Hiking down into the village of Samoëns.
Then, hiking out a little ways into the woods to pitch camp early around 5pm.
Day 9 – Baby Steps
Day 8 – The Land of Switzer
Another 17km, this time through Switzerland!
Day 7 – Back to the Grind
Days 4, 5, and 6 – Uggghhhh
Sick with the stomach flu, I spend three days at a couple different hotels in Chapelle d’Abondance, not getting out of bed or eating very much, until the last day when I felt a bit better. I knew I had to eat to get better and to have the strength to hike out the next day, but it is very difficult when your body just doesn’t want you to eat!
I guess this isn’t the worst place to get sick, but I wish I could’ve avoided this altogether..
Day 3 – Something in the Air
I spend the morning hiking past two cols and down to the village Chappelle d’Abondance, but it becomes increasingly apparent that something’s not quite right with me..
I feel off. Suddenly I have lost any drive or energy to hike out of town, which is totally not normal.
After asking at a few different “hiker” hostels and being rejected (reservation only) I had no choice but to settle for a $150 room at a really swank resort spa hotel.
I’ll leave out the gritty details but I had to spend the next 3 days basically in bed due to illness and the associated fatigue of not really being able to eat.
Day 2 (GR5) – Big Alps
Today was the first full day hiking the Grande Traverse of the Alps! I awoke at my wooded campsite in the hunting preserve, and packed up to hit the trail by 8:30.
There was nice level trail through small subdivisions, nice forest parks, and along a mountainside, winding down to the River Dranse. I stop there to grab some water and make coffee.
After, I cross the river on an old stone footbridge and climb steeply up a wooded hillside, eventually coming to a country road that leads on to the next stretch of trail. Wow, some of the houses here are immaculately cute! Every details, and many things you would never even think to do to a house, have been done just to make every inch of the living space truly beautiful. These people obvs take a lot of pride in the homes that they own.
The trail leads down to a nice stream, which was a great place to stop for lunch. I found some awesome little fruits on a nearby tree, I don’t know what to call them! They had the taste and pit of a peach, the consistency and skin of an apple, and the size of a cherry! They were totally delicious and a great random snack to find in the woods.
Then, it was time to start the 1,000m climb of the day. I climbed up into the mountains on trails, dirt roads, asphalt, gravel, through forests and grassy meadows and past cows and stables and chalets, all while being wowed by ever more impressive views of Lake Geneva.
Finally, I came to the top of the mountains at the Tete de Fieux, and the amazing ridge walking began. I had a bit of a climb up to about 1,900m and then was able to ride a very steep ridge for a couple kilometers, soaking in the first real views of the Alps of France and Switzerland.
I find a nice lake and go ahead and make dinner about 6pm. It’s been surprisingly hard to find water today! Probably because I’m not quite in the mountains yet, but on the cusp of them, at their front door.
Hiked on a bit further and found delightful views of both the East and West ends of Lake Geneva. Found the first real mountain spring and happily fill up with 2L of fresh water. And theres a sweet camp site with a view just a hundred meters away!
The GR5 has seriously cranked out the views today. I heard it was really scenic, but come on! What trail is this pretty on day 1?! Crazy.
Looks like rain tonight, with frequent lightning and thunder in the distance back the way I came from.
Good night!
Day 1 (GR5) – One More Time
Today, I will start the GR5. Or at least try to. Even one step on the trail would be good enough.
I say goodbye to my friends that run the Hotel Canal Banyuls, who are hikers themselves, and head to the beach for one last view of the Mediterranean Sea in this Paradise Promise Land of the post thru-hike, where (naturally) it’s perfectly acceptable to drink and be topless whenever and wherever you like. The French and Spanish don’t judge. Alcohol and the freedom of the body are some of their most beloved cultural traits! To protect and entertain, in party we trust.
And of course many of the best dance music aficionados hail from France. Daft Punk, Justice, and Madeon, to name a few.
To make it to that first, contractually binding step of the Grande Randonnee Cinq through the Alps, I only have to make it through four train rides with a mile-and-a-half walk and a bus ride sandwiched in between:
Banyuls to Montpellier, 1hr change
Montpellier to Lyon Part Dieu, 14min change
Lyon to Geneva, 40 minute change
2.3km walk to a different station
Geneva to Annemasse, 30min bus
Annemasse to Thonon-les-bains, the official starting point of the GR5 through the Alps.
