

The long climb continued up….

And up….

And at the very top, the trail got quite narrow as it was carved into the cliff.

I got to the top of the pass, and Adam was just a few minutes behind me.

We could see down into the next valley, and there was some fog that was starting to build.

The trail on the other side of the pass was also blasted into a narrow cliff.

It was a pleasant little traverse to the next pass a couple kilometers away, with the fog advancing and receding occasionally.

Once we got over the next pass, the fog was a little more persistent.

The trail traversed below a huge cliff, which is supposed to be an amazing view, but we just saw the bottom part of it through the fog.

Yep, dense fog.

When we got to our planned camping spot at Lacs de Barroude, some of the fog had cleared and it was an amazing view.

Adam and I set up our tents above the lake to avoid the cold air and resulting condensation. Even with the damp fog and some wind, it was a pretty amazing alpine campsite. I felt more tired than usual at the end of the day, and when I checked my GPS I realized why. We had climbed 2450 meters (8,040ft) of elevation today!

Friday July 28, 9.7km/6.0mi

Cabane de Lourdes (289.9km/1950m) ( France) to Gavarnie Village (299.6km/1365m) (France)

Everyone in the cabin woke up at 6:30, and started packing up to head our separate ways. It was a beautiful sunny morning and we had just a short 2-hour hike down to the village of Gavarnie.

For the first hour the trail just contoured along the hillside amongst flocks of sheep.

And then we started to descend into the village.

Gavarnie is known for being a very touristy mountain town, and we found lots of people gathered amongst the little shops and cafes. It reminded me of a smaller Lake Placid, but with more cheese and wine shops…much more.

Adam and I first stopped at a bakery to get a baguette and a sandwich, and then we went grocery shopping at the little store. We then walked out of town for 10 minutes to a campground where I had made reservations. We set up our tents on one of the terraces and then got a shower and did some laundry.

I sat at a table outside the campground’s cafe and got on the Wi-Fi to catch up on internet things, and while I was sitting there I met a couple other HRP hikers, George (San Francisco), Fabian (Germany), and Jade (Paris). The afternoon flew by quickly in conversation and the next thing I knew it was 7pm! I jogged back to town to get some food for dinner and the only thing that was still open was a pizza place, which was perfect. I didn’t know I was in the mood for pizza but apparently I was, haha. I brought it back to the campground and rejoined the group, and we shared some beers and snacks. We all dispersed when it got dark around 9:30pm and went to bed.

What a fun relaxing day!

Thursday July 27, 22.1km/13.7mi

Refuge Wallon (267.8km/1865m) (France) to Cabane de Lourdes (289.9/1950m) (France)

Thankfully, we again woke to sunny skies, and the refuge looked so cool all illuminated in the darkness.

It’s always a great day when you get to see the sunrise from a trail.

Most of the morning was a gradual climb up the next valley.

It was a pretty easy climb all the way up to Lac d’Arretille. There were plenty of other people camping there, even though it was a very windy and exposed area.

We had a tiny little stream crossing, which was entertaining since the guidebook had mentioned it as a possibility difficult crossing. It was just an easy hop across on large stones!

Now that we were pretty high up in the valley, the marmots started to reappear again.

When we got to the top of the climb, we crossed through a col and were back in Spain again.

It was another traverse on talus to the next col, but this time we didn’t have any mis-navigation and the trail was nice and flat.

At the next col we took a snack break. I looked back and it was amazing to see the little trail we had taken all the way across that talus field, clearly visible in the rocks.

As it often is, it was really windy in the col. We started back down the other side and descended it into France.

It was a glorious sunny day, one of the few times I think that has happened while entering France. We passed a dozen other hikers coming up the hill, and it was fun to have some brief conversations in Spanish. I’m definitely getting better at my 2nd language.

I could see all the way down into the deep glacial valley.

Once we got down into the valley, that was a great view of some small glaciers on this massive peak.

We stopped at a refuge for a lunch break, it was 11am and a little early but it seemed like a beautiful spot for a meal.

We spent almost an hour at the refuge, eating lunch, charging our phones, and just generally admiring the amazing views in all directions. Adam saw that thunderstorms were in the forecast, so we decided to get moving over the next pass before the clouds gathered. The climb up to the pass went by quickly, as I was focused on the views of the nearby peaks.

We made it to the top of the pass in an hour, much faster than the expected time of 1.5 hours according to the guidebook. Instead of taking a break at the pass/col, we continued another 10 minutes to the next hut.

