Col de Somport -> Gavarnie

Wednesday July 22

We leave early from the splendid hotel Candanchu and hike up to Astun ski resort.

Astun Mountain design ???

The 3 Stooges are there! They got drunk last night and managed to hike up here and sleep on the ground by the closed shops. Guy has an headache...

Beautiful lake above Astun with horses.

We enter the mountain area of the Pic du Midi d'Ossau.

Little by little we get close to this quite famous mountain in the Pyrénées (landmark, alpinism...)

We climb a mountain pass at 2400m, col de Peyreget, the highest we've been so far.

Walk by the Pombie refuge:

And set camp next to a quiet creek until a herd of cows passes by:

So much cattle in the Pyrénées !

Thursday July 23

Another great day. A bit shorter as we set camp by 3:30pm

Down and up again as usual! But we feel great and the scenery is 5 stars!

We also keep meeting people from all nationalities hiking the HRP. Netherland, England, Germany, US, Denmark, Poland, Norway etc. Several are addicted to long trails and already have hiked the PCT. This is the closest such trail you can find in Europe they say!

Before Arremoulit refuge we pass by an intimidating aerial section called "passage d'Orteig". Impressive but easy:

Some snow then as we keep climbing to Arremoulit Pass (2450m)

Great view from that pass to the Balaïtous peak (3150m):

Very alpine here so we decide to make our camp in this grand scenery, by our own private lake and away from the cows!

Friday July 24

Days keep passing and seem to be a copy paste from the day before!!

But what a day! Again!! The weather remains gorgeous day after day. We're blessed!

We start by entering Spain and find beautiful twisted pine trees up high (we're at 2200m).

Then we find out that the Respomuso refuge is closed for cleaning until 11am as we get there at 9 am... Bummer, we were counting on it for food!!!

We're kinda short on food but don't want to wait. We can make it to Gavarnie but a bit more would be nice. Luckily the manager still sells us a piece of bread. Yay!

As we climb to Fache pass we go thru Camp Plano.

Then the creek running next to the path becomes very scenic, like a canyon; lots of water too!

We end up by reaching snow fields:

A lake:

And finally Fache pass at 2650m.

We're entering the world of Vignemale, another great landmark of the Pyrénées.

As we start hiking down towards Wallon refuge, there are more snow fields:

Wallon refuge area (Marcadau Valley) is a gorgeous place with many trees. So we decide to stay nearby and find a great spot hidden from the trail next to a creek. Paradise!