Author: Dragon

Today was not Vanoise, but then again, few things could hold a candle to the grandiosity of the mountains in that national park.

Regardless, I still hiked through some gorgeous isolated valleys with nothing but mountains, grass, and streams to keep me company. My kinda day.

I woke up and went down to the village Modane, stopping at the supermarket to grab a day’s worth of comfort foods. Then, a long hike climbing 1,400m through a beautiful valley, to the col de Valle Etienne.

Then, another great walk down from the col through another valley.

The final challenge of the day was a 400m climb around 5pm, which led to a picturesque plateau with a lake and 360° mountain views.

I found a great pitch on the Tete Ronde, and was happy to call it home for the night.

Tomorrow, its 25km into the fortress town of Briançon! I booked an AirBnB, so I could properly recharge. I’ll have hiked a full week from my last lodging, and gone 200km, so I don’t mind spending a little on a nice place in a cool town.

Okay, goodnight!

Today, I hiked 29km, 400m down from my campsite, 1,300m up from the valley of Pralognon, over the col that leads out of Vanoise Parc Nacional, and then 1,300m down to a nice campsite in the woods just above the village of Modane, where I will resupply and calorie the hell up in the morning!

There was plenty to photograph as the environment went from dense pine forests, into grassy mountain valleys, and finally, a chaotic granite wilderness with glaciers all around, near the col at 2,800m elevation.

Cave camp!

What a day!

I woke at 7 and packed up in a hurry to snag some breakfast at the refuge, since I ate the last of my food last night ( 2 supermarkets I thought would be open yesterday for resupply were closed for the season, so I had to stretch rations a bit ).

Then a 5km hike down to the pretty ski-resort town, Tignes! The supermarket here was open (thank nature) and I got 3 days of food, plus some comfort items and sandwich supplies for lunch today (baguette, chicken, cheese).

I hung out by lac Tignes for a bit and then set out on the GR-55, an alternate high route of the GR5 that goes through the heart of Vanoise National Park.

The trail climbs up through a deserted ski area, eventually leading to a col around 2,700m, where things get really good. The views of the Grand Motte (3,700m) on the way up were already spectacular. Now, the glacial moraine valley I found myself in was nonstop breathtaking.

I stopped at a pristine lake surrounded by scree and massive glacial peaks to assemble and devour the sandwich that I had been dreaming of for the last two hours.

The trail wound on down the valley, passing a refuge and riding the left side of a snowmelt river.

Then, a small climb up to the Col du Vanoise. This area was especially scenic. The peaks were all around 4,000-5,000 feet higher than I was at the col, and many of them still had glacial remains and snow near their peaks. The gravely bouldery moraines were some of the biggest I’ve ever seen! There must have been 2,000 feet of just scree at the base of some of these peaks.

I stopped into the refuge du col du Vanoise, thinking I’d be able to bivouac there like I did last night. But nope! They don’t allow bivouacing! Unbelievable! They have all this grassland that they’re more than happy to have cows and sheep obliterate. But I as a backpacker cant pitch a tent for the night because of “environmental impact.” Whatever!

I carried on past the refuge and down a valley, where I got to walk across a cool ass lake on stepping stones! It was a super nice touch to the trail.

I was upset that I tried to follow the rules of the national park (bivuoac only near refuges) but that plan had obviously gone wrong. So I said, to hell with the rules, and their double standards, giving cattle the right to destroy they parkland, but usurping hikers’ right to pitch a tent for just long enough to sleep.

So I found a sweet cave to crash in, just beside a nice stream. Out of sight of all trails and such. My own little slice of paradise. Tomorrow, I’ll hike out of the national park and not have to worry about these stupid rules anymore.

But I cant blame them for wanting to protect this place. It is inordinately beautiful, and worthy of every bit of protection and more. Just get the damn cows out of here! Jeez! They’re seriously wrecking the place! It’s dejecting to see their massive impact at every turn of the trail.

Okay. Dinner time.

Good night!

Today was a day of surprises! Both good and bad.

I hiked 800m down in the morning through vast grasslands and forests and the towns of Valezon and Bellentre. I was lucky to walk through an apple orchard, and made sure to snag a couple snacks for later.

Morning commute

Valezon

Then a 400m climb up to Montchevin, where I was hoping to resupply at a supermarket in town. But I got there and the doors were locked! I checked online and apparently they close it down for summer two weeks ago, August 31! Just my luck! And in fact, the whole town was closed down! The burger shop? Closed! The public bathroom? Locked! Uggggh.

I hike out of town and my hopes of a grand sandwich were quickly dashing away.. but I looked on the maps and there was another potential supermarket just a short 15 minute diversion from the trail, in Les Coches.