We took another break at the Refuge Baysselance, which was a much smaller hut with a nice wooden interior.

Because of the incoming storm, we planned to spend the night at a cabin just a couple hours away. Since we would arrive so early, I bought a liter of wine (€10) from the hut and packed it out in one of my water bottles. I figured it would provide a little entertainment for the evening!

We left the hut, and begin the big 1000m descent into the valley.

The views were epic, looking down so far into the valley.

And of course there were many marmots along the way at this elevation.

Surprisingly, there were even a few little manmade caves carved in the Cliffside next to the trail.

Yup, it was a long way down.

We hiked by one of the longest waterfalls in France, I think it was something like 600 meters long.

Still going downhill….

There were tons of smaller waterfalls too.

Finally we got down to the valley floor, and passed by a small manmade lake.

By now the clouds had started to gather, and we hiked a little more quickly. The first little cabin we tried seemed to be occupied by a local Shepherd, so we continued onto the next cabin 30 minutes away. When we arrived at that cabin, we met two other hikers who had just arrived. Julio and Juan were from Madrid and very friendly, they were just finishing a 4-day loop hike through the National Park.

They had a bunch of extra food, so they offered us some and I offered some of our wine in return. Wine and cheese party! Half an hour later another hiker showed up, Emma from France. And then 2 more hikers from Paris arrived too. We had 7 people in a 4-person cabin so it was nice and cozy!

Everyone was very friendly, and we enjoyed watching the big thunderstorm come through from the comfort of a dry cabin. Emma is hiking with a small guitar, and she played several songs for us. She played a different song in Basque, French, Spanish, and finally English….it was quite impressive. Adam also played a couple Irish songs, and one of the French guys played a song too. It felt like a magical little evening in our cabin. Everybody went to sleep by 10pm, to the sound of thunder and lightning outside.

Wednesday July 26, 21.5km/13.4mi

Refuge de Larribet (248.0km/2070m) (France) to Refuge Wallon (267.8km/1865m) (France) +1.7km Grande Fache

We awoke the next morning to beautiful blue skies, amazing!

We left at 8a.m. and hiked down the valley for an hour, and it was nice and warm.

We then began our gradual ascent up to the next pass. It was perfect conditions for a climb, we were in the shade but the skies were perfectly clear and dry.

Apparently they name their meadows here.

I saw some more of those Isard creatures. I think they are related to the chamoix that I’ve seen before in the Alps.

We hiked by the impressively blue Lacs de Remoulis.

At the top of the climb a few hours later, we came to a col and crossed into Spain. The France-Spain border has these stone markers all along it, they are numbered starting with number 1 at the Atlantic Ocean.

We descended for a short kilometer into Spain.

And then we quickly turned left and started climbing again towards Col de la Fache.

I could see the trail ahead in the talus field around this alpine lake.

I started seeing these purple wildflowers growing everywhere at this high elevation.

We got to the Col de la fache at 1pm. This technically isn’t on the HRP, but we wanted to climb the nearby peak, Grande Fache, which is 3,000m tall. So we dropped our packs and started hiking up the very steep trail.

Adam coming up below me.

We climbed up 300m, or a distance of only 800m, so expectedly some of it was a little steep and scrambly. Once we were at the top there was this little monument.

The views in all directions were amazing, I didn’t know the names of any of the other surrounding peaks but still enjoyed the time on the summit.

There was another group up there to get our photo.

These tiny purple flowers blanketed a part of the summit, which was roped off to protect the sensitive alpine vegetation.

We spent 30 minutes on top of the summit enjoying the views and the warm weather. I even got a phone signal so I could make a reservation phone call to a campground in the next town. Sweet. The descent was uneventful, and two hours after we left our packs, we were reunited with them. By now it was 4pm so we quickly got going, back down the other side of the col. It was a gradual descent all the way down to our planned campsite at the Refuge Wallon hut. We passed by a very large group in the middle of nowhere that was singing what sounded like religious songs. It was a very bizarre sight to see.

And down at the valley we went for two hours, through alpine meadows.

And eventually we descended far enough to enter a pine forest.

We got to the refuge Wallon at 6pm and set up our tents on the nearby grass under some trees. This hut was massive, with a capacity of 95 people, and very modern since it was built in 2021.

The inside was extremely impressive.

