Day 5 and 6

Today, we went backpacking. Well actually, today we drove to the French Alps and set up camp. We got up at 4 in the morning to eat breakfast, pack up, and get our hiking gear ready. Boy was that drive fun. Eight hours of fun. I don’t know how any of us stayed in the same seat for that long. Christie was texting for the first half hour of the trip, but turned her phone off as quick as she could when I told her that there weren’t any power outlets on a mountain. Other than that, the trip was quite uneventful.

We got to our destination of Mont Blanc, where we set up camp. After eating some shepherd’s pie, one of my signature trail dishes, I treated the group to some of my dad’s famous dutch-oven chocolate cherry cobbler. At about 10 pm, we got ready for bed and went to sleep. I was woken up several times to be someone’s “bathroom buddy” because they didn’t want to go alone. It was quite the night. We did get a good amount of sleep though, which is good because we had a 10 mile hike in the day ahead of us!

We woke up early, yet again, but I was the first awake, just to boil some water. I think everyone else was disappointed when they found out that I hadn’t already cooked breakfast for them. I just gave them some instant grits and oatmeal, and they were fine.

Everyone seemed so enthusiastic once we got on the trail, but as soon as we started hiking uphill, that wasn’t the case. I knew once we got to a viewing area, everyone would be happy. Nothing much happened during the actual hike; we had to filter some water, but that was pretty much it.

Once we got to the observation area, that was another case. First, I had to explain to Olivia that you can’t wear converses on a 10-mile hike and expect not to get blisters. Second, I had to tell Christie that even though we were a few hundred feet above sea level, there weren’t any cell phone towers around to get a signal. After all that, I was accused of being too outdoorsy.

We ate our lunch which was very good after our long hike, and even saw some wildlife. There were a few herds of goats on a mountain in the distance, and some eagles or hawks flying above us.

The hike to our next campsite was beautiful. There were all kinds of interesting plants all around us. It was definitely one of the best hikes I’ve ever had.

-Megan