Thursday August 10, 15.5km/9.6mi

El Serrat Hotel (558.4km/1580m) (Andorra) to Refugi de Cabana Sorda (573.9km/2295m) (Andorra)

I woke up late on purpose at 8am, and went upstairs to the restaurant where there was a breakfast buffet.

It was a very solid breakfast, with lots of fruit, ham, and various croissants and breads. I went back up to my room and listened to music while packing up. Eventually at noon I hiked out and it was very warm.

I was next to a different creek today, hiking uphill. After about 30 minutes I came to a little park with some artwork.

And there was also a garden nearby.

I have some friends who named their daughter Aster, and I took a few minutes to look for the rare Pyrenean Aster. I talked to the guy in charge of the garden, who only spoke Catalan and Spanish, and he told me it was this flower.

He then proceeded to have a long conversation with me about his hike through the Pyrenees a few years ago. Neat! It was a hot day, so I added one of these electrolytes supplements to my water bottle. I have a bunch from when I was at my sister and brother-in-law’s house last month. Delicious.

I passed by the Refugi de Sorteny, where I met a nice family from Valencia, Spain.

We had a fun conversation…. about my hike thru the Pyrenees, about work, and it turns out the dad works for an American company, Ford cars. Eventually it was time to go, so I filled my water bottle and continued up the hill.

These little lizards were everywhere.

Uphill most of the afternoon.

Near the top of the climb, I hiked through a herd of horses that seemed to not care in the least that I was there.

The pass ahead looked pretty steep.

After some very steep hiking on a rough trail I arrived at the top of the pass, Collada dels Meners.

One of my favorite moments of this trail is when I get a whole new set of views from the top of a pass.

The descent was pretty easy…

… And pretty soon I was passing by a cabin, Cabana Cóms de Jan.

It was pretty nice inside, where I found a French guy who was very enthusiastic to talk to anyone.

He is hiking the HRP in the reverse direction as me (many French people do this as the French guide is written in reverse). We exchanged a lot of useful information and then I realized 30 minutes had passed and I had better get going. I had to climb over one more minor pass, where there was a little bit of fog for some strange reason.

As soon as I dropped down the other side of the pass, the fog went away.

It was another easy descent down pretty well worn trails.

As I descended lower I could see the Estany de Cabana Sorda, the lake that I was aiming to camp at.

I crossed the outlet of the lake on a dam, and I could feel the splash of the water from the waves.

It was pretty windy outside, so I made dinner indoors in the nearby cabin.

While my dinner was cooking, I went and setup my tent in a protected area behind some rocks. I came back and enjoyed dinner with the company of a nice couple from the Netherlands, who was out hiking on a four-day trip through the Pyrenees. By 9:30pm it was getting dark, so I excused myself and went to bed. A very social day!