From Josep M Blanc to Colomina, the fog was thick and the rain steady. A young German couple we met at Blanc were going the same way. The girl was wearing a bright yellow covering on her backpack and we followed it to make sure we were going the right way. When we arrived in Colomina, we ended up eating dinner with them. They told us that they kept looking back during the hike to look for us. They were looking for us to make sure they were going the right way!
Video diary, day 4: Rain and wind to Colomina
Video diary, day 4: Arriving at Colomina
The refuge at Colomina was held down by giant steel cables. I couldn’t sleep that night, not just because it was cold in the bedroom, but because the wind was howling so fiercely I was afraid the roof was going to come off.
We had to start over from Espot and waited for a 4×4 to fill up with other tourists until we reached Amitges, the stop we missed the previous night. As soon as we received our fourth stamp there, we hiked down as quickly as we could to Mallafre to get our fifth stamp. Because we were trying to recover from our mistake, going through the mountains and making it to Josep M Blanc the same night was next to impossible. A park ranger in Espot advised us to take the forest route because he was expecting another downpour in the afternoon.
Video diary, day 3: Recovering from a mistake and on to Josep M Blanc
Video diary, day 3: Arriving at Josep M Blanc
We might have taken a shortcut, but to us, the hike from Mallafre to Blanc still took four and a half hours. It would have taken eight if we went through the mountains. We were just glad to be back on schedule.
After hiking in the rain to Colomers, the sun was out in full force our second day. We felt well-rested even though we slept packed like sardines on bunk beds. The hike was exhausting because there were plenty of rocks we had to cross, but we made it to Saboredo without any problems.
Video diary, day 2: Waking up in Colomers
Trouble began after Saboredo: we took a different path and walked for hours following yellow marks on the trail. (Later, we learned that the yellow marks were for the entire national park, and not for the trail we were supposed to follow.) When we finally reached a small town, we knew we were in the wrong place because we have gotten used to hiking without seeing anyone, or anything, except for rocks, trees and lakes. When it started drizzling, I knocked on the first house we saw to ask for help. With the Dr.’s little command of Spanish, he told the guy our story. Where are you guys from?, he asked us in English. We were surprised he spoke English in these parts. When we told him that we were from New York, he smiled and told us he was raised in Long Island.
Video diary, day 2: Passing through Refugi de Saboredo
I am still flabbergasted when I recall this story. We had no clue where we were, and someone, someone up there, was watching us to help us get back on track. It turned out that we hiked up north to the ski town of Salardu, far, far away from our stop of the night at Amitges. He called the refuge and told them we weren’t going to make it–a search party is dispatched if someone with a reservation via the Carros de Foc office in Vielha doesn’t show up in any of the refuges. He bought us beers at the local pub while we waited for a cab that took us to the nearest town of Espot.
Video diary, day 2: Getting lost on the way to Amitges, ending up at Espot
It was disheartening to get lost on our second day, and the Dr. completely gave up when we talked about our options during dinner. We were a day late and we knew it was going to be more difficult to finish the trek in less than seven days. It was only in the morning that he expressed continuing on after talking to the park rangers who directed us to take a 4×4 to Amitges, get our stamp and rush to Mallafre, and then hike through the forest to Josep M Blanc, where they were expecting us for our third night.
We started our hike from the town of Vielha where we took a cab to the beginning of the path to Restanca. I cried the first hour as soon as I realized I signed up for a hike that would last six more days. We had on our 30-pound backpacks. It was so difficult, but the view from Restanca was absolutely amazing. On our way to Colomers, where we were to sleep the first night, Mother Nature brought hail, and then a downpour. When we arrived at the refuge, we were so glad to change into dry clothes and eat dinner with several other hikers.
Video diary, Day 1: An Introduction to Carros de Foc
Video diary, Day 1: Hail from Restanca to Colomers
