Friday 9.5.03 to Saturday 9.6.03
We flew from JFK to Paris, transferring to Toulouse. From there we took the train to Luchon. We were starving at the train station waiting for the Luchon train so we ate baguettes with thin salty ham and curry chicken. Our special train, the Midi-Pyrenees Express, left at 2:40 pm and we arrived at Luchon around 7 pm.
The Luchon Casino (grocery store) was still open, so we bought food for hiking (pate, Evan’s favorite YOP, chips, and Orangina Rouge). Across the street we briefly visited Liberty Cycles (filled with customers for a bike race the next day) and found our hotel (La Petite Auberge). On the way, we passed by the hotel that Evan stayed last year, needless to say he does not recommend it! Our hotel was like a beautiful old castle on the outside, however the room itself was non-descript with a strangely padded door.
We ate dinner at our hotel (delicious soup, quiche, salmon with vegetable circles, and creme caramel, with a bottle of house red), walked around a bit, had a cafe on the main street. Unlike Evan’s last trip to Luchon (in June, 2002), this time the town was quite full because of the impending bike race.
This was the best night’s sleep the whole trip.
Sunday 9.7.03
Luchon to Rifugio de Venasque
It was pouring rain the minute we woke up, maybe that’s why we slept so soundly! We deduced that in order to start our hike we needed to immediately buy Lisa rain pants. Stores opened around 10 am so we hung out on main street waiting for the start of the annual Super Bagneres bike race.
There were about 200 or more competing in the amateur group that started at 9:30 am in the rain. These guys, of all ages, generally had very nice bikes but still will have to suffer up to the top of the Super Bagneres ski resort in the dumping rain. We found a sports shop and bought some cheap rain pants along with a wooley hat for Evan. On our way out of town we also bought an umbrella!
We walked about 10 km on paved road to l’Hospice de France. This turned out to be nothing more than an abandoned building and a parking lot for hikers. Half of the walk to l’Hospice follows the bike race route, which then forked right, up to the ski resort. We continued left where the road became fairly steep, around 10% grade. It rained on and off and we were in full rain gear in addition to our umbrella. We got to l’Hospice at 1 pm, realizing there was no shelter or food, we decided to hike to the nearest refugio, Venasque, still on the French side of the border.
Our original plan was to get to Spain and stay at Refugio Renclusa, but that was another 15 km by the flattest pass, so it was out of the question given the weather. From l’Hospice (1385m) it was a straight climb of about 3 km up to Refugio de Venasque (2200m). The rain stopped so we skipped lunch in an effort to hike as far as we could. At the bottom we met a guy coming down and asked him about the refuge. He says it was “cold and wet” and was serving only soup for lunch. There was room for 15 people, and although he didn’t stay there last night, he thinks it was full on Saturday night. Unfortunately, about 30 minutes up the trail, black clouds came in from below, swallowing us up, and the rain started again.
After a few hours hiking up steep, short switchbacks above tree line and in heavy rain, we were approaching the top. There was little visibility as everything was shrouded in clouds and rain.
We finally got to the refuge, which turned out to be a stone lean-to with a tin roof with two shelves for beds, each holding five people side by side. There was no heat and it was damp. Attached to the sleeping room was the caretaker’s room, which of course had heat, a kitchen, etc. However, guests weren't allowed into that room. We stripped off everything (since everything was wet) and changed into dry clothes. Luckily the outdoor WC was clean, albeit precariously perched over a steep cliff.
Around 5 pm an older couple from Dublin (David and Maureen) hiked in, joining us. Dinner, held in a nearby tent, was actually quite good: rice, bread, soup, chicken, wine and dessert. After dinner, we loaded on the musty blankets, close the steel shutters and doors, and go to sleep. Trips to the WC are cold and wet, requiring use of Dave’s Petzel head lamp.
total distance: 13 km
total time: 10:30 am to 4:30 pm
highlight: seeing the Super Bagneres bike race start
Monday 9.8.03
Refugio Venasque to Refugio Renclusa
After rousing the refuge’s attenders, we had bread with jam and strong coffee for breakfast. Then the four of us hiked over the Port de Venasque at 2400m and into Spain. The hike was steep through gravelly boulders, the border is hacked out of two large stones. At the top we were greeted by spectacular peaks poking out from the Spanish side. The weather was clear with sun.
A long descent took us into a valley leading to Refugio Renclusa. We arrived at the bottom of the climb up to Renclusa around 11am. We parted with David and Maureen who would overnight at Renclusa. At this point our plan was to bypass Renclusa and hike to Refugi de Molieres on the way East to Refugi Espitau de Vielha. We passed by the Forau dels Aigualluts (waterfall) and onto the Plan des Aigualluts, a large grassy plain surrounded by mountains. To the West was Aneto the highest peak in area (3000m).
