From the lakeside campsite, with blue skies overhead, I set out for the small village of Larche, 9km distant. There was a small 200m descent and ascent over a col, passing some interesting ruins of an old stone fortress or monastary. Then, an 800m descent to the village.
I walked through Larche pretty fast, as I wanted there to be a food market, and there wasnt. No worries though, I have a full day of eats left, and that will be more than enough to get me to the town of St. Etienne, 35km away.
I continued on a one lane road through a forest, eventually coming to a trailhead and entering the fascinating Mercantour National Park.
The trail gradually winds up a valley, and before I know it, I’m at a beautiful lake with 20km done for the day.
I took some time here to lay out all my wet items (poncho, tent, clothes) from the storm yesterday. I also made a great hot lunch and made some mends on a few things with thread and needle.
Then, on and up, another 300m elevation to the col Cavelle, 2,650m.
From here, I had a choice: take the boring old GR5 trail which leads through not so exciting terrain, or take the Balconies of the Mercantour, which starts off with a trailless bushwhack (okay, more of a grasswhack) up to a col about 5km away.
Can you guess which route I took?
So I started the bushwhack by passing the aquamarine lacs de Agnel, and then descend 200m to a mostly dry riverbed. Finally, I climb 400m up on nice grassy hills towards the col where I can pick up a trail to the Refuge/Lacs de Vens.
However, there was an obvious storm forming over the col ahead of me, so I decided to pitch tent next to the highest lake, just 100m below the col. I got the rainfly on just as the rain started pounding down.
It was nice to have a dry place to listen to the rain and have dinner around 7pm. The storm gave up after a good 45 minutes, and I probably could’ve gone further towards the refuge with how blue the sky was now, but ah well. The tent is already up. I took the opportunity to enjoy the serenity of the lake and the sunset, and do some reading in a book I found I had downloaded, Dragons of Eden (Carl Sagan), a story of the evolution of the brain and human intelligence.
Well, I’m worn out. Hopefully I find some food tomorrow, I’m almost all out!
Good night!