Many options were discussed, but in the end we decided to hike where we intended to end, doing a small four day loop including parts of the gr10 and the Pyrenees high route.
The first step was to get back to the car in Cauterets, then ditch the extra food and tent and hike to the Refuge de Oulettes de Gaube, and from there the tough stretch to Chalet la Grange de Holle, then to a camping yurt in Sazos and then back got the car. The weather looks questionable and cold but favorable the next couple days, so it seems like we will get out around the time the weather gets bad again.
We woke up, got repacked and caught the 8:30 bus to Cauterets. I tired to find a store that had long underwear so I had a second pair for when one pair got wet, but no luck.
We had to call to reserve the first night because of the short notice and the lady at the hut asked if we were sure, mentioning that the weather wasn’t good and it was snowing up there. We decided to give it a shot.
We caught a shuttle up to Pont D’Espagne and started hiking there. It was raining, the forecast said it would be clear, but it was raining.
It was a beautiful hike, many waterfalls and a lake that was the most amazing shade of blue even when cloudy. There was a restaurant at the lake and we stopped in for a coffee/hot chocolate and some crepes before continuing. There was really no urgency since it was a short hike. I stopped and took a bunch of pictures and ate raspberries.
It kept raining, the rain turned to snow, gigantic fluffy fakes, the kind all skiers dream of.
Our gear soaked though again (except my new jacket) which wasn’t surprising, but our hands and feet got cold. It’s clear that trail runners were not the correct choice of footwear for this hike.
We got got the hut and were thrilled to change into dry clothes. We got a hot chocolate… because we could… hung our stuff up and cuddled a bit in a sleeping bag to warm up.
The hut is only at about 2,000 meters and the next stretch goes up over 2,600 meters, which is making us both very concerned. We aren’t really even sure how much snow the upper mountains got, just that they are much higher than where we are and there’s snow here. Hopefully the weather will be better tomorrow and we can continue.