We were supposedly following an “HRP” which was more difficult than a “GR” trail. Also our map was of inadequate scale for the job at hand (1:50000). As a result, finding the trail was tedious and error prone. Furthermore, the map was clearly incorrect in some details, such as a trail crossing a river or the existence of a lake? In the early afternoon there were plenty of other hikers going the same way, up the Toro Pass. But even among the hikers there was confusion as to where the true trail lay. One Spanish family with an annoying little boy pushed past us when we were hiking over boulders. At one point we followed a couple clambering up huge boulders and make a crossing of a raging stream by hopping from boulder to boulder. A few minutes later it appeared that this path was on track because it merged with a well-defined path coming from somewhere else. This area had no painted markers and few cairns. We saw a few marmots along the way, big furry creatures with a sharp piercing warning cry.
Around 1:30 pm we stopped in a high meadow to eat a quick lunch, and to our annoyance the Spanish family with the annoying boy followed us to our lunch spot giving us no privacy to do our business.
The weather was still sunny but we were running out of time: we were still perhaps 8 km from Molieres with a required climb up to 3000m! We continued to follow the few cairns and around 2:30 pm found ourselves at a stalemate. The trail seemed to end at a sheer wall with no walkway. The alternative, to go around and up over the wall, seemed filled with huge boulders that offered little comfort of safety. At that point we were around 2300m.
We regretfully decided to retreat to Renclusa, which was now about 8 km behind us. We simply had no faith in our map, the severity of the climb up to 3000m, the condition of the refuge at Molieres, and the weather. On top of this we were running out of time and energy. It was disheartening as we walked all the way back to the Renclusa turn-off, arriving at 4:30 pm (where we were at 11 am that morning). Now we had to hike up to the refugio, a few hundred meters higher. First we ate something since we were starving, so we sat down on the switchbacks and started to make sandwiches. A hard rain started. Huddling under the umbrella, we ate quickly and headed up the trail. About an hour later we popped through the fog to the refuge.
We signed in, ran into David and Maureen and moreover a lot of very serious mountain climbers. They came to climb Aneto - making our fiasco that much more embarrassing. We met a French guy who was hiking the entire GR-11 and tomorrow plans to go to Espitau de Vielha over the same route we had abandoned. Since he had already been hiking 25 days and was now at the midpoint, Evan figured he’ll find the trail where we gave up!
Dinner was bread soup, ziti with parsley, olive oil and garlic, mutton stew, the inevitable creme caramel, along with the refugio vino tinto. We ate with four hardcore British hikers who had attempted to scale Aneto that day. They started very early and returned in 12 hours total: we do not mention our own adventure that day! They warned us about the snoring guy in the bunk above us, gave us some ear plugs, and lent us their advanced Petzl for trips to the WC. The snoring wasn’t so bad as someone realized the best way to make him stop was to imitate a marmot’s cry. This worked splendidly!
total distance: 17 km
total time: 8:30 am to 5:30 pm
highlight: reaching the Spanish border looking out onto spectacular snow covered peaks, and having dinner with the British climbers who almost scaled Aneto
Tuesday 9.9.03
Refugio Renclusa to Benasque
It was pouring rain and sleet in the morning. Even the French guy called off his hike and took a rest day. For us, there was no way we were going to attempt that route again. There was no alternative from Renclusa other than taking a bus down to Benasque and figuring out how to get to Aiguestortes park from there.
We hiked down to bottom of Renclusa by 9:10 am and just miss the 9 am bus. We had to wait for the 10 am bus, this would be called an “equalizer” if we were on The Amazing Race. A few other hikers join us, including… David and Maureen. The bus takes 30 minutes to get to Benasque, which is like a Spanish Luchon. Unfortunately the Tourist Information in Benasque is unhelpful. The only buses they know about go to Llieda, 4 hours to the south!
