Thursday, September 1, 2022

Today's Route:

Refuge de Nice (2232 m) - Baisse du Basto (2693 m) - Baisse du Valmasque (2549 m) - Refuge des Merveilles (2111 m)

The Hut Groove tonight at Refuge des Merveilles gets even worse. Not only are we sleeping with about 45 people in the same room - wild camping is not allowed in Vallée des Merveilles - but there is also a party atmosphere (see photos). Either you join in the group's cheerfulness or you retreat, which is what we will soon do. Not everyone is cut out for "Sauglattismus".

The Vallée des Merveilles - among other reasons, we chose the GR 52 route for the final stretch, and that's why it's called that - is mainly known for the tens of thousands of rock engravings from the Bronze Age. We leave early in the morning from Refuge de Nice so that we can participate in a several-hour guided tour at Refuge des Merveilles at 1 pm, and it is worth it. Not only do we see many engravings that we would have otherwise overlooked, but we also learn a lot about them. However, no one can say for sure what the engravings really mean and what they were created for.

By the way - like other valleys in this area, the Vallée des Merveilles has only been part of France since 1947, probably as a kind of reparation from Italy to France after World War II.