Saturday August 12, 24.0km/14.9mi

Refuge des Bésines (600.0km/2105m) (France) to Estany de la Pradella (624.0km/1955m) (France)

The day started out with a nice gentle climb up to a small pass, this seems to be the pattern recently.

From the top of the pass, I love seeing the valleys washed in morning light.

I could see ahead to a few lakes, and also the large summit I would be climbing later today.

The first lake was pretty little and I don’t think it had a name.

When I got to a trail junction, I noticed they started putting GPS coordinates on the signs. Cool.

The little shepherds cabin at the junction looked pretty cute on the outside, but was pretty gross on the inside.

I spent an hour hiking on a path along the Étang de Lanoux.

When I turned away from the lake, I started the climb up to Pic Carlit (2921m).

It’s the highest peak in the Eastern Pyrenees.

Along the way there was a pond where I stopped to refill my water bottles for the hot climb up to the top of the peak.

The trail switchbacked up this long, steep screefield.

Yup, steep.

It took me almost an hour to hike up that steep section, which was only one kilometer long. Looking back below me was a nice measure of progress.

A little more up to go…

When I got to the top there were tons of views….

… But also tons of people.

I got a quick picture of the Summit Marker, and then retreated to an empty side of the ridge to have lunch.

I enjoyed my usual burrito of sharp cheese and summer sausage, and for dessert I had some knock-off M&Ms. Lacasitos! Haha.

I had hiked up the remote and quiet side of the mountain, but apparently the other side of the mountain was where all these people were coming from. The descent was a little slow because I had to keep pausing and letting people go by on the uphill.

It was also a little steep in places. Looking back up at what I had just scrambled down.

Eventually the trail flattened out, and I was able to just enjoy the view of the lakes on my descent.

I was going to stop and take a break at this lake, but then I heard thunder rumble overhead.

It had been a blue sky all morning, but by 1pm some clouds had started gathering, and by 2pm they were getting large and dark.

I got to the end of the trail at the parking lot, where I departed the hordes of people I had been seeing all afternoon. I crossed the last lake on a nice long dam, as more thunder rumbled over my head.

I had a phone signal and checked the weather, I could see a thunderstorm approaching rapidly so I ducked into a restaurant and ordered some food and hid from the rain.

Apparently the storm was so severe it also had some hail. It was pretty cyclical, every 30 minutes the sun would try to come out and then another round of thunderstorms would come through.

After 2 hours of that, I decided to hike out and find a place to camp.

The trails were still full of rainwater and even some hail.

I passed by a couple small lakes, which looked really still & peaceful after the storms had passed through.

The last lake was pretty big, Estany de la Pradella.

I found an old shepherd’s cabin next to the lake, and decided to sleep inside since the weather was still looking a little uncertain.

Two French guys came by to leave their stuff while they went fishing at the lake. I made dinner and got ready for bed, and they came back a little while later and left with their stuff. When I looked outside I saw a rainbow!

Hopefully the weather is good tomorrow, because there is a long exposed ridgewalk.