We had plenty of food, so instead of eating dinner in the hut, we made our own dinner at our tents. It was also a good way to save money since the hut dinners are usually about €17. After dinner we washed up in one of the hut’s five large bathrooms, and spent some more time exploring the huge space. While exploring the outside patio, I saw one of the grossest things ever. People had spread out their shirts to dry on a stone wall, which separated the patio from the meadow. There were cows grazing in the meadow very close to the wall, and one of them had an explosive poop all over a bunch of peoples’ shirts. Ugh.

It was a little overwhelming seeing so many people crowded into here, and I was happy to retreat back to the peace of our camping area. It was easy to fall asleep after all of the climbing we had done today.

Tuesday July 25, 17.1km/10.6mi

Refuge de Pombie (231.9km/2030m) (France) to Refuge de Larribet (248.0km/2070m) (France) + 1.0km wrong col

I woke up in the overflow tent at 6:30am, since the other people in the tent were also awaking then. I grabbed my breakfast and walked over to the hut, and noticed the fog had mostly cleared.

We started down the trail at 8am to partly sunny skies, enjoying our downhill walk for the next hour.

Near the bottom of the descent, I noticed the clouds were starting to build across the valley.

We would soon be hiking back up into that valley, and I hoped the clouds weren’t a rain threat. As we climbed the next hill, the fog returned and swirled around us.

We had a quick snack break at this strange little stone hut, which was built up against a boulder.

At the top of the climb there was a trail junction, where we had a decision to make. The normal route turns right and goes deeply up an exposed route with a cable for a hand hold. The weather seemed to be fine other than the fog so we opted for the normal route. (The detour would require us to like an additional hour and with a bunch of elevation gain and loss.)

The fog certainly was thick up here!

It was so thick, I was surprised by this lake until I was almost right next to it.

As expected the trail started to climb steeply…

… And then we begin the cable section.

It was actually really fun, and despite being cold and windy, it was pretty good conditions. This is the steepest part of the cable route, which goes for about 300m.

After that section was finished, we started to descend to a lake and a hut. The Lac d’Arremoulit is far below.

As we approached the lake the fog briefly started to clear.

For about 30 minutes it was sunny, and so we had a lunch break and dried our tents. It was pretty windy so we didn’t stay long, since the wind was so effective at drying the tents.

Our next climb was up the Col du Palas, which was filled with scree and talus.

Adam coming up the talus field.

When we got to the top, we were on the border with Spain. Immediately I noticed the clouds were mostly gone.

And a minute later they were almost completely gone, and we could see all the way down to a set of lakes in Spain.

We traversed over to the next col, which was slow going through the talus.

The weather was so clear on this side!

We had a little mis-navigation getting through the next col. We tried to go through the easier looking notch in the col, but it ended at a cliff on the other side. So we retreated, and tried the more difficult looking route. It had one tricky steep move but otherwise was fine.

Of course, once we got to the other side and were back in France, it was foggy again.

For a few hours we descended down this valley past several lakes.

The trail was pretty rocky but the lakes were amazing to see in the diffused light.

Eventually we descended back into the fog.

The hut was a welcome site at the end of a long day.

We setup our tents in the designated area below the hut, and went inside and had dinner at 7pm.

The huts are quite well organized and they have a shoe room at the entrance to keep people’s footwear out of the main building. There were so many crocs!

Dinner was great, it was some sort of chicken noodle dish. Unlike last night, I didn’t stay up late socializing and playing card games, and went to bed early at 9pm.

Monday July 24, 26.0km/16.2mi

Pla d’Espélunguère (205.9km/1460m) (France) to Refuge de Pombie (231.9km/2030m) (France)

I woke up to the sound of dripping water on my tent and assumed it was raining. But I finally looked outside, and I realized it was just a nearby tree dripping on us. I packed up and I hiked uphill in the morning fog. Adam took a little longer to wake up and he said he would catch me at lunchtime.

It was a nice steady climb and not too difficult, and despite hiking uphill it was still a little chilly because of the dense fog. Sometimes I see these little locked cabins and I wonder what mysteries are inside.

When I got to the top of the climb I went over a pass, which also meant I crossed the border into Spain. When I looked behind me back down into France I could see the fog I had just hiked through.

Looking ahead, it was sunny in Spain! The lake Ibón de Astanés was a nice surprise.

I hiked around the lake and then descended the other side of the hill, into the rising sun.

Once I got partway down the hill, I crossed back into France and immediately was immersed in the fog. Bummer.

Hiking through the forest was a little less cold and windy, but I had to watch my step on all the slippery leaves and roots.

