Cirque du Gavarnie

August 10, 2015

Here I am again, up bright, early and in the car ready for another adventure. Off I go with the family and plenty of supplies to last us through the day. For those who know us, we would not be ready to go on a journey without food, courtesy of one member, Michael Jack, my Dad. He is always worried about being without food anytime of the day. And so, this morning, at 9:30 am, we, in addition to a first-aid kit, water, books, phone and dog bowl, we have half of a mini watermelon, half a loaf of bread, mustard, cheese and dried sausage in our trunk.

The drive up to Gavarnie is wonderously windy, with narrow roads and sheer cliff faces. Once we got to the town of Gavarnie, we had to find parking which took about 30 minutes because this is peak tourist season in town. We got there around noon, but if you want to have an easier time parking I would say get there around 10:30 or 11 am.

Once you find parking, follow the signs to the "Cirque de Gavarnie". The Cirque is a naturally occuring semi-circle formed by a mountain range in the Pyrenees. Be warned, the hike from the beginning of town to the Cirque is an hour (but it took us an hour and a half). The hike was so so beautiful and mostly in the sun. So if you burn easily, make sure to put on sun screen because you burn twice as fast in the Pyrenees!

If you are taking your dog, make sure they have enough water and are cool enough for the long hike ahead because there aren't that many places where you can stop to let them go in the river. It is also safe for humans to swim in and even drink out of (because the water is sourced in the mountains), but it is super cold!

After we hiked to the "Cirque", we saw a bunch of people head towards the mountain itself and so, as my Dad always says, we HAVE to go to the end, and so we did (or as far as we were able to). We luckily got to the spot that my Dad heard about from one of his friends, the waterfall. It was absolutely breathtaking and I'm so glad we decided to end our hike there.