Tronchey to La Fouly
Mileage: 15
Elevation gain: 2600 feet
Camping: Camping Des Glaciers
We left just shortly after 0700 since we were planning on climbing back up the mountain from the valley to get back on to the TMB trail. We knew we could walk down the valley and pick up the trail to climb, but we were not 100% sure where.
We were excited about this day because we were going to be crossing over to our favorite county, Switzerland!!
Our morning started off with beautiful views in the valley along the river
We stopped off for a coffee at Hotel Lavachey. It was amazing. That is the one downfall to camping, we were not always guaranteed easy access to coffee.
We saw a sign that pointed toward Refugio Bonatti and the trail went straight up. I told Ken that remembered from reading someone's blog that we could stay on the valley floor until the end and we would meet the trail. Looking at the bus map, it also alluded to this. We continued on, walking the valley floor.
Just a beautiful morning, hiking with my best friend.
At some point, Ken started to panic about the road possibly not meeting up with the trail. I assured him I knew it did and pulled up Google Maps (Sprint coming in clutch!) and found that it did indeed. We walked on and saw the bus dropping hikers off at the end of the valley and we saw the TMB signs.
Once we arrived at Val Ferret, we realized that we made a great decision by not hiking up to Bonatti because we would have had to hike back down to the valley and hike back up to get to Refugio Elena.
The view on the way to Elena
We arrived at Refugio Elena and bought a few salami sandwiches and cokes. Elena looked to be a very nice Refugio.
Refugio Elena
After leaving Elena, we started the long climb to get to Switzerland via the Grand Col Ferret. We had beautiful views looking back at the valley where we had started our day.
Some guys came down on mountain bikes. You could not pay me enough money to do that.
We met a couple from Colorado and they were kind enough to take a few pictures of us and we did the same for them.
This ended up being my favorite picture of us from the entire trip. This day of hiking was also my favorite day of hiking. The views were absolutely amazing all day long.
There were a few areas that were steep dropoffs and one slip of the foot would mean certain death.
The hike was steep, but we were having a great time
It is hard to believe we were on the valley floor a few hours prior.
Ken was loving the hike
I love this picture of Ken. Almost to the top of the Col!
Saying goodbye to Italy as we summit the Col and move into Switzerland!
From Ciao, Ciao to Hallo!
Ken looking into Switzerland
My favorite part of the day was when Ken said: "the guidebook said that the next part of the hike is straight out of the Sound of Music and the Hills have Eyes." I just about peed my pants. After I collected myself I told him I think he meant the Hills are Alive. We had a good laugh about it.
We knew were about to run into a little snow as we crossed over into Switzerland. The way the trail was, it was not scary at all to pass as there were no steep drop-offs.
Passing through the snow like a boss. Please note, this is only because there is no steep drop-off so no fear of death.
Looking back at where we were.
We enjoyed our descent and suddenly heard a very familiar sound, besides me singing songs from the Sound of Music.
Cows!
I absolutely adore Swiss cows and their cowbells
A Swiss cow selfie. Notice my flower? Ken always picks me a follow when we are hiking.
This lady was a young cow with a tiny bell.
This is my favorite color of cow. That is a statement I never really expected to say out loud.
Yes, we have cows in the USA and no, they are not this cute.
After bidding farewell to our cow friends, we descended to La Peule, a small farm that offers snacks, drinks, and a few sleeping accommodations. We were there for drinks and snacks, obviously.
Wine and snacks! I knew the hard climbs were behind us, so a glass of wine was in order!
Enjoying the scenery around La Peule
We filled up our water, stopped at the bathroom, and were on our way to La Fouly.
Looking back at the La Peule farm.
Blue skies, mountains, and wildflowers. So beautiful.
Ken telling me that the sign says that I am a pain in the ass. Just for you Ken, just for you!
Picture perfect Switzerland. I could live here.
I love all of the flowers and flower boxes that we saw during the TMB. They were everywhere.
We stopped in Ferret and enjoyed a few drinks before going on to La Fouly. The staff at the restaurant in Ferret were so nice!
We made it to La Fouly and find the campground, Camping Des Glaciers. We set our tent up near the river and left to find some dinner and drinks. We really wanted pizza, but sadly the pizza place is closed on Mondays and it happened to be a Monday. Magnus and Linnea joined us for drinks and we waited for the restaurant to start serving dinner. It ended up being quite the ordeal to get dinner, but we eventually enjoyed some delicious pasta. We also found my favorite chocolate bar ever at the grocery store.
We went back to our campsite and saw that our friends from Israel were set up next to us along with our buddy Mick from Utah.
Check out my sweet tan line
We ended the night with a bottle of wine and Swiss chocolate. That is about as good as it gets!
Wrapping up such a fun day. We (or I) may have selected the bottle of wine due to it having a porcupine on the label. (P.S. that is Mick and our friends from Israel behind us).
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