We awoke to the sound of hundreds of bells, as a herd of cattle had descended upon the stream next to our camp in the dawn, to quench their morning thirst.
We packed up and got hiking by 9. I slept in an hour because I was worn out! The hike led us up the side of a mountain on switchbacks, next to a cascading stream in a valley.
Climbing up to the pass
We soon met a group of four HRP hikers from Germany and Switzerland, who had been out a day longer than I have, 19 days! Their packs looked pretty heavy, which could explain their slower pace.
In fact, one of them came up to me later and was marveled by my “CDT 3,000 Mile” patch on my backpack. He said all my gear looked really light, and asked if I was a professional hiker! Ahh, I wish. I don’t get paid to hike, yet.. but I did sell my car to go hiking, so maybe that counts for something.
We hiked up and over a number of cols, and along a beautiful high ridge, eventually coming to the Lacs de Barroude, nestled in a little bowl and sheltered by the massive Wall of Barroude, a glacially carved curtain of granite, reminiscent of the slabs of Yosemite.
Horquette d’Hèas (very windy)
We had lunch there, and decided it felt weird to stop hiking at 3pm, so we continued on down the trail. We came over a pass to a gorgeous valley with quite a few waterfalls ( six or seven? ) cascading over 3,000 feet down the granite cliffs.
After reaching the valley floor, we made dinner and pitched camp for the night with the sound of a river (fed by all the waterfalls) to lull us to sleep. Good night!