I figured it was worth a try, considering the alternative was starvation haha! So I get up there after climbing through a little forest, and of course… it’s closed as well. But the burger shop was open! So at least I could get a good lunch.

Then I followed a road to rejoin with the GR5 and followed on through a forested canyon with pretty steep slopes. At one point, I followed a road covered in logs and downed brush thinking it was the trail, until it just dead ended! Super steep slopes all around. I checked the map, and somehow the trail was like 30m below me! So glad to have GAIA GPS in times like those. I climbed down the slope in front of me and lo and behold, there’s the trail!

Finally, I came out on a road into a gorgeous valley. I had entered the Vanoise National Park! Joyous day.

You know you’re entering a national park when…

It doesn’t even look real!

I climbed up the valley in front of me, past tons of huge waterfalls cascading down the granite cliffs. On to the Valley of the Plagne, past the lake and refuge of the Plagne, and finally, up to the Refuge du col du Perset, where I asked to bivouac and have breakfast in the morning.

Waterfalls

A good spot for dinner

View from the refuge. I ran to that hill on the left to snag photos!

After pitching the tent, I walked on to a big hill just near the refuge and had awesome views of all the splendor of the national park, just as the sunset hues were at their most red. It was really a magical moment. Vanoise has proven beyond a doubt that it is a place of the utmost beauty and natural resplendence.

And the stars have been divine the last few nights! Like full on, you can see the white band of the milky way streaked across the sky, and just millions and billions of stars. You dont realize how many stars there really are until you come out here.. wish I could get a good photo. But you’ll have to see it for yourself anyways! Good night!

This morning, I had a 400m climb up to the Col du Bonhomme, and then a ridge walk over to the refuge of the same name.

From the refuge, there was a superb crest line walk for a few kilometers. I stopped and made coffee on the ridge, and enjoyed it along with my last Payday bar. Sad day! Europe seriously needs to get in on the paydays and skittles! They’re missing out.

The trail led down about 700m to a road with a couple refuges on it, and then led back up to another ridge with cool views of an artificial lake.

Then, a 700m climb up and over the Col de Presset. My hip joint kinda hurt a bit on this climb, probably because I jumped from a week in bed to doing 30km days. Oh well.

I made it up and over the col, and follow a river down this next valley to the refuge Balme, where I made dinner and enjoyed the dusk views.

Finally, another 5km through the valley and across farmlands to a sweet campsite just above the treeline (actually probably a patch they logged) with great sunset views.

Good night!

Today, I hiked out of Chamonix early, before the warm, reddish orange hues of the sunrise had touched the peaks around me.

I had a good breakfast at the hostel and set out on the GR5 for the first time in nearly a week.

The trail meandered beside the Arve river for the first 8km, and then curved through the village Les Houches, and finally up 600m through a ski area to the Col de Voza. I stopped halfway up to make a cup of coffee with an actual Payday bar! My favorite! I havent been able to find them since landing in Europe, but my dad mailed me a package with some American food. Mostly Mountain Houses, Paydays, and Skittles. Only the best!

The trail wound down from the Col Voza into the valley of the Contamines, and there was another pleasant walk for about 10km along the riverside up this valley. At one point, I found an apple tree right next to the trail! I smacked a few delishush fruits out of the higher reaches with ny trekking poles. That was a real treat to find, right when I really needed some sugar and calories!

I will say I wasn’t impressed with the amount of road walking today, and it really took a toll on my knees and the bottoms of my feet.

I found a nice park next to a cool lake with an island in the middle, and had a nice break around 2pm.

Then, a long climb up to just below the Col de Bonhomme, where I found a suitable place to pitch camp.

The trail was really crowded all day today! I guess because it’s a weekend in a touristy area and the GR5 shares a trail with the Tour du Mont Blanc, which everybody hikes if they’re in this area. It just got exhausting passing people like every 60 seconds. The “Bonjours” felt very forced, and to walk by without saying anything felt weird. Oh well. I’ll be in more remote lands soon enough. I knew this first day out of Chamonix would certainly be busy.

Okay, so I stay in Chamonix a bit longer than I was expecting. I blame the stomache flu! And the charmingly gorgeous and quaint hiker village feel! They have 20 outdoor stores here, and burgers! And the fabulous snow capped massif of Mont Blanc is always gazing out at you, wherever you are in town. What more could you ask for as a hiker!

I, like so many others, fell in love with Chamonix. Just look at this sunset view from the hostel:

Romantic AF.

I will do my best to get back to a longer writing format. I felt so out of it since getting sick that writing felt like a chore, and I did not want to bore you guys with details of how lame I felt.

After a week here in Chamonix, I feel 100% recovered and am ready to crank out the miles starting tomorrow morning!! I’ll have twenty days to make it to the Mediterranean, and then back to Paris in time for my train back to London. It’s go time.

