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A rough night’s sleep in a French mountain hut

Author’s note: This is a continuation on my series of trekking La Vanoise National Park in the high Alps of France. To see all posts in this series, click here.

Sunset over Col de Vanoise.

If you have never been on a mountain hiking trip before, you probably haven’t been properly introduced to “les refuges” or mountain huts. Over the years of my travels, I have stayed at many, some nice and others not so nice. Mountain huts are generally basic shelters in which hikers can sleep and eat for the night at a relatively low cost. Normally mountain huts are quite rustic either with or without electricity, running water and adequate “loo’s”.

The nicest one I’ve ever stayed at was in Chile’s Torres del Paine National Park. This refugio (as it is called in Spanish) had heated indoor showers, “Western” toilets, decent food and separated bunks.  Some of the worst I’ve stayed at were in Nepal and Peru where a real live toilet was around the bend, under a bush and electricity was a distant dream.

Adventure Travel France Tour de Vanoise TRAVEL BY REGION Trekking/Hiking
Vanoise National Park, France
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Leaving the world behind in the heart of the French Alps

Author’s note: This is a continuation on my series of trekking La Vanoise National Park in the high Alps of France. To see all posts in this series, click here.

“There is pleasure in the pathless woods; There is rapture on the lonely shore; There is society, where none intrudes, by the deep sea and music in its roar: I love not man the less, but Nature more.” -Lord Byron

Our first site inside Vanoise National Park, France.

“For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

I read this quote and couldn’t think of a more fitting way to begin my journey inside the heart and soul of Vanoise National Park. If you haven’t guessed by now, my preferred method of seeing and exploring a new place is on foot. Many of my recent travels abroad have involved hiking. I experienced the highs and lows of rural village life in the Himalayas of Nepal on foot. I explored the wild wind and crazy weather of the southern tip of Patagonia on foot. I followed the ancient Incan trail of knee-busting stone steps on foot. And, I explored glaciers, mountains and volcanoes of Peru, Guatemala, Iceland and New Zealand all on foot.

If I’m not moving, I’m not really there. I like to feel where I am. I like to see with my eyes wide open, the amazing beauty of this incredibly diverse and sensational earth and its people. I like to smell the flowers and feel the rough earth below my weary feet. There is no better way to travel the world than on foot.

Adventure Travel France Tour de Vanoise TRAVEL BY REGION Trekking/Hiking
Vanoise National Park, France
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Morning hike to Vanoise National Park

 

Adventure is a path. Real adventure – self-determined, self-motivated, often risky – forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world. The world the way it is, not the way you imagine it. Your body will collide with the earth and you will bear witness. In this way you will be compelled to grapple with the limitless kindness and bottomless cruelty of humankind – and perhaps realize that you yourself are capable of both. This will change you. Nothing will ever again be black-and-white.” – Mark Jenkins

We rose after a glorious, wine and french-food induced sleep to the brilliant sunshine blanketing Pralognan-la-Vanoise’s lush alpine valley. After a long, tiring journey, it felt like heaven to finally sleep. Our “rucksacks” (as the Brits call them) were packed and ready to go. My body and soul were ready, eager and anxious to begin. I could hardly wait to begin the journey.

Adventure Travel France Tour de Vanoise TRAVEL BY REGION Trekking/Hiking
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Tour de la Vanoise: Our starting point Pralognan-la-Vanoise

Author’s note: This post is a continuation of my series on trekking La Tour de la Vanoise in the French Alps. For previous post, click here. 

Lovely, quaint Pralognan-la-Vanoise, a mountain town located in the heart of Savoie in the French Alps.

After our unexpected afternoon in Geneva (for post click here), we returned to the airport to meet our guide Mark along with the other two guests joining us on our trek through La Tour de la Vanoise. Our group would be small, only four trekkers along with our own, personal mountain guide, France-based Brit, Mark of Simply Savoie.

Isn’t this what you envision a French Alpine village to look like?

Adventure Travel France Tour de Vanoise TRAVEL BY REGION Trekking/Hiking
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Sumptuous Savoie: The heart of Vanoise

Our week-long trek through the peaks and valleys of the French Alps took place in the beautiful eastern Rhône-Alpes region of France known as Savoie (pronounced “saw-vwa”). 

Logo of Savoie (Wikipedia).

Savoie, along with neighboring Haute-Savoie, has a long, fascinating history as a prosperous kingdom known as Savoy that was annexed by France in 1860. Savoy existed as an autonomous country for almost a thousand years and its traditional boundaries have not changed since the annexation (placed at the crossroads of the Alps in the eastern part of France, west of Italy and south of Switzerland. See map below).