It was a really frustrating day spent in the rain in Benasque. The bus to Llieda left at 3 pm but we didn’t want to go so far out of our way just to get to the next refuge. Lisa got the idea to go to Boi which wa a famous entry point into Aiguestortes park. With our bad maps we calculated that Boi was at most 100 km from Benasque, so if there was direct transportation it should take less than 2 hours. Needing a break, we ate bocadillo de jamon at a cafeteria, where David and Maureen were arranging a ride back to Luchon. Saying goodbye to them we then went back to Tourist information where we got some phone numbers for taxis (but they wouldn’t call them). Still frustrated we went to a high-end sporting goods shop and they help us call a taxi. All but one of the numbers was disconnected. The remaining number was for a guy who wasn’t available. They told us where he lived, so we walked across town and knocked on the door to his apartment. His wife answered and said to come back at 2 pm. We went back at 2 pm and he still wasn’t there. At that point, we were sitting in a cafe waiting for the bus to Llieda, when Evan saw a taxi van pull up to the hotel outside. He ran out and started to ask the driver if he could take us to Boi the next day. The guy was really friendly and said he could do it, but he would charge for all mileage to/from his home in Graus. This wasn’t so good because all told it is 300km. He charges 0.40 Euro per km, or about 120 Euro for the trip to Boi. Evan agreed that he would confirm by telephone later in evening.
Back in the cafe we were finally happy that we had a more direct plan, even if it cost 120 Euro. The bus tickets back and forth to Llieda would be at least 80 Euro and it would take at least 8 hours. Now we had the luxury of waiting to see if the local taxi guy will be cheaper. On an upbeat note, we let the bus go to Llieda without us and checked into a nice hotel across the street.
Later that evening the hotel desk clerk helped us call the local taxi guy who said he would charge 1 Euro per km, so we canceled the Graus guy and made a plan with the local guy, leaving 8 am. So the day was a complete loss and we didn’t get to relax at all. However, Evan did buy a waterproof backpack cover at the sporting goods store, where Lisa discovered the cool Spanish mountaineering magazine Desnivel.
Dinner at the hotel was beans with pigs ear for Lisa, Evan had spanish rice, main course of ox steak with patas fritas and rabbit which we shared, vino tinto, desert creme caramel. We watched a bullfight on TV (only TV the whole trip) and washed our dirty clothes.
total distance: 3 km (2 km at Reclusa, 1 km around Benasque)
total time: 8:30 am to 9:10 am
highlight: finally succeeding with taxi plan, discovering Desnivel, watching TV bullfight
Wednesday 9.10.03
Benasque to Refugi Venotsa i Calvell
We woke up very early to be ready for our 8 am taxi pickup at hotel. In fact we were up so early that no one was at the hotel desk. We couldn’t find where breakfast was served and almost gave up until someone walked in. He showed us a magnificent buffet breakfast: Evan claims it was one of the best he had ever encountered! Too bad we had only about 20 minutes to eat before our ride. We both had thirds, stuffing ourselves with salami sandwiches, pastries, coffee, jam, croissants, meats and cheeses, etc. It was out of control! We even debated taking some of it with us.
We took our taxi 75 km from Benasque to Caldes de Boi, a resort a few kilometers from the large dam at Estany de Cavallers, the entrance to Parc Nacional d’aiguestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici. The ride took about 1.5 hours and was very scenic. We saw Aneto from another angle, really shining white in morning sun and perfectly blue sky. There was little civilization between the two points: just one or two minor towns. Evan said the road would be a great route for a bike tour, almost no cars.
Starting at Boi, we would walk about 10 km to Refugi Venotsa i Calvell. The walk began with a jaunt around a large dam and reservoir. The road up to the dam was quiet; it was only 9:30 am, besides us there were only a few four-wheel jeeps with guides taking people up to the park. All flues were fully open in the dam creating a torrential stream by the roadside.
The reservoir was the largest we saw in the park. When we reached the reservoir it was really windy, creating big waves on the water’s surface. We surmised that the wind was so strong that if anyone was windsurfing up there, they would be swept up to the dam and tragically over one of the open flues. It took about an hour to walk around – the water was so high that in places we had to walk through shallow water that flooded the trail.
On the far end of the reservoir the climb started towards the refuge, lasting about 5 km. We had to cross over another stream (that feeds the reservoir from higher up) a few times. At the top of the pass there was a cow meadow and one could suddenly see into the next valley with another, slightly smaller lake. The refuge was high above the lake on the far side.
