A passing hiker took this candid photo of me on the trail today!
Please don’t judge; this was taken pre-coffee, and I’m surely not looking my best.
As I crossed the border from Italy to Switzerland, my body told me it wanted to slow down a bit and stop every 12.5 minutes or so to blankly stare at something new and extraordinary (Now I was in Switzerland!), take a picture, or eat a small snack. I didn’t mind complying and decelerating a notch. The weather was perfectly gorgeous again, and the trail shepherded me through a valley alongside a healthy river and through neat and tiddy towns with colorful shutters and friendly Swiss hikers. I was especially grateful that today wasn’t going to be a big day of climbing; I could just soak in the new scenery and chillax a bit.
I really hadn’t been hiking in Switzerland until today and many things stood out as new and fresh! I’ll remember you, Switzerland, for this comprehensive and impressive list.
Drum roll please…
-Colorful shutters
Orange and yellow shutters are uber fun. France take note!
-Cute trail markers
I really want to be hiking with a happy little dog!
-Squirrels both real and crafted
Two squirrels roasting a marshmallow…No wait, a mushroom?!!?!
Vive la TMB. Is that a fox, maybe?
-Nicely stacked wood.
“Wood is wealth,” as my friend Elmer likes to say. By the way, I miss you, Elmer.
-Things that squirm.
Colorful larvae.
-Mushroom Wood Carvings.
-Cheese.
I stopped for a very late lunch in a small café and this is the only thing they are able to make me. I thought it was going to be bland and BORING, but it was delicious! White bread, butter, creamy cheese. Can’t go wrong with that. 🙂
Here’s the inside of the café which was quiet during the off-hours. I was the only one. Even the owners were downstairs washing dishes.
-Oh, and the woods.
Today was my first really wooded day on the trail; what a nice change of pace. Tree cover makes me feel cozy and protected.
Despite being such a snail today, I still walked over 25 k and made it to my reserved hotel in Champex Lac in the early afternoon. I shared dinner with four sore Spaniards from Madrid with blisters galore on their poor feet and a Belgium couple who was hiking the high route over glaciers. Although Americans resided in all my refuges/hotels, the staff always placed me at the French or Spanish speaking tables, and that began a source of pride for me and a realization that maybe, just maybe, I actually fit in here in this foreign land with these foreign languages. I jumped back and forth from Spanish to French as I said goodnight to my new friends.
I closed my eyes wishing it weren’t already Night 5 and nearly over.
Day 5 recap:
Hiking Refugio Elena to Champex Lake
8 hrs
Hotel: Chalet Au Club Alpin
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Confetti Rodeo 