Haute Route Hiking Stats-Day 2
Trient to Champex| Hiking Time: | 5:36 |
| Hiking Distance(mi):) | 9.58 |
| Elevation Gain(ft): | 3,297 |
| Days Hiking: | 2 |
| HR Hiking Time: | 14:24 |
| HR Distance Hiked(mi): | 26.5 |
| Elevation Gained(ft): | 7,926 |
We rose early around 6:30PM to try and beat the possible mad rush for breakfast. Unfortunately, we didn’t manage to do that. It was so crazy and stressful at breakfast with so many people in the place. People were also very rude and were almost knocking you over to get to the food. An older “gentlemen” backed into me after getting his coffee and spilled it all over the floor. He gave me this look like it was my fault and I said excuse me. Whatever dude…watch where you are going.
The Pink Church of Trient
We managed to get some bread and cereal and got out of there. Fortunately there was another dining room with some empty tables where we could eat in peace. We then packed up and started on our way. I managed to snap a few pictures of the pink church in town which we had a direct view of from our window. We had decided to take the alternate “Bovine Route” instead of the Fenetre de Arpette way since we were still a bit wiped out from the 17 mile day yesterday. I kind of felt like we were wimping out a bit, but I also know that it is probably the more sensible thing to do.
We made our way up through town and located the trailhead across the main road. The trail immediately ziz-zagged its way steeply up the mountain. Might as well get that heart pumping as soon as possible. We kept a slow and steady pace the whole way up and eventually reached a dirt road that was flat. It took us to the little town of Col de Forclaz where we stopped and had some more coffee and got some chocolate from a little store.
Deiter…the Happy Hiker
Martigny Valley
We were then on our way and flanked a meadow until steadily climbing again. We kept climbing for most of the morning until reaching our lunch stop at Bovine Alp. We kept coming up on a group of hikers who were taking frequent rest breaks along the way. It was pretty annoying. This part of the trail is part of the Tour de Mont Blanc which is heavily traveled. This is why the hotel and the trail are so busy. Hopefully soon that will thin out a bit. We came into this with preconceptions of solitary hiking along on these trails, but those notions are quickly being wiped away.
Denise heading to Alpage Bovine for lunch-Bovine Route
The Bovine Route was still a fairly challenging route. We climbed pretty much the whole way until just before our lunch stop with some sections being more aggressively steep than others. We also had magnificent views of the Martigny valley below. It was also a total blue-sky day with hardly any clouds in the sky. I finally started to feel like I was getting into the Alps now. I also lost the feeling that we were missing out by taking the alternate route too.
Meadow Panorama of the Surrounding Mountains
Eventually we reached the Bovine Alp which was our lunch stop for the day. It was an incredible lunch for just a little stone shack nestled on a ridge top, We both had some vegetable soup and I had a piece of chocolate cake with glass of wine and Denise had a Omlette. Everything was amazing. The place was also really busy. The dining was on some picnic table outside the building with spectacular views of the valley below. Of particular interest was the pack of elderly ladies hiking in sports bras with large bellies hanging over there belts. Nice! Time to get moving!
Dining area at Alpage de Bovine-Not a bad view?
Alpage de Bovine
The next 1/3 of the trail was pretty steep switchbacks downhill again. Similar to our crazy ending the day before. Downhill just kills my feet! This was even steeper and with more loose rocks. I started to feel some blisters forming on the heel of my feet. We stopped for a bit to take some precautionary measures before they turn into something much worse.
Denise adjusting her shoes to eliminate blisters
Denise rolls into Champex
The last third of the day was more flat and followed a dirt road for awhile. Eventually we reached some small villages before reaching our final destination in the town of Champex. My feet were aching pretty good by the time we reached our hotel, Hotel du Glacier. We put on about 10 miles or so in 5.5 hours.
Hotel du Glacier-Champex
We checked into our room, washed some clothes in the tub and sink and hung them up to dry out a bit. We then showered up and headed out to check out the town. Denise wanted to check out the post office to see if she could ship her old hiking shoes back home. She was still carrying those in her pack for the past two days. Although her pack was still lighter mine. We found they had boxes of perfect size for the task and we bought one. The town of Champex was so beautiful with the crystal clear lake and surrounding mountains. It was so serene as the sun sank behind the surrounding alps. We had a nice walk around the lake as the sun was setting.
Paddle boats on Lac du Champex
Sunsetting behind the Mountains on Lac du Champex
We ate dinner at the hotel restaurant. It was really good and we had the nicest girl for a waitress. She translated many of the dishes for us off the menu. I had the Gnocchi with Wood Mushrooms and Denise built her own veggie pizza with asparagus, artichoke, onion and egg(Yuk!). We both really enjoyed it. We split a raspberry macaroon desert which was to die for. Then it was back to the room to retire for the evening. Tomorrow is supposed to be a pretty easy day to Le Chable. It is only around 6 miles and winds down through some pastures on farm roads. We were definitely looking forward to an easy day. We had not scheduled any rest days into our 14 day hike and all of our accommodations were booked in advance. This may have been a bit overzealous on our part.
