Le Tour du Mont Blanc, Day 9

Sunday, September 9^th

 

We left this morning before 8 am and hiked gently down valley in the woods along the river. One section, the Crête (crest) de Saleina was on an ancient lateral moraine from the receding Saleina glacier. Our route continued down valley through the darling Swiss towns of Praz-de-Fort, Les Arlaches and Issert. We saw a solar roof in the first town that imitated the common slate roofs, as well as a solar-powered self-driving lawn mower! I had never seen one before but Husqvarna has had these available since at least 2008. Give it up for the Swedes.

Solar tiles that mimic the traditional slate

Solar-powered robot lawnmower

The towns had narrow meandering lanes between old buildings, and then more open neighborhoods that sported some whimsical yards. Maybe even too cutesy for me!

Nancy walking in charming Praz-de-Fort, Photo by Sue Priest

One of the yards filled with whimsical elves and mushrooms

Distance view and then close-up of house and patio built on and around a giant rock next to a glacier stream.

We had a solid climb after the last town, but it was all along an interesting trail, the “Sentier des Champignons” – the Mushroom Path - that the local mushroom society must have spent some serious money on. There were picnic tables, carvings, and interpretive signs on mushrooms.

Two of the many wood carvings along the Sentier des Champignons

After a good day of hiking, we arrived at the sweet town of Champex on beautiful alpine Lac Champex. Sue had booked a small apartment that was up on a rise and had a wonderful balcony overlooking the lake.

First view of Champex, Sue to the right

View of Lac Champex from our balcony

We dropped our backpacks and walked to the store – loading up on cheese, apples, bananas, yogurt and muesli. We were happy to get our own breakfast food after so many days of hut breakfasts. Nancy hung out at the apartment enjoying time to herself and watching clothes dry in the sun, while and the rest of us went to check out the lake. The wind kicked up almost as soon as we got there but I still managed a short dip. No one else was swimming though there were folks on paddle boats. It took less than 30 minutes to stroll around the lovely lake.

Glaciers in the background from the far end of the Lake

After a pizza and salad dinner at our land lady’s restaurant, Sue and I went for a night walk around the lake, enjoying the town lights from across the water.

Night walk around Lac Champex

Note: We met several groups of hikers that were on booked trips that skipped this hiking day. They were bused to Champex, and then they hiked from here, jumping a day ahead of us. I don’t know if the tour companies thought today was too "boring" as it didn't have close-up alpine views – but we really enjoyed it. The old Swiss towns we passed through were charming and the Mushroom Path was a bonus. Plus Champex is a nice town to hang out in!

Day 9 Summary: Maya Joie to Au Vieux Champex (Switzerland); 9.83 mi/15.8 km; 1528’/466 m up; 2004’/611 m down; 6 hrs on trai