Part 1: La Grave to Le Monêtier-les-Bains

After some high speed trains through France and a night in Grenoble, we took a bus to La Grave, a sleepy stone village that is a renowned skiing destination in the winter but is pretty quiet in the summer, with only a couple restaurants and lodges open. Upon arrival in La Grave, our minds were fairly blown looking up at the imposing spires and glaciers of La Meije skyrocketing an astounding 8,200 vertical feet above the village. No doubt about it, we're in the Alps now!!! 🤩

Our trek started out with a bang, as our first day's route took us up 4,300 vertical feet from the village to the high grassy and wildflower-laden slopes and ridges of le Signal de la Grave, with increasingly spectacular views of La Meije the entire way.

I'd been planning this trek since February; indeed it took me two solid weeks of research and planning to devise our route and book our hut reservations (just about the same amount of time as the trek itself!). I got the initial idea for this GR54 trek from Kev Reynold's guidebook Trekking in the Alps, and also I had been very intrigued by the exceptional ruggedness of these peaks during our winter visit to Les Deux Alpes this last January. While studying the topo maps in Gaia GPS and Google Earth I tailored Kev's suggested route to add detours and sidetrips to visit some enticing lakes and huts along the way.

Once I had our customized route mapped out, it was then a matter of booking the huts and lodging. The majority of the huts are managed by the French Alpine Club and can be reserved online on a central platform, while some other private huts and gîte must be googled and booked directly via their websites or by email. Since we'd be staying in some villages along the way, I booked lodging there via Booking.com. It was quite a juggling act to get two weeks of huts and lodging all lined up on consecutive days!

All this planning for the hut reservations is pretty much necessary to ensure that the huts have space when you arrive. Gone are the days when we could just wing it, trek wherever we wished, and show up unannounced at the huts.

It's worth mentioning that in France, you are actually allowed to bivouac and set up a tent from evening to morning, and we did see quite a lot of campers doing that. But for Americans like me it's quite a novelty to stay in the huts and be able to do multiday hikes without carrying all the weight of food and camping gear!

After about five months of imagining and looking forward to this trek as the highlight plan of our summer, it felt kinda surreal to finally actually be hiking on the trails and immersed in the views of these mighty mountains. I was saying to Claudia: "We're here! We doing it! This is it!" They say that sometimes the anticipation and planning for a big vacation can be more satisfying than the actual vacation itself, but during the first week or so of this trek I felt fully cognizant and appreciative of living this dream, in the moment. Of course it didn't hurt either to have scenery and weather like this right off the bat!

The destination of our big first day's hike was Lac du Goléon and its namesake hut. This turquoise lake is situated in a grassy basin with a stunning view of La Meije across the valley and the jagged Aiguilles d'Arves at the head of the basin. I didn't realize what these jagged peaks were until I looked at the map and was surprised to see that they are indeed the Aiguilles d'Arves, which we saw up close last January during our visit to the Les Sybelles ski area in the next valley over. It was cool to "connect the dots" geographically and also to see these same mountains in both the winter and summer.

You know that of course I was hoping for a reflection shot of La Meije, and while I wasn't fortunate to catch a colorful cloudy sky on this morning, I'd say the mountain itself is intriguing enough to still make for a striking photo!

On Day 2 we descended from Lac du Goléon and continued our trek through paradise, traversing wildflower-laden hillsides with La Meije and its glaciers still dominating the views.

Our route passed by Lac du Pontet, where I found a perfect boulder "sofa" overlooking the lake. What a nice spot to take an extended 1.5 hour lunch break and nap!

So far our first two days of hiking had already been a detour from the GR54; it wasn't until we descended into this valley that we joined the official route on our way to the Refuge de l'Alpe de Villar-d'Arene.

I hadn't expected much of the Refuge de l'Alpe de Villar-d'Arene, and I just booked it because of logistical and scheduling practicalities. But this turned out to be a lovely hut situated in a place that was way more spectacular than I had foreseen. We enjoyed showers here and even scored our own bunk room which was very much welcome after hardly sleeping through the previous night's snore-fest.

