July 27
End: Le Tetras Refuge
Miles: 21.5
Total: 4614.5
I wasn’t the first one out of the refuge, but I wasn’t too late either. In the morning I stopped to eat some trail mix and get more water, and everyone from the refuge passed me. I was not in a rush. I soon passed everyone again and was on to a very scenic area full of orange rock. It was quite a nice area, with steep cliffs on both sides which send down the occasional avalanche when the snow comes around.
After awhile I arrived at the road and the Mont Albert Center. I stopped in, plugged in my phone, and started furiously writing journal entries. I had actually been thinking more and more of my journal, and had written a few entries here and there. Of course I was still far behind, and decided to trade in some miles for journal entries.
I journaled for hours, and everyone from the refuge rolled into the center after awhile. I got lots of entries done, then finally decided that it was time to move on and finish the day. But first I had to find the trail.
I don’t know why it is so difficult for me to find the trail sometimes, but on this occasion the problem was that the trail crossed the road without any real notice. After wasting some time hiking towards Mont Albert, I came back and found the trail hiding near a parking lot.
Back on track, I hiked toward Mont Xalibu, my last challenge for the day. I found the trail to the base of the mountain to be a nice graded gravel trail, and only had to climb near the end. The mountain itself was pretty neat, and I could see the refuge from there.
I descended and arrived at the refuge before dark and met a few other hikers. There were definitely a lot of people hiking and staying in the refuges in the national park compared to the rest of the trail. I talked some with the other hikers, did more journal entries, and went to bed.
