Our journey started, as it always does, a quick stop at Starbucks. I'm not a huge follower of traditions, but the stop for coffee is one that I'm sticking with. We made it to the airport bright and early June 30th, along with Sam and Michael, who were heading to Medford to start their own adventure. Our flight to Seattle, Washington D.C., London, Geneva was without event, at least for us. Our luggage told us a different story once we hooked up with it in Zermatt - 7 days later.
It's interesting the reaction I've gotten from some as they hear we didn't have luggage for our journey. Let me clarify first before you think we only had our passports and money. Balin and I both had pre-packed our backpacks for hiking a couple weeks prior to the trip, just to see what would fit in. We had hiking shirts, two pair of shorts, water bladders, socks, underwear (thank the Lord) and a few other odds and ends. I had my hiking boots shoved in the bottom but we were both lacking rain gear and Balin didn't have any shoes or socks. As my mom and dad always said, "there are few problems that can't be solved with a little cash thrown at them." This was a truism in our case. We got out our Visa and headed to the local sport shop to purchase the rest of the items we needed. (I love my new shell and am hoping I can wear it on the slopes this winter)
With no luggage and only the clothes I wore on the plane, Gen and I headed into Chamonix to purchase a few items for our day to day wear. I had mentioned to her that shopping in France is so different than Switzerland and that if she wanted any new clothes this would be the place to purchase them. We found a great little under ground boutique that suited our needs quite readily, though it turns out most of the clothes were imported from Italy. Meanwhile Balin and Kai decided to head to the hills for a run - and a run they got. They were pretty tired from their adventure around the base of Mt. Blanc, while Gen and I were actually feeling quite refreshed.
In all honesty Chamonix is probably one of my favorite towns. It's got mountains but then it's got a flair with flowers that is not seen many other places in Europe. (if only I was so bold at home with my flowers) It was a beautiful place to catch our breath and gain a rhythm of sleep but after a couple of days there we were ready to head to Sion where we were to start our climb into the Alps.
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At the train station waiting for our ride via bus into the mountains.
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Balin is a mad man with the maps. He studies them and actually knows where we're going.
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| Gen likes to know where she is and where she's going at all times, a trait that separates she and I. When Balin's around I am where I am and going where he goes. |
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| First day of hiking from the Dix reservoir up to the Dix hut. |
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| Second day of hiking out of the Dix hut (in the background). Beautiful weather every day save one day. |
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| On top of the pass where there was leftover snow from a heavy winter. |
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| Glaciers were all over the place. One could almost believe that global warming was a myth. |
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| The white and red strip on the rocks indicates the mountain trails. Always a good sign you're going in the right direction. |
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| Up the snowy hill to find our first cabin for the night. |
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| Beer was a favorite beverage of the trip. The beer tasted really good after a long day of hiking. |
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| So much snow. We found out that had we wanted to do the whole route we would have been disappointed as Prafleuri had too much snow on the passes to get to. We met a bunch of people who had to be rerouted and they ended up taking buses to pick up the trail where we were. |
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The "chutes and ladders" that we were warned about. Kai was a little nervous thinking it would be super high and sketchy, but with no snow and sturdy swiss engineering they were easy peasy. |
At the top of the pass after the ladders. Not a bad view.
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| A better view was had at the bottom of the hike as we rested at a hut where we could grab a beer. Perfect way to end the day. |
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| I've taken this same picture before and honestly I think they plant the same plants year after year. Understandably as they're so incredibly gorgeous! We went from the hut at the end of the trail for beer to a little cafe in town for a beer and Rosti to the other side of the valley where we had another beer as we waited for the bus. This adventure in the Swiss Alps could probably be more accurately described by marking where we had beer at. |
From La Sage, where we stayed in this gorgeous little mountain in run by a Parisian, who lives in Lebanon, we hiked up over the pass and up to the Moiry hut. I don't have any pictures of that day as it was our only day of rain and cold weather. We got to the hut and ended up drinking beer and playing cards. The hut sits right on the edge of a glacier, which is pretty spectacular. Getting to the hut was a feat as it was ice and snow all the way up. Softened by the rain during the day, it was promising to be an ugly descent the following morning with cold night temperatures. The next day we were not disappointed as the trip down was nasty. One false step and bam! you're at the bottom of a steep hill.
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| The descent from Moiry hut. Slip and slide. |
After the nasty descent the trail flattened out and traversed a very long way along the Moiry damn. It was probably my favorite part of the hike because it was what one would picture hiking in the Sound of Music. Vistas, sun and surprisingly animals. The Chamois, pictured above, was a rare treat to see.
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| As always, our daily picnics were a highlight. Fresh bread, veggies , cheese and meat hit the spot without fail. |
We hiked our final day and grabbed a train headed to Zermatt for our final days in Switzerland. The weather again was spectacular and we all were so appreciative. We arrived at our hotel and much to our delight our luggage met us there. It was so fun to pull out clean fresh clothes! It was like finding a long lost friend! Gen and I took the opportunity to head downstairs to the hotels spa and enjoy a couple of hours of sitting in the pool, quiet room, sauna and steam room. We did that two days in a row and were in heaven. The boys meanwhile enjoyed going out for a beer. Seriously.