I woke this morning to the sun warming up my tent around 8am. It certainly went below freezing last night, and paired with the slow drizzling rain and sleet, made for a very lovely sleep in my awesome 10° zpacks sleeping bag. I havent slept that well in a while. I actually had dreams for once!

And what a contrast had the surroundings of my pitch undergone. No longer were the mountains and the lake shrouded in fog, but were wide open with clear blue skies overhead.

I was gonna seize this awesome weather and make it into Chamonix this afternoon for a well deserved burger and a few nights staying at the local hiker hostal, the Vagabond Inn.

Today was rough.

It started out great, with a nice breakfast at the auberge (I had the whole place to myself last night as I was the only person to book! Very strange for a Friday night in the Alps, but I did enjoy the solitude) and plenty of time to collect strength and wait out the morning drizzle.

I left the Inn about 9am and hiked 3km up a road to the beginning of the real trail for the day, which started by a small restaurant at the end of a road called Le Lignon. Along the way I passed a beautiful cascade! It would’ve been a lot more beautiful if it weren’t for the dreary fog, but that’s pretty much the story of this entire day of hiking.

There was about a 1,000m climb from the inn to a plateau with a refuge in it. Near the plateau, the trail was an awesome ridge trail, but again, the fog destroyed any hope of a good view.

At one point, I waited on the edge of the ridge, and I was lucky! The fog kinda cleared long enough for me to snap a picture of the village of Sixt Fer du Cheval, where I started this morning.

The trail came to a plateau and the rain continued to assail in periods of drizzling and slightly less drizzling.

To make matters worse, I had to deal with sharp stomache pains all day, the fallout from the stomache flu I got over a week ago. They would not go away!! Very aggravating. That forced me to take more breaks and overall I felt sluggish because of it. I only made about 11km today, which is well below my average, but there is only about 15km to go into Chamonix tomorrow, where I have booked a bed for 3 nights.

Hopefully all of this will clear up, both the meteorological and physiological funk that has been wrecking this hike the last few days. It’s very discouraging to have to climb so high, doing 3-5,000 feet of ascent, and to have nothing good to show for it.

I’m really positive Perry today if you can’t tell! I just want to feel normal again and have clear skies for photos! This is not asking too much I hope.

Anyways, I hiked to the Anterne refuge where I had a coke and met up with a couple of Brits who had spent the last few years working here in this very valley! They live in Samoens, where I was just a couple days ago, and were out here to explore this area and try out the refuges. I was jealous they they were done at 3pm and already having beers!

There was also an awesome water wheel at the refuge, with a big gear hooked up to spin an alternator, which was powering all the lights and things inside! Very cool display of renewable energy! I’ll have to try to make one of those sometime.

I carry on another 300m up the mountain and find a nice spot to camp by Anterne lake. Man it was nice to get out of the drizzle and cold and into my warm sleeping bag tonight. What a tough day. Tomorrow will be better. Chamonix will make all the hard parts worth it.

Short 3km hike to the village of Sixt Fer du Cheval, named after the horseshoe like feature of the riverbend in town. Surrounded by impressive sheer mountains on all sides.

Grab a few comforts at the supermarket and hang out. I booked a bed at an Auberge in town, but have to wait til 5 to check in.

In no hurry to do these last 20km to the marvelous Chamonix-Mont-Blanc. It’s Friday today, and everything there was booked this weekend, so I reserved three nights at a hiker hostal, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday nights.

I’m glad to beat the mad rush of the weekend in probably the most touristed center of all the Alps. Chamonix is world famous for its mountain views, especially of the highest mountain in all Europe, Mont Blanc.

Getting in on a Sunday, I’ll be able to lounge around and wave goodbye to the stream of tourists flooding out of the valley to make it home for their Monday commutes, haha.

And further, I get to take some time to rest and take it easy. I am still recovering from the nasty stomache flu that knocked me on my ass for three days, and took much of the joy out of the following three days of hiking.

And I get to wait out this dreary rainy foggy weather of the last couple days, to see these famous Sixt Fer du Cheval views in all their glory. As my hiker friend Croc Rocket told me before starting the CDT, one of the best things you can do on trail is to be flexible, and this is a perfect example!

The owner of the auberge is super nice, and was very fun to talk to. Being that I was the only person staying at this inn tonight, it was fun to ask him questions and get his story as to why he decided to buy a travelers inn and make this his lifestyle in his retirement years.

“It’s very important to be around and have interactions with people. And here, no matter whether you are Swiss, French, German, American, you can have a bed and a full day of meals, and that is the same for all people, it is a necessity of all people, regardless of nationality.”

I paraphrase, but that was what I remember from the conversation.