Today was “Stage 3” Les Contamines-MontJoie – Les Chapieux – finishing in Bourg Stain Maurice. You hike the first two, then a crazy taxi ride to the bottom. I was a little (ok a lot) psyched out for today’s climb as it was over 4000 vertical feet up, and another 3500 feet down. In my case about 4,400 feet up – but the entire distance is about 10 miles and I did it in about six hours. I met a guy at the bottom from Buena Vista who has run the Trail 100 in Leadville a couple of times and he did it in about the same time – so I think I’m ok (phew). Of course going up you’re thinking about how much effort at the gym did you really put in… I actually think we’re set and doing well so the gym membership stays!

There are lots of things about this day that make it unique – first it’s the first time that I can remember hiking alone. From the last blog, Cindy stayed and then re-routed so she could get meds, and I continued on… I do think she’s doing better – the fact that she can eat food seems like a good thing – so tomorrow we will meet in the next town – after I do the 13 mile hike to get there. It’s been very hot, so getting going early helps. I typically will try to knock out the hardest stuff in the morning when it’s cool – you see other people doing things like cross country – trail running up/down this thing – of course they are all on the younger side…

Ok, back to hiking – it’s basically a grind – feels like climbing a 14er without the altitude. Folks are generally nice, and there are a lot of them – mostly groups – people seem to start off fast but then really start dragging once going. Personally I try to keep a pace tagged to my heart rate and that makes me go faster or slower depending on what’s happening.

Once you’re up though – you are definitely up, the scenery is worth the journey for sure – every direction are high cliffs and mountain peaks all around you. You can look at some of the photos and see some of the trails carved into the sides of these hills – we’re on a fast track – you could spend years hiking here.

Best thing on the entire hike – sheep of course and the Great Pyrenees dogs that guard them – part of the herd and doing their job – just laying around and monitoring everyone coming through. Usually it was at least two dogs per herd, they look happy and in their element – unlike ours whose element is upside down on the couch.

Once you reach the summit – oh wait – I thought I was at the summit, sat down, had something to eat, then looked at the map – oh no son – you need to go another 800 vertical feet to the path to the left – ugh… There it got a little more extreme, but eventually you reach the summit and point your toes down hill. I do think the down is worse sometimes than the up – at least one of my toes was talking to me the entire way, but nothing looks bruised or busted, so all piggies are set to go tomorrow!

Got down in about six hours, arriving around 2:30, but then sat until about 5 waiting on the taxi driver – and then we waited for another 40 minutes for another 2 person party – they never showed up – so got down to town about 6:20 pm. The road down is a zig-zag roller coaster and our taxi driver liked to accelerate out of the down hill turns – I was really glad Cindy wasn’t in the taxi as that’s not her thing. (Taxi is a big van). I was getting a little green towards the end myself – best (?) thing is tomorrow I have to do it all over again and get back in the van back up to near where they picked me up today to start tomorrow’s hike. Tomorrow the vertical doesn’t look as bad – I think it’s about 2,500 vertical up, and about 3,500 down, but I’m getting mixed readings from my maps on having to do two separate up and down legs…. Good thing I ordered a ham/cheese sandwich from the bakery down the street for a.m. pickup – will take it a bit slower tomorrow I think as the big race might be over. The weather is same – 83F in valleys maybe 65F at the tops – clear and sunny – so perfect.

That’s all I know – putting a lot of images in this one.