Backpacking the Haute Route: Day 3 – Trient to Champex

by Gator | Aug 6, 2018

The night before, we scouted the trail leading out of Trient to prevent another morning of getting lost. Up and away we ascended steeply. We had plenty of company with backpackers hiking the Tour de Mont Blanc. The TMB is a similar trail that circles Mount Blanc and is roughly 100 miles long. As the trail climbed, we came across a small farm called La Giète where a young herder was tending to a symphony of cowbells. We wondered how they were able to get supplies. There were no nearby roads.

The highest point for the day overlooked the small farm of Alp Bovine. Alp Bovine is a family farm that sells refreshments to hikers for extra money. As we descended, there was a woman squatting at the side of the building in plain sight. Assuming it was an emergency, we thought nothing of it. When we reached the farm to our surprise, there were public bathrooms. We purchased a piece of cake, stopped for a while to enjoy the view of the Rhone Valley below, and eat lunch.

Alp Bovine

Descending to Champex d’en Bas, the trail was a series of steep switchbacks that crossed over a waterfall, and winded into the woods. The trail joined a dirt road passing tidy houses in the village. We continued on for another hour along the road to our hotel in Champex-Lac, Hotel du Glacier.

House with red shutters in Champex d’en Bas

We checked in with several hours to spare before dinner. There was enough time to shower, wash our clothes in the sink and hang them to dry. No food was available on the next day’s hike, so we went to the grocery store to buy lunch. We also bought two beers to enjoy before dinner. Back at the hotel we sat down to relax, popped open our beers and they tasted disgusting! Upon further inspection, we learned that we had bought non-alcoholic beer. This explains why the cashier looked at us funny.

We sat down for dinner, and were surprised that the prefixed menu consisted of three-courses once again. First was a cold ground pork sausage salad with a light dressing. The main course was a delicious grilled white flaky fish with summer vegetables on a bed of grains. Dessert was homemade ice cream with a raspberry sauce. As we were finishing up dinner, we noticed the lighting outside was just right for photography. We went up to our room to get the camera and drone.

Dinner at Hotel du Glacier

On the paved path by the lake, we decided to go for a walk to find a good place to shoot. We found a park bench with a nice view, so we decided to stop and film some drone footage. We noticed a man swimming. To our surprise, when he got out he was naked. He didn’t seem to be bothered by the drone and proceeded on to do his evening routine of yoga. After taking a few pictures around the lake, we decided to go back to the hotel to retire for the evening.