{"id":2058,"date":"2018-09-22T16:45:57","date_gmt":"2018-09-22T20:45:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peterdittman.com\/weblog\/?p=2058"},"modified":"2025-08-09T09:31:21","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T13:31:21","slug":"gr10-etsaut-to-refuge-dayous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peterdittman.com\/weblog\/gr10-etsaut-to-refuge-dayous\/","title":{"rendered":"GR10 – Etsaut to Refuge D’Ayous"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Our first real day of section hiking the GR10,  was a fairly big day.  The cicerone guide we’d been using as the basis for the trip had listed the section as Etsaut to Gabas – a 14-15 mile, 5,000 feet of elevation gain, monster of a hike.  Daunting on any day, more so because we’d be with full packs.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"GR10<\/a>
GR10 Etsaut – our way is clear!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Fortunately, we discovered and were able to secure beds at the Refuge D’Ayous – a mountain hut staffed by (what seemed to be a family).  More on that later.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This GR10 section is also famed for passing through Chemin de la Mature – a trail section carved into the rock, used in the late 1700’s to move tree timbers from the forest to the coast to be used as ship masts.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"GR10<\/a>
GR10 Borce to Refuge, see it on alltrails.com<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Read more about some of the places of interest along the way today:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chemin de la Mature<\/a>
Fort du Portalet<\/a>
L’Espiatet<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was set to be a big day all around… We were up early and after a relatively quick petit dejeuner said our goodbyes to Celine and L’Espiatet and headed out to retrace our path to Etsaut and the valley floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rather than try to describe the day in words, we’ll just let the pictures do the talking…<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"GR10<\/a>
GR10 Etsaut to Col D’Ayous – where we’re headed for the day<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"View<\/a>
Leaving Etsaut, a quick view back toward Vallee D’Aspe – with L’Espiatet a dot on the shoulder emerging in the sunshine<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"fort<\/a>
Fort du Portalet – at the head of the Chemin de la Mature, guarding the way through the Pyrenees into Spain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"Chemin<\/a>
Along the Chemin de la Mature – looking back into Vallee D’Aspe<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"Jeanne<\/a>
Up close with Jeanne on Chemin de la Mature<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"Higher<\/a>
Emerging from the Chemin de la Mature – moving into the higher elevations toward Col D’Ayous<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"Nearing<\/a>
Nearing the Col D’Ayous – looking back on the pastureland and our trail<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"Pic<\/a>
Our first view of Pic du Midi – from Col D’Ayous<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"pdm<\/a>
Our attempt at a selfie on Col D’Ayous, at 7000ft elevation. Pic du Midi in the background, looking very volcano like!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"pdm<\/a>
Beginning our descent to the Refuge D’Ayous – the refuge in the lower right of the photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"refuge<\/a>
Bunk room in the Refuge D’Ayous – another 8 spaces on the other side of the room<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"refuge<\/a>
Dinner at the Refuge D’Ayous – and hardly any English to be heard<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"sunset<\/a>
Pic du Midi at sunset – taken from the deck at Refuge D’Ayous<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our first real day of section hiking the GR10,  was a fairly big day.  The cicerone guide we’d been using as the basis for the trip had listed the section as Etsaut to Gabas – a 14-15 mile, 5,000 feet of elevation gain, monster of a hike.  Daunting on any day, more so because we’d be with full packs. Fortunately, we discovered and were able to secure beds at the Refuge D’Ayous – a mountain hut staffed by (what seemedRead More →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2063,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"category-hiking.php","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gr10"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterdittman.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterdittman.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterdittman.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterdittman.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterdittman.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2058"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/peterdittman.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2058\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4886,"href":"https:\/\/peterdittman.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2058\/revisions\/4886"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterdittman.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterdittman.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterdittman.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterdittman.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}