It was a chilly but relaxing morning hike.

When I came to a little ski resort I noticed all the signs were in Spanish, and soon after I saw a Spain border sign. And of course the fog cleared away.

I hiked through the little ski town of Candanchu, a lovely little Spanish village that was also full of sheep.

I love seeing ski lifts in summertime, it feels so bizarre.

Candanchu was only a few blocks long but it had a few cafes and a little general store. I ordered a bagel and tea at the cafe, and then I had dessert at the general store.

As I was about to leave the little town, Adam caught up and we hiked out of town together. It was just before noon, so after hiking for a couple kilometers we stopped at a little waterfall to have lunch.

It was a warm day in the sun and we had an uphill climb to do.

Looking back downhill from the top of the climb, it’s nice when you are rewarded with a view after all of the hard uphill hiking.

We passed the lovely little lake Ibon de Escalar, where there were dozens of people and families relaxing by the shore.

We climbed up to Col Des Moines, where we could see ahead into the French side of the Pyrenees. The tallest mountain in the distance is called Pic du Midi d’Ossau.

Predictably, as soon as we descended off the pass and into the French side, the fog returned.

At one point we descended low enough, to be under the layer of fog and actually get somewhat of a view of the valley we were traveling through.

Looking ahead to our next upcoming climb…

We passed by a shepherd’s hut, and of course they were selling cheese. Every single day on this trail I pass a sign that says “Fromage” !

When we got partway up the next climb, we were back in the fog.

Occasionally the wind would pick up and break up some of the fog and we had a view of the impressive Pic du Midi d’Ossau.

At this elevation it was quite rocky, and the marmots were everywhere.

Huge mountain!

The climb up over the final pass for the day was full of scree and talus.

I always have lots of fun climbing up talus. It’s slow going, but a nice challenge.

I saw this hoofed animal in the distance, and I was told it’s called an Isard.

Yup, this was a pretty high pass.

We descended to the Refuge de Pombie, and the fog was getting pretty thick.

Yup, marmots were everywhere.

The refuge was a welcome site in the cold fog.

I went inside to talk to the caretaker and ask if it was still possible to have dinner. After some confusing exchanges in French, I was able to get my name on the list for dinner which was €17. There is also a bunkroom, which was full, but he said I could sleep in the overflow tent. Perfect! Adam caught up a few minutes later, and dinner was served at 7pm. It was some sort of pasta dish with vegetables and there was even a dessert, amazing! There’s a very nice atmosphere in these mountain huts and I see why they are so popular.

Hopefully tomorrow the fog disappears so we can get some views of the high Pyrenees again!

Sunday July 23, 28.1km/17.5mi

Lescun Village (177.8km/950m) (France) to Pla d’Espélunguère (205.9km/1460m) (France)

After a long breakfast at the gîte, we finally left town at 8am. It was a little bit of a maze to weave through all the narrow streets and buildings.

It was a beautiful day for hiking, I was hopeful we finally left the fog behind.

It was a long steady climb up to the ridgeline, and we saw quite a few people hiking along the way.

This area is part of the extensive Pyrenees National Park in France so it is quite popular. Halfway up the climb there was a nice water source, so Adam stopped to refill his bottles. I don’t drink as much water so I didn’t need any.

Once we were up on the ridgeline it was just an amazing walk all afternoon.

At the first col, we could see down into Spain, since it sits on the border.

Yup, just insanely beautiful hiking through the high Pyrenees.

Even way up here, there were some “semi-wild” horses.

And there were some sheep too, which were being herded by these lovely dogs.

I had noticed the rock in this area had changed character and now it looked like a bunch of conglomerate.

The hiking today was bliss.

Around lunchtime, I started looking for the hut that we were expected to pass. This was a small farm in a little valley below us.

Finally at 2pm we arrived at the Refuge d’Arlet. It was a nice place to sit down and have a break.

The nearby Lac d’Arlet added to this amazing mountain setting, although the water was too cold to swim.

After lunch we got to enjoy another hour of blissful sunny ridgetop hiking.

Towards the end of the day, the trail left the ridge and started to drop down into a valley.

We descended down through some meadows….

…. And then a forest.

When we got to the bottom of the valley, we set up camp. It was well protected from thunderstorms and wind and it seemed like the perfect little spot. The name was a little hard to pronounce though….Pla d’Espélunguère.

We had a pretty amazing view to the West, and the sun setting behind the big mountains.

It was a pretty amazing first day in the High Pyrenees region!