This day was soooo boring. We stayed late into the morning at La Fouly to write up blog posts and caught the hosts chain smoking on the porch. After poking around the supermarket and gear shop (Evan found a cam that was supposedly very rare), we hustled it to our next accommodation in Champex-Lac. Along the trail, we found a cave and ran into many of our unnamed friends, including a French family that we had dinner with in Le Pontet and kept bumping into. In the forest, we came across a huge bolted boulder and decided to climb up a rather tall ladder— causing the French mom to shout at us “Tu es zaza!” Other than that, it was long and dry and disappointedly reminded us of Washington and Colorado forests.

The town of Champex-Lac, on the other hand, was popping. The locals were dipping in the icy lake, sitting in the grass, and paddle boating around. Evan and I disagreed about whether we should check in early to Chalet La Grange or stay in town longer. We ended up walking back and forth up and down the road before we decided to enjoy the good weather around the lake. We cooled off with ice cream, sat by the water, and watched ducklings weave amongst everyone’s feet. As the sun dipped below the mountains and chilled the air, we headed off to the Chalet. Dinner was quiet but delicious. The hosts had a note out front with something to the effect of “We will do our best to accommodate your dietary restrictions, but may not have what you need.” And they were right! That night, I ate ham for the first time in a decade and can report that I haven't been missing too much. We slept in a shared room with the window open and actually got some great rest before our big next day.