This was the best hiking day of the trip so far. This morning we took a short bus ride to the nearby hamlet of Valmontey where we began our hike.
(I thought we had gone there on Tuesday but it was actually Gimillan.)
We started at an elevation of about 5400 ft. and climbed to 7,600 ft., a gain of about 2,200 ft. in 7 miles.
Immediately, we started to climb.
Sydney and I compared it to hiking Murray Peak in Palm Springs.
Although rain had been forecast and we were at a high elevation, it was surprisingly warm and sunny.
Most of the trail was switchback, which was very nice, and very clear.
We continued the climb and soon we reached a raging waterfall.
Much of the trail was through pine and spruce forest. Sydney observed that it was similar to hiking around Mt. San Jacinto in Idyllwild, CA, above Palm Springs.
Along the way we saw several chamois, small deer-like creatures with short curved horns, nibbling away at the alpine vegetation and romping through the woods. Sydney captured a small image from a distance.
We passed a number of crumbling and abandoned shelters that were once used by herders.
The views were spectacular.
After about 2-1/2 hours we made it to a beautiful alpine pasture where we had our picnic lunch.
The overlook here was fantastic. It felt like we were up close and personal with The Gran Paradiso Mountain that we had been looking at from our hotel the past few days.
We had planned to go further but the weather was changing, so we headed back down.
We did see more chamois cavorting in the woods.
We returned to the village about 2 but the bus didn’t leave until 3, so we walked another 2 miles back to Cogne along a wide trail in the forest. Along the way we saw sheep grazing in the woods. Included were some sheep with big horns, which I was surprised to see domesticated.
Tonight we had dinner at a local restaurant which was outstanding.
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