Stage 9 — Trient - Argentière

 When we left Trient, it was cloudy and drizzly. The forecast for the day included rain for most of the day.

 To get to the trail, we walked through town and had a chance to see some of the town's cows up close and personal.

 Because we had taken this same stage 3 years ago (but going in the opposite direction) when we hiked the Walkers' Haute Route, we knew what was ahead of us. We would be climbing up about 3000 feet to reach the Col De Balme. I had remembered how steep the descent was when we did this stage previously and I wasn't looking forward to the ascent!

 This gives you an idea of the trail we took up for the first 3 hours of hiking. 

 At this point, it wasn't actually raining yet, but we were walking in a cloud! Unfortunately, that meant we had absolutely no view of the mountains. 

 About an hour from Col De Balme, we were getting up above the tree line and it started raining hard. Fortunately, it wasn't a lightening storm, just a steady rain with wind.

 At the Col De Balme, there was a small wooden shelter where you could buy hot drinks. We took off our wet jackets, got some coffee, and studied our guidebook for the trail down. There were several options, but we decided due to the rain and the clouds, not to take the high route down.

 The other route down started down from the col through a ski area. The entire hike down took about 3 hours. 

 After about 1.5 hours of hiking, the sky started lightening up and we could actually see some mountains! We were thrilled as this was NOT what was forecast. 

 The last hour of the hike, we traveled from Le Tour to Argentière along a beautiful trail that started along a rushing mountain river and then took us through a forest with huge pine trees. We were descending to Argentière, but the descent was much less punishing as the one we did yesterday to Trient. 

 We arrived at our hotel at about 4:15 pm pleasantly surprised at how the day had gone given the original forecast of rain all day. 

Stage 9 — 8 hours of hiking and 28,874 steps

Stage 8 — Champex - Trient

 This what the view off our porch looked like this morning  — you couldn't see the valley or any of the mountains. We checked the weather for the rain that we knew was coming!

 First step, go downstairs and have one last lovely breakfast with Marlène!

 We are ready with our rain gear and pack covers!

 Within 10 minutes of leaving our Alpina, the rain had started. 

 We also were expecting runners coming from behind us today as well. So we left early and tried to get as far along as we could before we would be stepping aside for more than 2000 trail runners in the race that started today. The first runners arrived behind us at about 9:30 am.

Before long, we were stepping off the trail for scores more. We tried to provide encouragement to each group with calls of "Bonjour" and "Bon Courage!" 

 As you can see, the trail soon became a muddy mess!

 At about 12:30, after 4.5 hours of climbing, we reached the Bovine area which was our high point today. We actually hiked this same stage 3 years ago when we did the Walkers' Haute Route — only we walked the other direction from Trient to Champex. We had remembered the beautiful views of the spectacular mountain ranges from the Bovine area — however, today we only saw clouds, no view. We also remembered having a snack at a lovely little cafe high up in the Bovine. Today, we were so happy to reach it, leave the runners to their race, go inside, and have some lunch. We were cold and wet, so we ordered some hot soup which tasted wonderful and helped warm us up.

 When we finished our lunch, the majority of the runners had passed us and the rain had stopped. The winds were whipping up at this high point on the mountain, so we put on more warm clothes before taking off again. We still had a short climb to the very top of the Bovine before we started the long descent down. We hiked down for about 3 hours — I'm happy to report that my knee is doing much better. As with the last time we were here, after some days of hiking and acclimation, my knee seems to get stronger.

 At about 4:00, we could see Trient in the valley.

 We still had about a 30 minute climb down a very steep, muddy trail with very tight switchbacks. 

 We are super happy to be at our lodging for the night — it is a hostel, but we have a private room which is really nice. We showered, washed some muddy rain pants, and are now relaxing before dinner. We know we have more rain coming tomorrow as well as a 3000 foot climb out of Trient, so we're just trying to enjoy this time resting before tomorrow's hike. 

Stage 8 — 8.5 hours hiking and 31,000 steps (estimate)