Friday, August 16, 2024
End: Valley of the Moutière
Ascent: 1100 m
Descent: 900 m
Distance: 18 km
Total: 56 km
Another day complete. Before our hike started, I had wondered if we would really have enough food to make it from the beginning to the first store on the trail. I had mapped a backup plan from the Cabanes du Talon down to Allos as a side trip for food. Thankfully we still had plenty of food left, and I didn’t need to do that.
I woke up early as light started to peek into our cabin, and I wrote in my journal. Soon the others were up, and we prepared to leave.
We had another big climb to do in the morning, up to the Pass of the Petit Talon, at 2675 meters. That was the highest yet! The climb upwards was not easy. At one point we were walking a narrow ledge that was also a path down the mountain for one of the many waterfalls.
Thankfully, as we gained in altitude, we found grassy hills where we could hike without being on a cliff ledge, and we hiked without stopping, hoping to avoid any serious rain from the gray skies above. I was a little cold without a jacket, and I insisted we keep moving as it was not yet too windy.
We saw several mountain goats today, as we had yesterday as well. When we approached the pass, we found a neat little basin with a larger group of goats.
Reaching the pass felt great. We took a couple of photos quickly, and descended down the other side. Switchbacks led down and down, and we passed a few other hikers going up before we arrived at a convenient water source.
I set up the tent and Alex cooked lunch. After filtering some water, I got in my sleeping bag to warm up. We stayed for some time, the children playing cards as the sun came out.
We packed up and continued descending further, finding a road with motorcycles and cars traversing the mountains. The children were in a great mood, racing ahead on the trail to Bayasse.
We walked along a lovely river before arriving in the little village. I surreptitiously dumped our trash in a local bin, then we stopped at a local bakery for a loaf of warm bread.
Hiking the gravel road out of Bayasse, I knew that we would not be able to climb up and over the next pass before sunset, and that it would be wise to camp before we left the treeline. We filtered some water, then soon found a good spot to pitch the tent, away from the road.
It had not been a particularly difficult day after we had crossed the Col du Petit Talon, and I was happy to find that we were still within striking distance of the next store if we did some good hiking the next day.
