Autumn Glow in the Alps

The month of November is often good news for anyone who likes long weekends, and we're definitely one of those who do. We packed our bags, got on a train and kissed Paris goodbye, at least for few days. The next couple of days we'd be hiking in the perfect autumn conditions; the fall colors were at their best and some fresh snow had just fallen down in the higher altitude giving it all a nice nuance.

On our first day, we hiked up to the Grand Lac in the Massif des Cerces. There was just enough snow to enjoy the walk; some more would’ve resulted in tumbling all over since we didn’t wear snowshoes. We reached the shepherd house at about 2400m, where we stopped for some food and tea. The path to reach the lake itself was covered with snow and so we decided rather enjoy the sun and the views of the massive Les Ecrins peaks ahead of us (reaching over 4000m), and then head back down.

For our second hike we went in the heart of Les Ecrins National Park and le Lac de l'Eychauda. Again we got to enjoy the Southern Alps signature weather; blue sky and pleasant temperature- we could start walking in a t-shirt & shorts. The views down the valley were just great with high peaks all around us. We reached the frozen lake after 3 hours push and we were all ready to get our hands on the food we had carried along. Talking about an amazing lunch spots! After the break it was time to get our butts back on the track and get down as the temperature was dropping quickly.

The following day we headed to the Vallée de la Clarée, which is one of our favorite places around Briancon. The trail’s a part of GR5 (French hiking trail that covers over 1200km) which means it’s most certainly scenic and worth going for. We started by walking in a fiery yellow/ orange larch forest and after a short intense ascent, we got to a plateau and had a famous peak Mont Thabor in front of us. As we got to the end of the plateau, views to the other valleys (Etroite and the Italian side) opened up with 3000m high tops. Before taking another trail back down, we had a nice lunch break by the lake Chavillion. Together with the sun, snow and contrails of the planes, the frozen lake, clear from any snow, looked really cool...

Now, three great days later, we had our last day at hand. We still wanted to make the best of it and got up the trail that starts just above our ‘backyard’. It’s a pretty good trail (also exercise-wise), because you can ascent more than 700 meters (and reach almost 2000m) in less than one hour! What’s also pretty nice about this trail is that you can see the old fortress and downtown of Briancon, as well as the ski slopes around it. On the other side you can see the valley connecting to Italy...