Le Randonneur: Le Gros Morond

20 July 2015: I enjoyed this morning's walk. I got off to a leisurely start: I shopped for lunch at a grocery store in Les Fourgs. Then, after about an hour of walking, I reached a little chapel at the top of a hill overlooking Les Fourgs. There was a bench in the shade of the chapel – a good spot for a break. I ended up spending an hour searching for accommodations in Nyon this weekend. That turned out to be difficult, because there is a music festival in Nyon this weekend. I finally found a place through Airbnb. I was then ready to hike!

The trail took me through gentle hills and open forests. It was another hot, sunny day, but there was often a refreshing breeze.

My destination today was a CAF refuge called Le Gros Morond, a short distance beyond and below the summit of Le Morond (1419 m.) The refuge has no gardien (when reserving by email, I received an access code and instructions for use of the refuge), and of course there are no meals provided at the refuge. There are cooking facilities available: It's called "cuisine en gestion libre". So I bought some food at a little grocery store in Hôpitaux-Neufs, a town about 1.5 hrs from my destination. I considered that I could manage some extra weight for that final push, so I bought a big can of lentils & salted pork, a box of cherry tomatoes, four yoghurts, two bananas, etc. All that was added to what was left of the food that I had bought in Les Fourgs – some cheese and sausage, several nectarines, etc. So my pack was heavy!...

Well, it was all uphill from Hôpitaux-Neufs to Le Morond – about 425 m. vertical gain – and it took me two hours. During the latter part of the climb, I was under or beside a chairlift that was carrying people from Metabief (near Hôpitaux-Neufs) to the summit of Le Morond. I must admit that, had I known about that chairlift, I would have been tempted...

Upon arrival at the refuge, I found that I had the place to myself. It was rather eerie to be alone in a refuge; so often, mountain refuges are bustling, crowded places. So I did not have to wait for a place in the shower, and I enjoyed the dinner that had weighed me down as I hiked up that trail!

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Looking back at Les Fourgs:

The chapel overlooking Les Fourgs:

Wide open countryside and big sky:

I was intrigued by this little, isolated house, which had an elaborate collection of radio antennae. An NSA vacation home?...

I remembered that Mary and I stopped at a café for ice cream after a picnic lunch in Hôpitaux-Neufs during our hike in 1989. I think this was the place, but it was closed...