Les Houches to Les Contamines
Mileage: 12.5 miles
Elevation gain: 2119 ft
Camping: Le Pontet
We woke up early to get breakfast from our hotel and to be able to catch the 0651 bus from central Chamonix to Les Houches.
Ready for the next nine days!!!
We caught the bus without issue, which is always funny for us because we do not use any public transportation during our daily lives! We took the bus to the Bellevue stop in Les Houches and were soon on our way!
Ready for our TMB adventure to begin! Les Contamines here we come!
The trail initially starts by going straight up hill. Why would it not? We hiked up and were all alone on the trail. My favorite part of the trail was when we passed by a field of sheep and I noticed this beautiful dog that was laying outside the fence. We soon realized he was guarding the sheep! The dog came over to say hello and went back to watching the sheep. It was so sweet. I love working dogs.
We were hoping to be able to stop off for a snack and a drink, but sadly we were passing all of the refuges too early to be able to do so.
Stopping for our first water break. That is the beautiful Mont Blanc in the background.
Clearly missing our baby by seeing this doggy!
We are ready to continue on to Les Contamines!
We left our first col, Col de Voza and started our trek downhill. It was beautiful. We passed villages and some beautiful little churches.
Only one tiny little cloud in the sky. The sign was kind of a leaner.
Chapelle de Bionnassay
The interior view. The chapel was founded in 1480. It was so beautiful.
Some of the beautiful scenery
Alpine France is beautiful
This really could be my tiny house. I am sure there is enough room for Angel and Kya. Angel would love the flowers.
We kept passing through tiny villages and stumbled upon another darling little church in the alps.
This darling chapel was built in 1700. The US gained Independence in 1776.
Some people love the beach, but I really love the mountains.
Alpine chalets
Ken was enjoying his first day of the TMB
One of my favorite parts of this day was when we saw a dog on the trail carrying this massive tree branch. He was so proud of his giant stick, that in reality was taller than me!
We arrived in Les Contamines around 1:00 pm and were so excited to get a little lunch.
Les Contamines. We stopped at the place on the left for a little lunch and drinks.
Fill her up, please! Obviously, I ordered an Aperol Spritz.
Cheers to our first day of the TMB being finished!
We enjoyed our cocktails for a bit and then indulged in lunch. I have to say the most embarrassing part of the day was when our waiter spoke to me when we sat down and I replied in French to ask him if he spoke any English. He replied, in English that he was speaking English. Oops. He really did have a heavy, but adorable French ascent. I felt really bad.
I rarely take pictures of my food, but I ordered the special and really knocked it out of the park. My food was amazing!
As we were leaving the restaurant, I put my backpack on and a local lady gave me a thumbs up and a smile. I took that as a "you go girl." We walked down the street to a local bakery where we bought a baguette and a brownie for later. We knew our campsite was about 20 minutes outside of town, so we decided to stop off for a drink before continuing on to the campsite.
Sporting my 1 Euro baguette!!
The church in Les Contamines
Just a little alpine town scenery
After we finished our drink, we started on towards the campground and it started to rain. I had the baguette stuffed in my backpack and clearly did not want such a precious item to get wet. Knowing that, what is a girl to do? Patagonia hat to the rescue.
Critical thinking for the win
I named her Betsy. Don't worry, I got you, girl. It only rained for a few minutes, but Betsy was safe.
We arrived at Les Pontet and set up our tent in a private little corner. The campground[ was far nicer than we were expecting, complete with a restaurant inside the park.
Stopping off at the kids' playground.
Big Agnes all ready for the night.
A zoomed out view of our spot for the night.
Since we arrived so early and had everything set up, we decided to walk over to the restaurant inside the park for a few drinks.
I have no idea why I am looking at the menu. We all know that I am going to order an Aperol Spritz!
Ken likes Aperol Spritz too!
We enjoyed drinks overlooking a beautiful little lake.
Loving life and my Aperol Spritz!
The funniest part about sitting there is that we ran into our waiter from lunch! It was even funnier because he was clearly on a date, which is ironic since he was loving on a different girl at the restaurant where we enjoyed lunch. Ah, to be 25 again...
Just sipping my Aperol Spritz and keeping my mouth shut as our waiter from lunch hooks up with girl number two for the day.
After our drinks, we went back to our campsite. We ended up sitting outside and talking to a guy and a couple that were from Sweden. The guy was rock climbing and claiming to be afraid of heights (my ass!) and the couple was hiking the TMB. We ended up befriending the couple and spent a lot of time with them later on during the hike.
We skipped dinner and ate Betsy the baguette and the brownie from the bakery. It was such a great first day hiking the TMB!
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