Today I had the opportunity to hike with my friend Ania. We chose to stay close, just a 15 minute drive to the trail head, and reach Crêt de la Goutte, the highest peak in the Grand Crêt d'eau grouping in the Jura, a new route for us both. Throughout the day we had a mix of sun, clouds, thunderstorms, and some hail, but we intended to reach our summit no matter what the day brought. The hail came as we approached the summit, as you can see Ania fighting through the wind and hail (above).
Link to our route plan here- although we parked at the lower fort, started there, and also did an extra trail out and back in the middle, making the return trip nearly 20 kilometers and roughly 7 hours. ***UPDATE: Actual GPS tracks from Ania here.
Much of the early climb was through bright, mossy forest and winding trails before reaching views over Bellegarde, the Jura ridge from a new perspective, and the Rhône valley.
Not much of a view after we achieved the top, but the wind cleared away the clouds as we started the descent, so we had a good view of where we had been.
photo: Ania
Happy hikers.
photo: Ania
We both enjoyed the views from the rocky cliffs and hunting from cairn to cairn to keep us moving the correct direction.
There were more storms coming. We made the rapid descent, continually asking ourselves if we were on the trail...and despite appearances...we were.
photo: Ania
Eventually, we dropped down at Fort l'Ecluse. In the morning we had looked for the trail head to make our loop counterclockwise (to have a steeper climb than descent) but didn't find it. Now we know what to look for...that little scramble below! Great day.
