Les Petits Cernets

18 July 2015:  The weather finally broke today!  We have had several weeks of sunny and hot – often very hot – weather.  The last time that it rained while we were hiking was 21 June, the day that we left Abreschviller and entered the Vosges.  During the past two weeks, temperatures rose regularly into the 30s.  Long heat waves like that often end dramatically. 

Yesterday afternoon, a perceptible rise of humidity and a distant crack of thunder gave a hint of things to come.  This morning, around 7:00, the sky suddenly darkened and flashes of lightning announced an intense storm.  High winds and heavy rain soon followed. After awhile, the weather calmed down and settled into light but steady rain.  Good hiking weather!

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The view from my window in the gîte in Les Alliés at 7:00 am:

Hiking from Les Alliés:

The wet conditions make the green colors of fields and forests more vivid. 

In order to arrange accommodations and shorten my hikes for a couple of days, I chose a variant that passes through a corner of Switzerland. 

This tractor rigged with logging gear, including two chokers, brought back memories of the days in 1972 when I worked in the woods near Forks, Washington, as a choker-setter.  

The trail rose to a ridge in a dense forest – the Franco-Swiss border.  An old stone wall ran along the ridge, but there was no indication of the border. 

Forest trails in Switzerland (by now, the rain had stopped):

A new breed of cow in this area; a Braunschweig, I was later told:

I enjoyed the comfort and good food at L'Auberge les Cernets in Les Petits Cernets.  Note that the sky has cleared:  It's hot again.  The clothes that I washed and hung out on the balcony of my room dried within a couple of hours.