Multiple-day hikes in the Pyrenees (Le Port de Venasque, Le Lac du Portillon, Le Maupas)
*This is part three of my Pyrenees trekking post. We planned a 3 nights 4 days hike that was a circuit, a loop back to our starting point. Our plan was to walk 4 days and come back and take a nice long bath in the sauna.
But things went wrong, as with everything else in my life, which resulted in mildly successful hitchhiking (until it wasn’t), broken tent, and a farewell to my beloved sleeping bag that had decided to fly off into the night sky at 2500m.
OVERVIEW #
- Preparation
- Access (Camper Van)
- Equipement
- Food & Snack
- Day Trip to Tuc de Molières (3010m/8h)
- Multiple-day Trip in the Pyrenees (6 days in Port de Venasque, Lac de Portillon, Le Maupas)
3. Multiple-day Trip (3N4D that turned into 5N6D) #
Day 1 #
Route : 8:30 Hospice de France - Refuge de Venasque - 11:45 Port de Venasque - Refuge de Rencluse - Parque Natural Poseta Maladeta - 17:00 Camped.
map 1, map 2 , map 3 , (more info)
From the col, we descended towards West, down into the valley of Parque Natural Poseta Maladeta.
That night, we made couscous with dried veggies and spices, garlic and olive oil. The best thing I tasted in my outdoor history.
This was my favorite camping spot out of all the places we slept since it was near the water, quiet, no wind, great view. I read “Any Human Heart” by William Boyd which was interesting.
Day 2 #
Route: Parque Natural Posets Maladeta - Col between Aiguille de litérole and pic de crabioules - lac de portillon, refuge de portillon
From here, our original plan was to traverse just beneath the ridge towards NW and to Pic des Crabioules from the Spanish side crossing over to the French side. Then, passing through Aguja Jean Garnier down a path towards NE to Lac d’Enfer.
Around here, we lost the trail. By this point, there weren’t clear paths and we were just following the cairns, our maps and our downloaded Maps.me on our phones. The footing was really loose due to the loose stones and rocks that’s been carried by the glaciers. I kept sliding down and getting my feet stuck and by this point, I was a little exhausted and scared. We thought we knew where the path lead but it was just a guess, and the footing was so bad we decided to take precautions and head down to the refuge next to Lac de Portillon to ask for some info. It was annoying that we had to climb down 600m but safety first.
We asked the guard at the refuge and he told us that there is a path to cross the Crabioules without having to pass the glaciers but depending on the weather and the fog, the path may not be visible. So we decided to wait till morning to see about the fog.
Day 3 #
The next morning… FOG!
Route: Refuge de portillon - lac d’Oô - les Granges d’Astau - (hitchhike) - Oô (village) - Cazeaux de Larboust - (hitchhike) - Luchon Saint Mamet - along the river La Pique - Granges de Labach - Cabane Bargueres de Campsaure - luchonais
So we decided to change route and hike down from Lac du Portillon through Lac d’Espingo and Lac d’Oo. (Yes, the name is “Oo” with double O’s.)
Once we arrived at the parking lot, we had to figure out how to get back to Hospice de France where we parked. We figured hitchhiking would not be too difficult, considering it’s the countryside and everybody is nice in the countryside, right?
Wrong.
It was successful until we reached the big city, Luchon Saint Mamet. There was only one road to Hospice de France and we waited an hour with our thumbs up but in vain.
At 16:30 we decided to start walking up the road. It was 800m elevation for 11km to the Hospice de France. We decided to give up hitchhiking and go off on the country road that split from the side. We stopped by an old castle la Tour de Castel Viehl and ate our bread and cheese.
It was grueling from there. The road was well paved but full of moist and different plants and trees and sweat hugged around us. Mushrooms everywhere and we filled up our water from the streams. Mushy. It was foggy all around and we couldn’t see a thing. The whole scenery reminded me of mountains back home in Japan and the darkness looming over made me a little scared.
I paced up the hill, out of fear, out of desperation almost, going as fast as I can not daring to stop or else I’ll forever be unable to move. I counted from 1 to 10, in all the languages I knew, over and over. I learned this trick from the American sitcom “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” where the main character says " I learned a long time ago that a person can stand just about anything for 10 seconds, then you just start on a new 10 seconds. All you have to do is take it 10 seconds at a time." It really works.
He suggested we camp at one point but unusual for me I pressed we go on. We eventually reached the cabane, like a bothy in Scotland, an uninhabited stone hut used as a shelter by hikers and passers. It looked like it’s been abandoned a while from the way it looked and smelt. It was already past 20:00 we were both tired so we set up a tent outside (I refused to sleep inside the cabane, the atmosphere reminded me of haunted mansion) and then we cooked couscous and fell asleep right away. The longest day ever. On the bright side, it was warm and soft to sleep on the layers of grass and weed, and had the best sleep in forever.
Day 4 #
Route: Cabane Bargueres de Campsaure - luchonais - Hospice de France - Luchon (for food supply) - Cascade d’enfer (parking)
From the cabane, our van was only an hour walk away. It turned out to be a nice sunny easy day so we took the opportunity to bathe, sleep and have a picnic.
Day 5 #
Route: Ô Berges du Lys Parking - cascade d’enfer - Cascade de Calahoure - Lac Celinda - Lac Charles - Lac Bleu - Lac d’enfer (refuge)
10:15 left the parking lot to start hiking. I felt a bit lightheaded and my legs won’t move. I pondered on what the possibilities for these symptoms could be. It may be due to lack of Iron since I hadn’t eaten meat or anything containing Iron in a while. 1200m uphill. We took the long route around the many lakes that are in the area. The sun was shining brightly over us and I regretted not bringing my shorts with me for the first half. So many crickets jumping about and so many cascades.
Once reaching Lac Celinda, the route was pretty easy and almost flat. The lakes were absolutely stunning and traversing along the sides of the mountain was an utter beauty that took my breath away. There were fish in the lake and we wondered how they got all the way up here.
It started becoming foggy and soon we were covered in fogs.
La refuge de Maupas was run by a woman. She wore a black pair of trousers and had short brown hair. She had a tan like all mountaineers do on her cheeks that shone pink. She was so cool and I wanted to be her. By the time we reached the hut, we couldn’t see anything further than a couple of meters away. We put up our tent in a terrace above the hut and everything felt perfect, until it was’t.
Because of the fog, we hadn’t realized that we had positioned the tent so that we would really feel the wind. During the night, we decided to tighten the strings that supported the tent which was a mistake, we later find out, since it is better to keep it loose to allow the tent poles to flex.
We heard a snap and a broken pole was sticking into me. Panicked, we opened the tent and tried to hold the tent from the outside to limit the damage. Which was a mistake, since everything started flying out. The wind was so strong that I was too scared to stay standing. We managed to pack everything and head inside the refuge. 2:30am. Then I realized my sleeping bag was missing. It somehow flew out into the night sky. A rookie mistake. I hated myself, but reading made me feel better.
Day 6 #
Route: Refuge de Lac d’Enfer - Pic de Maupas 3109m - parking
Next morning, despite our lack of sleep, we decided to climb the Maupas peak. Another climber also came with us, who was quite experience, which made the experience feel a lot safer. Since I had lost my bra which was inside my sleeping bag that was probably enjoying its freedom somewhere, I climbed up without a bra, and it was the most liberating thing ever. Should do this more often.
The hike down was quite easy, well marked, but very long. 2500m down. My knees were dying.
THE END.