Hiking with our heads in the clouds

Our second morning and we're starting to recognize the same hikers going north on the GR20 at the same time - there's two french guys who usually pass us at some point in the day, an older German couple who have done the trek many times but who decided not to carry their own food anymore like they used to, and 3 Ukrainians our age that we chatted with a bit.

Again today, we choose an "alpine route" that goes over the summit of Monte Incudine (2134m) instead of the regular GR20 along a valley trail. The day starts steeeeep, with an easy snow patch to cross and then after the summit in the early morning, we follow the ridgeline on a pretty easy, steady downhill trail into a lovely valley of streams, meadows and forests. We saw the coolest salamanders!

We also are introduced to ridgeline fogs that make route finding more challenging as well as Corsica's rains, which can be short and easy or long and heavy, but should never be underestimated. We made exactly that mistake and didn't take the rain seriously in the valley. "It'll end any minute"... but it never did. We got SO wet! The last 2 hours to our campsite followed another ridgeline with steep dropoffs on either side and we had to negotiate a few easy climbing sections (made more difficult with large heavy packs) along the way. In the rain or fog (they switched back and forth), we needed to be completely focused and eventually made it safely. We had several more laughing about our "this must have been the last of the uphill" moments and kept in good spirits. We were so glad to be in a dry tent, dry clothes and eating our hot dinner inside the tent (again ;) ) as the rain continued throughout the night.Read more