Backpacking the Haute Route: Day 8 – Arolla to Les Haudères

by Gator | Aug 14, 2018

Due to all of the boulder hopping the day before, Nuthin and I both woke up with injuries. My knees were hurting and Nuthin had a bad knee and ankle. Today’s hike was an easy 3-hour walk, and mostly downhill to the small town of Les Haudères. We slept in and had a late breakfast. At 8:30 am we left the hotel worried that if our injuries got any worse, we weren’t going to be able to complete the Haute Route.

We hiked up steep switchbacks for 45 minutes up to Lac Bleu. Lac Bleu is a small spring fed lake with a vivid blue color resulting from algae and glacial clays. After taking a few pictures we descended down into the village of La Gouille. Going downhill agitates knee and ankle injuries, so we stopped for a rest. We saw a small café and decided to get a snack.

Lac Blue

There was only one thing on the menu, raclettes. Raclette is a cheese wheel that is heated in front of a fire until caramelized then scrapped off onto toasted bread. It is served with cornichons and pickled pearl onions. All of the ingredients were from the surrounding villages. A simple but delicious treat.

Tool to toast a raclette

Raclette with cornichons and pickled pearled onions

After finishing up our snack, the trail to Les Haudères was a straight gentle descent down on a dirt road. We checked into Hotel Les Mélères around 1:30pm. There was a restaurant attached but the kitchen was already closed. The staff referred us to the grocery store. We walked down to the grocery store, and it was also closed because it was Sunday. The only thing open in town was a small bakery, so for lunch we shared a baguette. Being the only place to find food we had a chance to visit with several other hikers attempting the Haute Route.

Our hotel in Les Hauderes

We walked back to the hotel and rested until dinner. The first course was sautéed chanterelle mushrooms with a poached quail egg and crumbled bacon. The second course was poached salmon with roasted summer vegetables. The third course was homemade vanilla ice cream with local apricot topping. After dinner, we went back to our room and went to bed early. Tomorrow’s hike was supposed to be a strenuous one.

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Backpacking the Haute Route: Day 7 – Prafleuri to Arolla

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Backpacking the Haute Route: Day 9 – Les Haudères to Grimentz