Just as we finally got near the refuge and saw it clearly, it was apparent that we would have to forge a wild stream that tumbled over the trail, becoming a waterfall into the lake. It looked scary: we forged streams before but nothing this deep, long and wild. Most hikers were walking upstream to see if there was a place higher up that was easier to cross. We followed this sidetrack all the way up to another smaller lake that fed the stream. It was obvious that all the way along it was impossible to cross without getting wet up to one’s chest, or else jumping from one huge boulder to another. This was a theme of the whole park: there was always another smaller lake higher up feeding the bigger lakes down below. We retreated back to the original crossing and like Jesus (almost) just walk through the water. Evan’s approach was to just stomp through the water to get over as quickly as possible because it was pretty scary to forge. The water went over his ankles, so his shoes, socks, and feet got soaking wet. Lisa took a more wimpy careful approach, she tried to step lightly, but her shoes definitely got wet. However when we both made it across, Lisa’s magic GoreTex liners kept her shoes, socks and feet totally dry! It was amazing. One slip would have been bad. Just across the river was the refuge. It was incredibly sunny when we got there around 2 pm. No problem getting a bed. Lots of people are lounging around outside, lying on the grass watching the snow-capped mountains (over 3000m: Besiberri and Punta Alta) across the lake below.
We set our shoes in the sun to dry out, had a cafe and relaxed. There were some interesting people there, a mix of military people, regular hikers and rock climbers. Some were resting before continuing their hikes either to Restanca or Boi. We were surprised they were leaving so late (around 4 pm) to keep hiking. There was a group of rock climbers re-packing their ropes and gear while their little boy practiced on the handholds bolted to the ceiling rafters. They left late to climb the six towers of Travessani, two kilometers behind the refuge. The group of hardcore army guys seem to be just hanging out, drinking beer.
Hanging out in the dining room before dinner we started reading Desnivel magazines, in one was an article about the Travessani rock climbs! We pondered renaming our trip: Tour Desnivel (spanish for: “descent in elevation.”) Much later when we were back home in NYC, we noticed the subway ads for Spanish malpractice suits; elevador en desnival is one item that could be grounds for a lawsuit! Dinner that night was powered soup, ziti, curried pork and mashed potatoes, vino tinto, with... creme caramel for desert.
We slept on a packed full top bunk. It was crowded and whoever was sleeping next to Evan tossed and turned all night; needless to say we didn’t sleep much at all.
total distance: 9 km
total time: 9:30 am to 2 pm
highlight: forging the river to reach the refugio, the little Spanish rock climbing boy
Thursday 9.11.03
Refugi Venotsa i Calvell to Refugi di Saboredo
After a nondescript breakfast we started hiking at 8:30 am. It was slightly cloudy and a cool temperature. The trail started to climb immediately from the refuge. It was about 4 km to the Port de Caldes at 2570 m. That took us the whole morning, as we trudged through the moraine. (Just after breakfast we saw our first Sky Runners: two guys headed towards us with shorts, teeshirts, running shoes, small backpacks and one hiking pole each.) Here there were no trees, just boulders and grass.
There were several competing trails, each marked by cairns and all going to the same place. The trails wound around a bunch of large lakes and several smaller ones. By this time we were trail finding experts; spotting the cairns and never losing our way. We met a group of horses who apparently lived up here during the summer, eating the grass and leaving the evidence in large horse “apples” everywhere.
Near the top of the pass there was snow, but only an inch or two. This was the junction with the GR11 – our first encounter with this famous trail. To the West it goes to Restanca. To the East it goes to Refugi de Colomers. We headed East, down the other side of the pass. This side was more mellow.There were lakes here also, but less extreme boulders. We had a brief lunch on a large flat boulder: it was gloomy and looked like rain. We continued down, taking a brief rest to eat a Clif Bar near a cow meadow, after the main descent. It was about 3 km from the top of the pass to Colomers, all downhill or flat.
Colomers was built right on a dam by a reservoir about the same size as the one at Calvell. However the refuge wasn't as nice. Since we got there around noon full of energy, we decided to continue to Refugi de Saboredo. Lisa spoke to the kitchen guy at Colomers and he made a reservation for us at Saboredo and also gave her explanation of the trail. It was about 4 km up to the saddle (2400m: Coth deth Tuc Gran de Sendrosa) and another 3 km to the refuge. The weather turned and now was totally sunny – excellent hot weather finally!
Without stopping to eat at Colomers, we walked across the dam and started climbing for the next two hours. While we were still finding our way around the bottom of the mountain we ran into a huge herd of cows coming up the narrow trail. There were at least 40 big cows following one another. There wasn’t much room on the trail. Evan’s strategy was to get off into the thicket and let them pass. Lisa took the direct approach: she barrelled down the trail and they jumped out of her way. Brilliant!
We were rounding the bottom of the mountain at this point, trying to get to the jumping off point for the pass. We passed a cairn sitting outside a dark tunnel going into a rock face. Lisa recalled that the guy at Colomers said “go in the tunnel” so we tried to walk into it, assuming it would let us out somewhere near the trail head. It was really dark and we had no light, plus the tunnel floor was covered with two inches of water. Very Stephan King “IT” creepy. We walked about 100 feet into it before we gave up: this tunnel certainly wouldn’t get us up the mountain! Evan claimed that the Colomers guy probably meant “go by the tunnel.”