Thonon-les-bains to Nice, 400 miles of the most resplendently pretty mountain walking (on any planet that we know of).
I make it through the first connection to Montpellier alright. I befriended a couple french girls, although they didn’t speak much English. It’s fun to try and communicate with people when they literally cannot recognize a word you say! Thank Nature for Google Translate.
Once at the station, they want you to pay a few cents to use the bathroom at the station, but some revolutionary soul was pressing the exit button on repeat to let everyone through for free. Viva la France!
The second train to Lyon also goes well, and arrives 5 minutes ahead of schedule, making the 14 minute layover feel a little less stressful. I pushed past the large group of kids and chaperones who were also getting off and was relieved to find that the train to Geneva was just one platform over! Ahhh. The sound of stress evaporation.
The third train led immediately into an immense canyon which goes up towards Lake Geneva, the largest natural lake in Europe, with several small towns along the way.
There were a couple Americans on board, from Seattle and New York. It was a treat to get to speak to people in a language that you comprehend! You truly don’t realize how good you have it in an English-speaking country until you jump feet first into foreign lands.
I hopped off the train in Geneva and had a nice 2.5km sunset march across the city to another station, Eaux-Vives, where I caught a bus back into France at Annemasse, and finally, the last train of the night at 9:52 going to Thonon-les-bains, the official start of the GR5.
I quickly snapped some start photos and made my way along the well marked path through town. Finally, after a another 2.5km, I came to a densely forested hunting reserve, which I took as the perfect place to pitch camp at around 11:00pm.
GR5, begun.
Day 42 & 43 – Epilogue – The Haute Randonnee Pyrénéene
I have taken two zero days in Banyuls-sur-mer, before my train to Geneva tomorrow at noon, from where I will begin walking the GR5 trail, the Grande Traverse of the Alps.
It’s widely considered to be one of the most beautiful and enjoyable hiking trails in the world, for both wilderness-loving backpackers, and hikers that enjoy the comforts of towns and refuges every day or so.
The guide on grfive.com says it is bested only by a trail through the mountains of Nepal and India in the Himalayas. Someone from zpacks says it may be bested by the GR20 along the spine of the Mediterranean island of Corsica. Maybe one day, I will be able to give a first hand comparison of these trails and tell you for sure, which is the greatest hiking trail. I doubt it is possible to tell, to gauge these mountains versus those.
All mountains, all adventures, all long walks, are surely beautiful things in their own rites, and we’ll always be biased towards the trails we have hiked or are interested in hiking. They’ll always take precedent.
But here, tonight, as I lay on the shore of the Mediterranean, on a pebble beach straight out of a postcard, surrounded by dance music and topless French girls, I’d like to talk about the high route of the Pyrénées, the good ‘ol HRP trail, the grand adventure that just consumed 6 weeks of my short life. If I am lucky, I may have 5,200 such weeks to spend. But very likely, much less than that. At least good weeks. Weeks that I’m not sitting in a hospital bed or watching TV or physically unable to hike anymore (Nature forbid).
The HRP is exceptionally strenuous. The 155,000 feet of ascent (and 155,000 feet of descent, although I’d love to not have to come down) over the course of 550 miles translates to a tough, constant gradient, every day of the trail. On average, this translated to 4,200 feet of climbing and 4,200 feet of descending every day. Similar to climbing Half Dome from Yosemite Valley every day, although the climb is spread across about 12-16 miles a day.
There are a handful of flat trails along balcons or valleys floors or ridge roads, but generally half of the trail is going up a mountain, and the other half is going back down. Steeply. On scree slopes. On boulder fields. On zig zag trails, or just straight up or down the thing. European trails seem to have an aversion to switchbacks, which can really strain your Achilles ankle tendon if you over do it too fast.
However, it was mostly the more difficult, scenic alternate routes on the challenging traverses that were partially trail-less and uncomfortably steep on the uphills. Most of the “official” trail is in fact, a trail, and a damn good trail at that. One of the best, most fun times I’ve ever had walking in the mountains.
Compared to the Continental Divide Trail, it is about 1/6 the distance but 1/3 the elevation change, which you could take as meaning it is about twice as steep per mile as the CDT. The CDT has a lot of long flat stretches through deserts, ridges, and plains though, so that may not be the best comparison.