 

Adventure Travel France Tour de Vanoise TRAVEL BY REGION Trekking/Hiking
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An unexpected afternoon in Old Genève

“She was already thinking of herself
as a kind of expatriate…not
smothered by what she believed to
be America’s puritanical and
materialistic culture, which she
had little patience for.
She saw herself more a European
soul, in tune with the thinkers and
artists she felt expressed her
tragic, romantic, freethinking view
of life.”
– Vicky Christina Barcelona

Photo taken as we walked up the stairs to enter historical, old Genève. August 2012.

Our transatlantic flight left Minneapolis on Friday, August 10th. My parents had flown in fifty minutes before from Tucson, Arizona. We were doing a swap. My mom was staying here in Minneapolis helping my husband look after the kids while my dad and I were boarding a non-stop flight to Amsterdam at approximately 7:30 pm.  I could hardly wait.

Adventure Travel Switzerland Trekking/Hiking
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Hike along the Split Rock Lighthouse Coastal trail

The dramatic view of Lake Superior at the end of the Split Rock Lighthouse Costal Hike

Back in early June, my family and I had the pleasure of spending a long weekend along Minnesota’s sensational, untouched North Shore of Lake Superior. I’d written quite a few posts about the gorgeous hikes we did in this area (to read them click here) but never had a chance to write about our final hike along the Split Rock Lighthouse Coastal Trail.

Adventure Travel Minnesota TRAVEL BY REGION Trekking/Hiking United States
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Leave no trace behind except your footprints and your memories

Jacksprinter’s Sunday post is valuable. Something we find and hold near and dear to our hearts.  It could be money. It could be land. It could be freedom. Or it could be memories. For me, there is nothing more valuable than my childhood memories of our annual fall trip to climb Eagle Mountain. A tradition that started a lifelong love of nature, togetherness, family, and hiking.  

Eagle Mountain, the highest point in Minnesota, will always hold a special place in my heart. Located in the northeastern part of Minnesota at the start of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area and Wilderness, it is one of the best kept secrets in the Midwest. Pristine forests, magical untouched lakes and impressive wildlife are all the wonderful things you will find along the trail.

Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons

As a child, I hiked this trail every single fall with my family, until I moved away to college. It was a family tradition that I will never forget and is held deep within my most precious, sacred memories of childhood. The fall colors once we reached the top were an artistic tapestry of brilliant hues of pumpkin orange, golden yellow and crimson red. If I close my eyes, I can almost see it now.  Almost.

Adventure Travel Minnesota TRAVEL BY REGION Trekking/Hiking United States
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Hiking around Cascade River Falls

Author’s note: I’m back to my series on our long weekend at the North Shore of Lake Superior in Minnesota. To read recent posts in this series, click here.

One of the most popular State Parks along Lake Superior’s North Shore is Cascade River State Park. Located about 10 miles southwest of Grand Marais, Minnesota this park offers spectacular waterfall views and rushing rapids of root beer-colored Cascade River.  There are over 18 miles of trails within the park and it also meets up with the 286-mile long Superior Hiking Trail.  There is a wide variety of flora and fauna to be discovered but what I enjoyed most was the sounds and sights of the roaring river and multiple waterfalls.

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Second attempt at Carlton Peak

Author’s note:  This is the second post on our hike up Carlton Peak in Northeastern Minnesota. In case you haven’t heard, the most devasting, damaging floods in history have recently struck this part of Minnesota.  Over 100 million dollars of damage is estimated.  Roads are closed, homes and universities are flooded.  Even the zoo was impacted with a dozen animals drown and the dramatic rescue of a seal and a polar bear who escaped the escalating flood waters.  Let’s keep our thoughts and prayers in mind for the people impacted by this devastation.  To read full updated article, click here. 

Adventure Travel Minnesota TRAVEL BY REGION Trekking/Hiking United States
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A touch of nature along Lake Superior’s North Shore

Our first morning along Lake Superior’s North Shore wasn’t looking too promising.  Dark clouds had rolled in over the lake and we could hear the low rumble of distant thunder all the way across to Wisconsin. I sat out on the oversized verandah, sipping my morning juce (mi gasolina, as it was nicknamed during my recent trip to Guatemala) and listening to the dramatic, haunting call of the loons.

If you have never heard a loon before, then you probably don’t know what their song is like.  One you hear it, you will never forget.  It is perhaps one of the most beautiful, melodic sounds I’ve ever heard. To prove it, see for yourself.   Click below, close your eyes and listen.  It is a cry you will never forget. A beautiful mourning wail…

Adventure Travel Minnesota TRAVEL BY REGION Trekking/Hiking United States