In any case, some other hikers came by and we asked them. They showed us their map and it indicated that the trail continued in another direction. So we followed them for a while, continuing around the bottom of the mountain. Then we finally found a thin, vague trail in some tall grass: the start of the real climb.
From that point on it was straight up: this trail was the steepest we had encountered the whole trip. But it was sunny and perfect weather so we were ok. The terrain was grass with small pines, then only grass, with some giant, huge boulder fields. Up and up and up we hiked. At some point we stopped for a snack pretty high up. It was breezy. On that trail we encountered a few groups of hikers going up and down.
We made the top around 4 pm. We were pretty tired at this point, but the weather was excellent and it was all downhill to the refuge. Actually the downhill was very easy: a traversing trail cut out of the side of the mountain: a long gradual downhill. We didn’t lose that much altitude before we were in another valley. From a far distance of about two kilometers we could see the refuge. It looked like a toy house. It seemed easy enough to get to but we were starting to get really tired (we hadn’t eaten much all day – lunch was over four hours ago). Although there was no elevation gain to get there, we had to hike across some seriously large boulder fields. It was after 5 pm and we were in danger of slipping and getting into an accident. We made it through to the hut at 6 pm, just as we were bonking.
This was a cozy place: it could sleep 20 people but there were only seven that night: a Spanish couple, a pair of French guys, a single Spanish hiker and us. It wa a beautiful refuge surrounded by a bowl of mountains. Evan took a sponge shower in the outside sink jutting out from a rock. We found out that there were no toilets either, you just went behind a rock. Another pair of sky runners (French) came by the refugio to check in (the Carros de Foc is a race around the park’s nine refugios, at each refugio the runners must get a stamp to prove they were there). These runners wore Solomon gear and looked fairly hardcore. One guy held his map in a plastic map case as they ran.
It got cold quickly up there so around 7 pm we went inside the small dining room adjoining the sleeping room. No Desnivel magazines here, only very technical rock climbing magazines. Dinner was sad: we were so hungry. We had bread soup (Lisa and I both had seconds and thirds), spaghetti and then sausages with white beans. For desert we had ? The people at dinner were very lively and nice, joking around in French and Spanish (almost no English). The French guys were older and seemed to be experienced hikers. Evan was still hungry after dinner but that was that.
Lights out at 10 pm and we fell completely asleep until 7 am – totally knocked out.
total distance: 14 km
total time: 8:30 am to 6 pm
highlight: searching the spooky tunnel for the path up the mountain: what were we thinking? serious boulder fields!
Friday 9.12.03
Refugio di Saboredo to Espot
We finally had a good night’s sleep. Morning was sunny but cold. We had cafe for breakfast. There was a packet of toast crackers but we saved that for lunch since we had run out of bread. Instead we ate Clif Bars on the trail.
We got an early start at 8 am. Before we left, we said au revoir to the French guys. The one who ate two sausages the previous night was tres genial and told us in French which way to go. We embarked into the chilly morning. Fog was wafting in and out of the valley of boulders that we hiked over the previous day. The sun was just beginning to come out over the top of the mountains. We continued to hike South and up with the spectacular Agulha de Saboredo peak to our left. This was surrounded by clouds and fog with the sun just coming out to burn through the moisture, this effect created an ethereal picture.
Soon the French guys catch up and the genial one tells us that the Ref. Amitges is completely full because of some holiday and so is Ref. Mallafre, the next one we wanted to visit (he had the previous refugio radio ahead). We thank them, decide to keep going and figure out what to do later (there isn’t another option anyway). We see a chamoix, chamoixing up a hill, and then a fox running after it.
After hiking past a few more lakes, Lac des Naut to our right and lower down in the valleys to our left Lac Major de Saboredo and Lac des Naut de Saboredo we were almost to the top of the Port de Ratera when around the corner come four sky runners! It was cold and windy at the top, we had been hiking for around two hours; the trail was a little rocky and grassy with lots of little streams winding in and out and just stopping made the wind blow right through everything and chilled us instantly. Not for these sky runners apparently. They were wearing tiny flip-flip shorts, tank tops and Salomon trail running shoes. A couple were wearing small backpacks but that was pretty much it. They zipped past us like they were just out for their morning jog. We were amazed by such uber-athletes.