On Day 3 we did another sidetrip to spend a night up at the Refuge du Pavé, situated in a high cirque next to a lake full of icebergs and ringed by jagged peaks.

Day 4 would be a long day of hiking with a 5,800-vertical-foot descent from the high peaks of Refuge du Pavé, up and over the Col d'Arsine, and all the way down to the village of Le Monêtier-les-Bains.

This was another one of those absolutely joyous days of hiking through idyllic alpine scenery, with verdant green meadows and turquoise creeks and waterfalls flowing down from serrated, glacier-clad peaks. Pure eye candy around every corner.

By now both Claudia and I were thinking that so far this might be the premier trek we've done in the Alps, and perhaps the most idyllic mountain landscapes we've ever laid eyes upon! This area is a gem of the Alps, for sure.

After a seemingly endless descent we finally arrived at the charming old village of le Casset, where we treated ourselves to ice cream cones before continuing down the path to our hotel in the next village, Le Monêtier-les-Bains. There we got cleaned up then wandered around the village to find a nice restaurant for dinner.

This stretch of the trek from La Grave to Le Monêtier-les-Bains had been so perfectly awesome and idyllic, I would consider it to be an ultra-classic 3-4 night Alps trek in and of itself! I'd say that if you are interested in trekking in the Écrins but don't have time to do the entire GR54, I would highly recommend doing this particular segment with same variants we did, including Lac du Goléon via the Signal de La Grave route. From Le Monêtier-les-Bains you can catch a bus back to La Grave (or Bourg d'Oisans or Grenoble).

But for us this was just the start! We still had a long journey and many more mountains awaiting.

Part 2: Pelvoux and Glacier Blanc

Day 5 was a village-to-village hike, connecting Le Monêtier-les-Bains to Pelvoux via a trail through the Serre Chevalier ski area and over the Col de l’Eychauda. Claudia had the brilliant idea of taking the ski lift up from town, which saved nearly 2,000 vertical feet of hiking for €11 each. What a bargain!

During this part of the trek staying in these two villages and eating at restaurants was a welcome treat, and I enjoyed how the trek felt like a nice combo of mountain trekking and village traveling.

For Day 6 we embarked on yet another side trip, this time to the Refuge du Glacier Blanc in the heart of the biggest peaks of the Écrins. We were relieved to discover that there is a local bus that brought us from Pelvoux all the way up to Pré du Madame Carle, thus saving another 2,000 vertical feet and 8 miles of hiking, cutting a massive day down to a more reasonable day of hiking up to the hut.

I had wanted to visit the Refuge du Glacier Blanc mainly because it's situated in a spectacular location surrounded by some of the tallest and most rugged peaks of the Massif des Écrins, including a jaw-dropping view of Mont Pelvoux, a strikingly symmetrical pyramid-esque peak. During my research I had seen some reflection pictures of the peak, and so of course the reflection-hound in me yearned to capture my own take on this incredible scene. I planned two nights at this hut in order to boost my chances for that photo opportunity, and also to provide a scheduling buffer just in case we got delayed on any of our prior days on the trek.

So I was thrilled to catch a colorful cloudy sunrise here on the first morning! The sunrise itself was fantastic but I am most fond of this photo with the dawn glow light about a half hour prior to sunrise.

Since we had a full "layover" day at the Refuge du Glacier Blanc, we spent most of the day hiking up along the Glacier Blanc, which is the longest glacier in the Massif des Écrins and the largest in the southern French Alps. We eventually found a nice boulder to hang out on with a huge view overlooking the glacier, and spent hours just sitting there soaking in the view and napping in the sun. Channeling our inner marmots.

There are many groups of climbers here aiming to summit Barre des Écrins, the tallest mountain in the Écrins. Their route takes them directly over this glacier, and it was fun to spy on the various groups picking their way up and down through the maze of crevasses.

