The first thing we did was just drive around to try to figure out where to start the hike, and that's when we arrived at Le Point Sublime, which Jennifer recognized as the end of the famous Martel hike. View from Le Point Sublime.
Since the hike is 9.3 miles, very few people would be interested, or able, do the round trip. Instead, we took one of several hiker shuttle buses from the the end of the trail to the beginning of the trail. It was peak season, and there were quite a few people there, but it wasn't unpleasantly crowded. The day we did the hike, it hit 99 degrees. Maybe the combination of distance, heat, and logistics limited the crowds somewhat. We found this sign at the start of the hike.
You might be in danger any time you're at the river at the bottom of the gorge. Notice it's in English, German, and French. Hikers from all over the world come here. The hike starts from the rim, with views like this.
The view looking downstream.
Looking upstream to "the mixture", where the two rivers come together. There were a few good-sized fish swimming along in the deep pools of clear water here.
Soon after La Mescla, we came to steep steel stairs going down over a hundred feet, into a different branch of the canyon. This is the view from the middle of the stairs leading down to the next section of the trail.
These scrappy little trees somehow managed to survive clinging to crevices in the vertical rock face.
These scrappy little trees somehow managed to survive clinging to crevices in the vertical rock face.
This was our view while we sat in the shade beside the trail and ate lunch. It was partly cloudy. In this photo, the top of the canyon is in the shade of a cloud, while the bottom is in sunlight.
After hiking in sweltering heat for another hour, we had another opportunity to get down to the river and cool our sore feet in the clear, cold water. Ahh, such a relief to take off our boots and socks. I even soaked my shirt and hat. It was a bit of a shock to put a soaking-wet, ice-cold shirt on, but it helped me keep cool, at least during the surprisingly short time it took for them to dry out.
We saw these canyoneers getting ready to jump in the water and float down some rapids. "What canyoneers?", you say? Take a look in the lower right corner of the photo. There're about 15 all dressed up in helmets and life vests standing on the banks of the river. Gives a better sense of scale.
We had to go through a couple of tunnels through the rock near the end. One of them was nearly a thousand feet long, so we had to have flashlights. A lot of people were using their mobile phones for light.
At the far end, we had one last chance to go down to the river before heading up and out of the canyon. This was where the canyoneers were entering and exiting the canyon. They were just walking into the river wearing their helmets and life vests and floating downstream.
This exposure and the next one lasted about a half-second, so we get the blur in the water.
The water was really clear everywhere along the river.
One last look at the river, on the way up and out, looking back toward the canyon. This part of the hike was the hottest because it was the hottest time of day and there were very few trees for shade.
What a great hike. There were impressive bare rock cliffs all around, beautiful rivers, scary heights, and it wasn't too crowded. We felt like we took our time and enjoyed it, stopping off to soak our feet, have lunch, and take pictures, yet still managed to finish in the amount of time listed in the guide books.
Continuing in the Gorge de Verdon - kayaking the same gorge, but a couple of different areas. The series continues with another on our drive from the Gorge de Verdon to the Cirque de Gavarnie in the Pyrenees, on the border with Spain.
After hiking in sweltering heat for another hour, we had another opportunity to get down to the river and cool our sore feet in the clear, cold water. Ahh, such a relief to take off our boots and socks. I even soaked my shirt and hat. It was a bit of a shock to put a soaking-wet, ice-cold shirt on, but it helped me keep cool, at least during the surprisingly short time it took for them to dry out.
We saw these canyoneers getting ready to jump in the water and float down some rapids. "What canyoneers?", you say? Take a look in the lower right corner of the photo. There're about 15 all dressed up in helmets and life vests standing on the banks of the river. Gives a better sense of scale.
We had to go through a couple of tunnels through the rock near the end. One of them was nearly a thousand feet long, so we had to have flashlights. A lot of people were using their mobile phones for light.
At the far end, we had one last chance to go down to the river before heading up and out of the canyon. This was where the canyoneers were entering and exiting the canyon. They were just walking into the river wearing their helmets and life vests and floating downstream.
This exposure and the next one lasted about a half-second, so we get the blur in the water.
The water was really clear everywhere along the river.
One last look at the river, on the way up and out, looking back toward the canyon. This part of the hike was the hottest because it was the hottest time of day and there were very few trees for shade.
What a great hike. There were impressive bare rock cliffs all around, beautiful rivers, scary heights, and it wasn't too crowded. We felt like we took our time and enjoyed it, stopping off to soak our feet, have lunch, and take pictures, yet still managed to finish in the amount of time listed in the guide books.
Continuing in the Gorge de Verdon - kayaking the same gorge, but a couple of different areas. The series continues with another on our drive from the Gorge de Verdon to the Cirque de Gavarnie in the Pyrenees, on the border with Spain.