After we stopped being amazed by them we continued West. We hiked down through a muddy trail to a fork in the trail: one led to Ref. Amitges, the other to Mallafre. The French guys caught up with us again there, the genial one told us now to follow the jaune (yellow) trail markers and we said goodbye for the last time. This trail was straight across and completely filled with boulders. We saw some more sky runners and were beginning to encounter more hikers.
We made it to the Ref. Amitges early, after hiking only 4 km. This was one of the nicest (and certainly biggest) refugios all trip. It had sit-down toilets and running water. We walked upstairs to ask about the sleeping situation, which was completely full. The refugio guy offered to let us sleep on mattresses, but we hadn’t hiked that much yet. We decided to keep going to Mallafre (the guy radio them and confirms they were also full) and would continue to the town of Espot.
The refugio guy was very helpful: he told us an alternate trail to take to Mallafre, and also that we can catch a mountain taxi at the Estany de Sant Maurici to Espot and it would cost 4 Euros. He showed us a timetable and where to catch the bus to Barcelona. This guy was a professional outdoorsman: on his three months off during the down season he was going camping and hiking in Yosemite. Sounded like a nice life! After thanking him for the info we proceeded to Mallafre.
The trail at this point was a chunky gravel road that steeply descended the mountain. We had to dodge mountain taxis filled with lazy hikers who in our minds were wimps for not beginning their hike at the bottom of the hill.
At the bottom of the hill we crossed a little river and then we were promptly confused by the trail markers and our horrible map. We could’t figure out which way to go to get to the scenic outlook that the Yosemite guy had recommended. After some indecision, Evan decided that the map was completely wrong and we needed to just go the way the trail marker indicated. This turned out to be correct because just around the corner another trail marker showed we were going the right way. It was just like the guidebook had said: Spanish maps are unreliable!
Finally we made it to the top of the mirador overlooking the beautiful Estany de Sant Maurici, along with lots of other Spanish tourists and hikers who had the day off for the Catalan independence from communism. We found a couple boulders to have lunch on. The pate tasted good on the toasts we took from the refugio that morning. We also ate some of the salami and our favorite cookies Principe for desert. It was fantastically sunny.
After lunch we embarked down the trail, the vegetation at this point was pine trees. It was also warm because we had descended so much, also dusty and dry (just like near Lake Coeur d’Alene, Idaho at Lisa’s old girl scout camp).
After hiking another 5 km from Amitges, we reached Ref. Mallafre in the early afternoon. Right before we got to the refugio we passed a Spanish family and it turns out this is the same family who we had encountered on our very first day in Spain, hiking over the horrible boulders and unmarked path! The same family that followed us to our lunch area who annoyed us because we couldn’t have any privacy - the same family with the super annoying little boy who scrambled over boulders shoving us out of the way.
At Mallafre everyone was outside eating lunch on picnic tables and soaking up the sun. We knew we were almost at the refugio when we started to see solar panels sticking out of the woods. This small refugio also had running water, regular toilets and a nice big heater in the middle of the dining area. Evan ordered a huge chorizo sandwich that consisted of two huge slabs of bread drizzled in olive oil with large chunks of chorizo. Lisa had a salad! We took our mandatory refugio picture of Lisa standing by the hut, and left for our descent into Espot.
We continued down the road coming across another little stream with a log bridge. Hiking on the left side of Evan, Lisa was just spacing out when Evan proceeded to push into her. She managed to get out “what are you doing” before being smashed into the ground and saving Evan’s life by creating a soft landing spot for his 190 lb body. Evan’s hiking shoes were completely unreliable and he slipped on the moldy wet logs, falling over onto Lisa. In shock we both got up, noticing that Lisa’s right hand was dripping blood. Her palm was slashed on a sharp rock during her fall. The cut was deep and the blood started to gush. We used toilet paper to stem the bleeding, fixing it eventually with bandaids. It was a sobering catastrophe when we were so close to civilization!
Evan carried both backpacks as we proceeded to walk to catch a mountain taxi to Espot. After hiking about 2 km we finally found the area for mountain taxis. It was a short wait and then 20 minutes to Espot.
In Espot, we grabbed some food at a small grocery store near the taxi stand and quickly found a hotel: Pension Felip (there were only two in town). Looked nicer from the outside than the actual room, but it would do.
Dinner that night was a frustrating ordeal because we left at 9 pm, everyone else got there a few minutes before us, so both restaurants we wanted to go to were full. We ended up eating at the restaurant of the first hotel we had tried to get into. Lisa had macaroni Napolitano. Evan had soup and trout.
total distance: 10 km
total time: from 8:30 am to 5 pm
highlight: seeing the sky runners, something to aspire to
Saturday 9.13.03
Day hike Espot to Refugio Joseph Maria Blanc
We set off at 8:30 am without breakfast for a day hike to our last refugio, Joseph Maria Blanc.