Having seen this awesome vista, I felt obligated to wake up early next morning and hike up here again for sunrise!

After our two night sidetrip to Glacier Blanc, we descended (again with bus assist) to Pelvoux for another night at the same cozy hotel and another delightful dinner at their restaurant.

These days in Pelvoux and the sidetrip to Glacier Blanc were a kind of interlude in our trek – a trip within a trip. Glacier Blanc and Mont Pelvoux are such highlights of the Écrins, though, that it was well worth taking the extra time to do this sidetrip from the GR54!

Part 3: Vallouise to... the end

Now on the 9th day of our trek, we caught an early morning bus from Pelvoux to Vallouise, where we got some quick cappucinos and stocked up on lunch snacks and supplies from the store and pharmacy. Vallouise is another quaint traditional village and there was an extensive farmers market set up throughout the town that morning. We then caught another bus (a van) which brought us up a rough dirt road to the next trailhead at Entre les Aygues – another crucial transport boost which reduced our day's hike from a hefty 5,300-vertical-foot gain to a more reasonable 3,800-vertical-feet.

In retrospect, Vallouise marks a distinct turning point in the character of the GR54 trek. During the second half of the trek after Vallouise, the route veers further away to the west of the tallest glaciated peaks of the Écrins so the scenery is arguably a bit less spectacular than before. The trail also tends to go directly over steep passes from one valley to the next, so each day's hike is a relentless up and down grind. In short, the following days often felt like more work for less reward; or maybe we'd just been spoiled by so much idyllic scenery and hiking during the first half of the trek.

After crossing the Col de l'Aup Martin and Pas de la cavale, we made the long descent down dozens of pingponging switchbacks to the Refuge du Pré de la Chaumette. This was one of the nicer huts we stayed at, with a spacious layout, showers, and friendly hut staff – all welcome after one of the bigger hiking days of the trek.

The GR54 and the Écrins in general are far less famous than super-popular treks like the Tour de Mont Blanc, for example. These mountains seem to be mostly off the international radar, so it's pretty much all French people trekking here; we only saw a handful of British or Germans and only two Americans the entire time.

Day 10's route brought us over three passes to the Refuge de Vallonpierre, which occupies an ideal location next to a small lake with the peak of le Sirac towering overhead.

We'd been pretty lucky with the weather so far on this trek, but Day 11 promised rain. I had hoped to do a challenging high traverse route from Refuge de Vallonpierre to Refuge du Pigeonnier, but the weather forecast of rain and thunder squashed that idea. Instead we did a more straightforward descent into the valley, where we stopped at the Chalet Hôtel du Gioberney to wait out the rain before beginning our ascent to the next hut. The weather forecasts called for clearing in the afternoon, so we took our time savoring cappucinos and a delicious lunch of French-style ravioli carbonara and salad.

Finally the weather radar looked promising for clearing, so we headed out and continued our journey up to the Refuge du Pigeonnier, our fourth detour from the official GR54 route.

The abundant rain had filled this cirque with cascades – it was quite the waterworld on our way up!

After an evening enjoying the views near Refuge du Pigeonnier, on Day 12 we headed back down to hook back onto the GR54 and continue our journey.

Once again we took advantage of local bus routes to catch a ride down from Chalet Gioberney to the village of La Chapelle-en-Valgaudémar, where we stocked up on more lunches and snacks for the final segment of our trek. From the village we continued walking down the valley to Villar-Loubiere then pushed through the hot and arduous hike up to Refuge des Souffles.

The punishing hike up to Refuge des Souffles had me feeling more whooped than at any point yet on the trek so far. Once I got there I just had to take a seat and zone out for a while before mustering the energy to check in and get situated in the hut. Eventually, though, we were all cleaned up and chilling on the patio, sipping on blonde ale while massaging each other's feet.

That night at Refuge des Souffles there was a booming thunderstorm and pouring rain, which made for some thrilling creek crossings the next day!

