Up Up Up the Pyrenees

Today we walked up up up from St-Jean to Orisson Virgen. The elevation gain was probably similar to going up to Nevada Falls in Yosemite. We saw so many little farms. It’s very green here! We saw cows and sheep with bells on their necks, the cows with big bells that made a big deep sound and the sheep with little bells that tinkled like wind chimes. We stopped at Orrison Refuge and ate a bowl of soup and had a cup of coffee and met people from Finland, Denmark, Ireland, Scotland, and The Phillipines. We met these Americans on the trail, our first Americans. The guy asked us to help him with his water bottle and asked where we’re from. When we told him California he proceeded to tell us how much he hates California and it’s politics. So! We avoided that guy for sure! It rained and was so windy for the second half of today. We definitely needed ponchos! Today and tomorrow are the only strange days that involve taking a shuttle. We hiked up up up to Orrison Virgen and got picked up by a shuttle who took us back to St-Jean and will pick us up tomorrow morning and take us up to where we left off walking today. This is to break up the 5000+ foot climb over the Pyrenees into two days.

I am discovering that traveling with a partner with MCI is challenging! David gets confused about where we are and I need to stay focused on making sure his needs are getting met while juggling all the logistics, planning, packing, etc. it had me pretty stressed last night and I only slept two hours! Things should get smoother every day as we settle into a rhythm.Read more