The trail was easy to follow and the hiking goes well. The weather was sunny and warm, what Spain should really be like. There were tons of cow pies littering the trail, the culmination was at the top of the trail when it turned into a road, a whole heard of cows were grazing by yet another estany (reservoir), and it really smelled bad. We were starving by this point but needed to get away from the cow crap before we could have an appetizing meal.
Finally we found a nice nook in the winding road for a perfect setting for lunch. This lunch was especially good since we had fresh bread and our pate tasted delicious on it. Four mountain taxis passed us. They returned by us later than we anticipated, so we infered that it must be a longer climb to the refuge than we thought.
Reaching the top after a 1000m climb we saw a wide meadow with a lot of dead trees, probably hit by lightning. It was only around 1 pm when we reached the refugio. After the meadow, we saw Estany Trullo and Ref. J.M. Blanc. Itwas a beautiful and idyllic setting, however the hut was undergoing renovation (it’s 50 years old) and it appeared that it wouldn’t be finished that summer (or next). We had a coke and relax in the sunshine for a little bit. This had been around 6.5 km so far.
We decided that we would take the “easy” way back, along the hydro-electric plant road. At first it seemed fairly easy, we headed down the way we came, when we got to the bottom where the trail and the road met and we kept going down the road.
At one point we headed down a completely untraveled road covered with tree branches, making the road precarious. It was entirely switchbacks at that point so we decided to do some off-trail hiking to make it more direct. At one point we lost the trail but sensing where we were, we just crashed through the forest like real trailblazers! It looked like no one had used that road all summer and as for the trail, no one used it in years.
Near town, the trail went through a gloomy primeval forest – the mountain behind us now blocked the sun light. All the way down we were more or less following a huge water pipeline down the mountain. When we finally saw houses in Espot, the trail disappeared altogether. Here we were truly hacking our way through shrubs and trees to get down to the road (foreshadowing of the next day!)
On the road, we were completely exhausted. We still had to hike a little way down the paved road to Espot. We made it back around 5 pm, it was around 7 kms.
We decided that we were going to go to dinner early so we didn’t get screwed like the night before. Both restaurants opened at 7 pm, so we just hung around in the village square waiting to see if other people go in before us. Finally at 8 pm we were starving, no-one had ventured inside either of the restaurants so we braved it and went in. We were the only ones there until around 8:30 pm when more people start trickling in. Between 8:45 pm and 9 pm the place was completely full.
Dinner was delicious. For the first course, Lisa had Catalan soup, a huge toureen filled with a delicious broth and vegetables and different meats, she ate it all, Evan had macaroni Napolitano. For the second course, Lisa had a delicious chicken with patatas fritas and pasta with peas, Evan cut the chicken for her since her hand was injured. Evan had civit, which we thought was wild boar but turned out to be some sort of beef, with patas fritas. Desert for Lisa was two apples, Evan had Cott with honey and walnuts, a delicious fresh cheese sort of like ricotta, but a little too heavy after eating everything before. We were completely stuffed!
total distance: 14 km
total time: 8:30 am to 5 pm
highlight: making it back to Espot, eating the delicious dinner
Sunday 9.14.03
Espot to Barcelona
It was our last day in the mountains, very sad because we were going to be descending to 700m. The last hike was supposedly an easy one, from Espot to the small town of Escalo where we would catch the bus to Barcelona.
We departed at 8 am with no breakfast just so we could make sure we got to Escalo in time for the 1 pm bus. First we took the road out of town for a few km, then we turned onto a dirt road that was a well-marked part of the trail (sign says: “Escalo: 1 hr”). It started to wind downhill which was expected, then right after we went underneath a water pipeline the road turned into a small cow path with no more trail markings.
We know the way we were supposed to be heading, so we just figured that the trail was just like any other Spanish trail, not well marked. There were meadows interspersed with sporadic patches of woods. Then we couldn’t find the trail at all so we just decided to head down. There were tons of thorn bushes and prickly tree branches hindering our walk. We backtracked quite a bit because we kept second guessing ourselves and kept thinking that the real trail was close by. At one point we hiked down and couldn’t go any further because there was a sheer cliff with a 20 foot drop to the highway. We decided that this route wasn’t very safe, so we went back up and followed the cow path to a farmer’s road that mercifully dumped us onto the well-traveled highway.