A Swift Exit

On Day 13 we continued up and over another big pass and down to the remote and isolated village of les Désert en Valjouffray.

During the previous day or two, I'd had a slight "tickle" in the back of my throat but that day it became pretty clear to me that I had indeed been fighting off a cold, and was starting to lose the fight. By the time we got to the gîte in Valjouffray, I was definitely in the clutches of the cold, feeling fatigued with a raw sore throat and dry cough. I was clearly not in good shape for tackling the next big pass and finishing the final three days of hiking, so it was obvious that our only choice was to pull the plug on our trek.

It was unfortunately not uncommon in the huts to see a few people (and/or their kids) who were clearly sick with hacking coughs and sniffly noses. It's astounding to me that somebody would still hike to the huts when they know they're sick and will be eating and sleeping in tight quarters with a bunch of other people! Between the stray sick people, the absence of soap from so many hut bathrooms, the communal dinners where everyone's passing (and touching) each other's bowls up and down the table, and the possibility of sleeping in stuffy bunk rooms with aforementioned sick people, I suppose it's a gamble whether or not you'll make it through an entire hut trek without catching some sort of germs. Perhaps we were fortunate to make it as far as we did.

On a sidenote, it's ironic to consider how much cleaner it is backpacking with a tent in the wilderness compared to hut trekking. Yeah you might get dirtier and dustier, but at least you aren't subjected to all the random germs being spread around at the huts.

Anyways, despite my cold and our frustrations with having to abort our trek we still had a pleasant evening at Gîte Les Arias, and I was at least grateful for the comfort of our own room there when I most needed it. As luck would have it, we decided to end our trek in the one remote valley that didn't have a bus connection, so in the morning we just had to wait beside the road to hitchhike. Not one single car drove out of town for an hour, but finally a nice woman in a van pulled up and offered us a ride to La Mure, the closest city. From there we caught a bus to Grenoble, and just like that – our trek was over!

Trek Stats and Summary

Despite cutting the trek short by three days, this was still the longest continuous trek we've done in the Alps. But due to the many bus rides we ended up taking, the hiking numbers weren't quite as daunting as originally planned.

In total over 13 days we hiked 90 miles (145 km) and 29,000 ft (~8,800 m) vertical gain. This came out to a daily average of 7.5 miles (12 km) and 2,400 ft (730 m) vertical gain per day (not counting one down day, during which we hiked too!). Honestly I don't feel those vertical numbers do justice to the strenuousness, though, since some days were a LOT more than that, either mostly up or mostly down.

To put this in perspective, this trek was like doing a fairly big day hike every single day for two weeks straight, something that we would likely never do back home! 

All in all, this felt like a Tale of Two Treks – the first half from La Grave to Pelvoux/Vallouise was such a wonderland and an instant classic Alps trek in my mind. Perhaps that was a tough act to follow, but the second half of the trek seemed a bit lackluster in comparison. And then it all just ended with a fart (or a cough, I should say) when I got sick and we had to bail out unexpectedly.

If I were ever to come back to hike the full GR54 I'd consider doing it counterclockwise from Bourg d'Oisans (or clockwise from Vallouise) to save the best for last.

Grenoble

Having cut our trek short, we now had three nights to spare in Grenoble. We thought about changing our flight home earlier, but I didn't know how sick I'd get and I also wanted a few days to relax and hopefully recover a bit before flying home. Plus we were here so we might as well make the most of it!

It was pretty fun wandering through the maze of pedestrian streets in the old part of Grenoble, and we were impressed with the Grenoble Museum of Art. We also discovered that Grenoble has amazing Asian restaurants! We had some divine Chinese food at Mei Shan (easily the best Chinese food I've ever had) and delicious Vietnamese pho and bobun at Ô Pot Au Pho. Kinda funny that we ate mostly Asian food for three days in France, but honestly it's the best strategy for getting good portions of veggies!

After one final bobun lunch in Grenoble we hopped on a train to Geneva, stayed the night at an airport hotel, and caught our flight back home the next morning.