Our second day in Zermatt we took the Wimberley's up the to the base of the Matterhorn. It did not disappoint. We had a healthy climb to our beer stop, but we met some Germans on the way up and had a delightful conversation with them all the way to the top. Of course they are now invited to come and stay with us here in Liberty Lake and I wouldn't doubt it if they took us up on it.
Along the way, I made some notes on my phone about the more philosophical points of the trip. It was fun to write them and they comment less about the trip itself and more about the thoughts that were in my mind along the journey. I hope you enjoy:
Life is much like the Haute Route. You look at the pictures, especially on the beautiful days and say, "wow, that is so gorgeous". What is not seen is the trudging step by step up the path.
The upward path is hard. There is no easy way to get to the top of the mountain. Period. Well, that's not entirely true. I suppose you can pay exorbitant amounts of money and hitch a ride in a helicopter, but that's not really what I'm talking about here.
One step after another.
I remember as a girl of probably 10 or 11 starting the climb to the base camp at Mt. Rainier. It was not fun. Literally one small, soggy step after another. For miles. The trail was well worn by others who had gone before me, which made is less difficult, but it was still difficult.
I have gone on to other mountains, other "base camps" and I have to say they were no less difficult. Backpacking literally over mountain ranges, being thrown into a classroom of 150 students two days before school started with ABSOLUTELY NO TEACHING EXPERIENCE, (long story which one day I'll take the time to write about), watching my dad slowing lose his health and pass away, being so completely needy with two small children and a husband who was gone 175 days a year.
Those mountain climbs were tough, painful, soul wrenching and I often wanted to crawl into a corner and rock back and forth.
But here's a couple of things I've learned through the experience:
Stop and look at the beautiful scenery.
The stop part here is the most important piece of that statement. If you think you can walk up a steep mountain pass and rubberneck safely, it's going to go bad. One misplaced foot and down you could tumble to your literal death, and I'm not exaggerating.
The scenery is breath taking. Take a moment, stop moving, breathe in the vision of God's creation. The view is so much better when you focus all your energy on that moment. Safer too.
I need to remind myself of this truth at home. In life. Through the steep inclines of everyday life, pause and look around, give a prayer of thanks for the beautiful surroundings .
Some days don't have beautiful vistas. Often I'm lucky to get a sun break through the clouds, this is typical of mountain weather after all. Occasionally I'm trudging through nasty sleet which chills me to the bone. An image of endless laundry, dust on every horizontal surface, cobwebs in places I didn't think spiders could get to and I wonder how I'm going to get there to clean them, comes to mind.
Stopping and taking a break becomes all the more important on those cold, cloudy days of the soul. "Give thanks in all circumstance" Paul urges us. Pausing just to give thanks. I don't think these are necessarily moments to rejoice, though you're welcome to, but a quiet acknowledgement that all things have good in them and if nothing else I can be thankful for the warm coffee in my thermos and the treat I packed in my bag.
The funny thing about getting to the top of the mountain is you often don't stay there long. At 10,000 feet it gets cold. And windy. Sometimes there's not much to stand on. But the view is spectacular. Or it's not. Nothing like getting to the top of a pass to be socked in with pea soup fog. Or worse rain. Or snow.
Don't get me wrong, we've summited a few mountains that were so spectacular that I wanted to cry. Standing on the high side of Mt. St. Helen's crater at 8am on a clear day. The Enchantments made me want to pitch my tent and never leave. Hornli Hütte at the base of the Matterhorn on a sunny day woos one into thinking the life of a mountain goat could be a good career move. Amazing.
But more often than not that's not the experience. It's the exception.
The other thing about the mountain top for me is; I'm afraid of heights. Yup. My stomach starts summersaulting. I peak over the edge and then scramble back to a safe spot, if there is one.
And then let's take a moment to talk about getting down.
It might be worse than going up. I'm not kidding. One thinks it'll be easier on the other side, but really it's just another form of ugly. Toes slamming into the front of your boots. Knees crying out from being jostled. While calves get a rest, thigh muscles scream "Stop or I'm jumping ship!" It's true. I've seen more people cry going downhill than uphill. (Sometimes they do both)
Here's the point: life is hard. Doing amazing things is hard. It looks easy from the Facebook page, but it's not.
Going up the hill is hard. Going down the hill is hard. Sometimes the mountain top experience is hard.
So here's why I like hiking so much:
I love the journey.
I love the relationships that are built.
Often I am joined by others in my endeavors but sometimes I have these experiences alone. Either way relationship is what makes the journey spectacular. I love walking and talking with people. With Balin, with friends, with strangers. When I home alone I get the opportunity to talk to myself and with God, which I LOVE as some of my most profound thoughts and creative ideas come out of that time.
I'm pretty thankful that my feet have taken me to some pretty spectacular places all over the world. Truly thankful. Every single one of those adventures, without exception, have had some sort of difficulty. Either the trail was hard, the relationships were hard, the external factors were challenging, amongst other things. I've learned to expect that the adventure of life is hard but worth it.
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