It was around another 1/2 hour before we reached Escalo, finally around 10 am we arrived, only to see that there was absolutely nothing there except a few houses, this town made Espot look like a huge metropolis!
Across from the bus stop which had an out-of-date schedule, was the only hotel in town, so Lisa went in to inquire about the bus. The proprietor wa nice and spoke English saying that the bus would most likely be delayed due to the bike race. After going outside to relay the information to Evan, he had already deduced something about the race since he had seen bike buses continually coming down the highway.
It was pretty amazing and ironic that we would happen to be in this small town on the day that the Vuelta was passing by, so it made waiting for the bus that much more bearable. Evan saw a biker dude and went to ask him for more info about the race. This guy was hardcore, he was riding his bike up to one of the passes for a really good view of the race! We saw the bus passing from Barcelona, so we know that it would come back soon (since Escalo is near the end of the line).
Everybody in town decided to come out for the race (all 20 of them), it made for a festive atmosphere. Finally around 1:30 pm some police come by and start stopping cars to clear the road for the racers. The people in the cars couldn’t do anything else so they parked and got out, probably quadrupling the population of the town for that day. Evan was sure that the bikers weren’t expecting so many people cheering them on at this tiny place.
When the first four bikers came around, it was very anticlimactic since no one knew what was going on (even biking stud Evan!), so they just whized by, until everyone realized it was the leaders, but by then it was too late. A few minutes later the peleton came by, there were a lot of bikers there, so everyone got excited. Two seconds later it was over and everyone dispersed. The bus to Barcelona showed up a few minutes later and we hopped on.
Traffic was terrible. The bus was supposed to arrive at 7 pm, but they were doing construction on the highway and a detour caused a huge backup. We were tired and cranky to say the least. The bus driver stopped at a rest stop, so we got off and eat jamon bocadillos and coke, these hit the spot. When we left the truck stop, the traffic cleared up and we made it to Barcelona at 8:45 pm (over six hours on the bus!).
After trying to check into the hotel that Evan had stayed in last year, and rambling aimlessly about, we finally found a room at Hotel Suiza. Dinner was at a touristy place in an outdoor square. We shared salad and bad sangria, Lisa had paella and Evan had chicken. After dinner we walked around the Ramblas then back to the hotel to crash.
total distance: 10 km
total time: 8 am to 10:30 am and later that night in Barcelona
highlight: seeing the Vuelta, making it to Barcelona
Monday 9.15.03
We embarked to our final destination, a B&B by the marina. We had a choice of two rooms, the first a sort of non descript room, then the second with a beautiful view of the marina, we choose the later and settled in.
Lisa wanted to go to the beach for a little bit, so we headed over and relaxed in the warm Spanish sun. Evan bought an International Herald Tribune and read it before he was brave enough to swim in the water. Although it was windy, the waves weren’t as rough as they were in the Hamptons that summer.
After the beach, we went to the Ramblas by bus. We got out at Plaza Catalunya to see where the bus to the airport was. We found it, then started walking around. We found Decathlon, the huge sporting goods store Evan had been to last year. After wandering around it and getting overwhelmed and starving on top of everything else, we left to go eat falafel at Moaz. This was really good and totally hit the spot. Finally we were satiated enough to wander around some more. In the afternoon we returned to our B&B to relax. For dinner we decided to eat tapas at the place that Evan went to last year. This was a fun place where we stuffed ourselves with food and beer.
Tuesday 9.16.03
We departed at 7:30 am to catch the bus to the airport. Everything ran smoothly, the bus got us there in time. We ate breakfast at the airport, got on the plane at 10 am. Plane landed at JFK on time. The bus to the subway was prompt. The A train pulled in right when we got there, and we get home by 3 pm.
The End!
Lessons Learned
1. Choose route carefully with detailed maps prior to trip. Be sure that there are alternative routes should one trail be impassable.
2. Always bring full rain gear and lots of warm layers when hiking in Pyrenees. Wool hat (and perhaps gloves) are also key. Waterproof boots with very good tread are essential!
3. Have a backpack cover, otherwise rain will saturate your bag making it unwieldy and potentially soaking your stuff inside.
4. Bring plenty of food for lunches: there isn’t any civilization between refugios. We could eat half a pepperoni or a tin of pate and half a large loaf of bread for lunch. Carrying enough food was problematic: there wasn’t enough room in our packs.
5. In Aiguestortes, try to make reservations. Some of the refugios are accessible by mountain taxi, so they get filled up with tourists who drive up.
6. Bring headlamp: WC conditions are primitive and there is no electricity in evenings.
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