The HRP is not for everyone. I love it, but I am someone who notoriously goes on “hell-hikes.” I love the uphill, the challenge, and the risk associated with hiking such a strenuous and lesser traveled path. I thrive in the remoteness, being alone and maybe not seeing another soul for days. I feel at home there. You might not agree.
The views on the HRP are magnificent. I know of few other places where you could see as many glacial valleys and clear aquamarine lakes and sculpted, sheared rock faces, and romantic, magic 3,000m peaks, in as many miles. Perhaps the John Muir Trail? I don’t know. Will have to hike that one day, to find out.
The people all along the HRP, at every village, have been phenomenally friendly and helpful. Except Aldudes. Sorry Aldudes (not sorry). I was reserved and afraid to interact with people at the start, as someone who does not speak the language of the land. I am okay with Spanish, but French, forget about it. But my reservations were a hindrance to my enjoyment of the culture, the cuisine, and hospitality of the locals. If you don’t at least try to make a connection, you will never gain an experience or see anything new, or maybe meet someone that helps expand your comfort zone, leading to new and more fulfilling experiences.
People at the hotels, markets, in town, and everyone along the way, were especially nice. They didn’t care that I didn’t speak French. Or fluent Spanish. They were happy to work with me and try to understand what I needed. I always smiled and laughed when attempting to speak their language, especially after seeing their faces made at my attempt. I tried my best to find the humor in every situation, trying my best to speak a language I know very little about. Many were excited to test their (fluent) English, although they always say their English is not good after speaking the language perfectly! I love it. People will reciprocate your attitude, so be kind and you will universally receive kindness in return.
I can’t recommend this trail enough– if it sounds like something you would enjoy, I’d happily provide whatever resources are at my disposal to help you on your way. I have recorded high resolution .gpx tracks with some waypoints for camps, resupply, and water sources near the hot lowlands around the start and fin. I wanted to contribute something to the HRP beta, and that will probably be the best bet. Be warned, it does take quite a few of the harder alternate routes, along the Frontier Ridge, not all of which are on trail, a few of which are not even mentioned in any guidebook.
Anyways, it grows late and the stars are shimmering overhead now. This is the final account of the high adventure on the HRP. The concluding words of finality.
This trail weaves together all the best parts of French and Spanish culture. The superb food, the quaint villages, the friendly people, and the scenic nature of the Pyrénées range make it one of the greatest hiking trails on Earth. The feeling of hiking down unto the Mediterranean, the ultimate object of your wanderings, could be described as Magnifique.
So lace up your boots, grab your ruck, and get to marching. There’s a whole world of wonder out there waiting for you. You have only to take a short walk to go and find it.
Dragon Dan Morriss, signing off.
Day 41 – Grand Finale du HRP
Today I walked 25km to the Eastern terminus of the HRP, the beach at Banyuls-sur-mer. The photos tell the story.
Day 40 – A Long Walk to the Beach
Not much to say about today. It was the day before I finish the trail, so I was in an impeccably good mood all day, despite the intense heat in the afternoon.
I had a 400m climb in the morning up to the Roc de France (1,450m). Good views all around.
I met a GR10 hiker who had just started out at Banyuls, I helped him find some water on the trail. He seemed to be missing the comforts already, haha. I hope he does alright! I wished him to have fun and continued on.
Then, there was a looooong 20km mostly downhill on dirt roads and trails. I knocked out out in about 4 hrs.
This brought me to the border town of Le Perthus. It was very loud and overcrowded, just like the guidebook said it would be! Lots of people trying to sell you sunglasses or whatever on the curb. Tough life.
I went to the supermarket that had WiFi and hung around for an hour. I bought another days worth of foods and comforts and some beers to celebrate the end of the trail.
Then I hiked out around 6pm, having waited out the worst of the heat.
I made another 8km up the last hill between me and the Mediterranean, and found a nice place to camp in a clearing with views all around at 1,000m elevation.
It was the windiest here that it has been all trail! Wow! It’s impressively windy. All the better for this area, as the wind has kept the temperatures pretty bearable despite the heat.
The sky is clear, so I left the rainfly off the tent so I could gaze out at the stars for the first time this trip. Usually you just dont know if it’ll rain in the mountains, and so put the rain fly on as insurance, but I’m pretty sure it will remain dry tonight given the more desert-like feel of this area.
Tomorrow, 25km to Banyuls-sur-mer! The end of this journey, the eastern terminus of the HRP. I’m saving one beer for when I’m soaking my feet in the sea.
Good night!