26-07-2016 Haute Route Day 2
Haute Route 1 on Vimeo Haute Route 2 on Vimeo Haute Route 3 on Vimeo
2: Trient to Champex Lac, Col de la Forclaz, Through Bovine for apricot tart
Lodging: Plein Air Hostel/Hotel
Click on the link above and download it to your computer. Then, open Google Earth and manually open and you can see the trail in 3D.
Trient to Champex-Lac
Today we woke up before our dorm mates at 6:00am and tossed our gear into the hallway to pack it quietly. Since breakfast was not served until 7:00am and we wanted to begin hiking earlier we decided to buy a hotel sandwich for the trek. Trient has no markets or any other services like ATMs, so we had to rely on the hotel sandwiches and extra grub we had in the packs to get us up the mountain to the mini col Forclaz.
On the hike out of Trient, we saw this... yes, it was that beautiful.
On the way, I saw a Swiss bunker which was overgrown and perfectly camouflaged. It was made out of poured concrete and had an interesting door and window. The window would allow you to shoot out and protect the valley below. I guess it’s there if they ever need it. I began to wonder what else is hiding in the surrounding mountains.
These snails were pretty common in the morning.
These strange looking pine trees had interesting clumps of needles.
The weather was cloudy and humid, but no rain was falling on us. After a few hours, we arrived in the establishment of Bovine. We were some of the first guests and the apricot tart we heard about the night before was not ready yet. While we waited we went for the omelette (cheese and mushrooms) and potatoes (Suisse Rostti with bacon and cheese). The food was amazing, and tasted even better will all the miles under our feet. The operation is run by a family with several children. In the hills surrounding the house we saw some fine looking horses, and could hear the bells of goats and cattle. As we were eating our fare, many more hikers showed up to get the yummy food. I guess missing the route along the Fenetre d’Arpette was worth it.
Bovine in the distance.
We found out this is a hybrid edelweiss that is meant to grow at lower altitudes. This version is more lush and hearty than the high mountain type, which we later found.
The infamous apricot tart.
On the way out of the Bovine area we witnessed one of the young girls, probably about 8 years old, track down the goats. She made a call to the lead goat with her voice and it responded bringing the entire herd with them. Amazing! The Suisse can even talk to goats!
The route led us over a few washed out avalanche chutes with beautiful waterfalls residing in the middle. The trekking was not too difficult, but the mountains were steep! As we traversed along a wooded section of mountain with a pitch of 50 degrees I heard the sound of something moving through the thick cover. As I turned, I glimpsed an animal running full speed down the steep hill. As Katherine turned, the animal stopped briefly on the trail and then continued to dart down the steep slope. We realized from the dark line under the animal’s eye and it’s small horns that we had just seen the elusive chamois! We heard that they are shy and hard to find, so we were really excited.
I did not take this picture, since it passed by so fast, but this is what the animal looked like.
Soon we came to a small hamlet near Champex-Lac, and across another Suisse bunker. It looked like this is the place they keep the village firearms. It was a room covered with dirt that looked similar to US army depot storage facilities.
Once arriving in Champex-Lac we found an ATM and looked at Suisse Francs for the first time. Of course the machine spit out perfect bills that I unfortunately had to fold into my wallet. I had a feeling that all Suisse money might be this nice. That was true!
Our accommodation was once again a dorm, but this time we had a 6 person dorm to ourselves on the upper floor. We did some laundry in the shower and hung it up on lines in the room. Thomas and Anne decided to mail a box back to Paris with camping gear that they did not need, since wild camping is apparently illegal in Switzerland, to lighten things up. The small grocery store had a little post area which made this really easy.
The best box available was this beauty!
Trail food.
Tomorrow’s hike should be a little easier since it is a valley walk with no cols, but very beautiful. We are headed to Le Chable, just below the Verbier ski resort.
The dorm food was pretty good I must say!
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