Bike Touring with Kids | Yukon4explore

Another summer highlight - Joce and Sitka’s first ever trip as a duo - a super special sunny week of hiking in Tombtones and biking in Dawson City!
#dawsoncityyukon #hiking #tombstone #tombstoneterritorialpark #mountainbiking

Jocelyn joined her sister Brook, her adventurous nieces Elly and Meg, and her brother-in-law Malcolm above the Arctic Circle on the Lofoten long-crossing hike—a breathtaking highlight of their three-month hiking adventure through Slovenia, Norway, and Sweden.

Although Jocelyn had planned to follow this with a trip to Belgium to cheer on Heron, European racing will have to wait another year.

We’re looking forward to having the whole family back together soon at our home base in Whitehorse.

#norway #lofoten #hiking

Four awesome Dad-Sitka days in the Bay Area with our dear friends Elizabeth and Tom, who were exemplary hosts from early trip planning, to facilitating complex logistics, to introducing us to their wonderfully active and inspiring community. We found a heavenly gluten-free bakery, sat in the Delorean from Back to the Future at Tom’s Google office, spent hours at the super-science Exploratorium, visited another dear friend Laiah and family, rode in a self-driving Waymo car, saw sea lions, and biked to the ocean at Golden Gate Park. Our bellies and, most importantly, our buckets are filled to the brim with new memories and friendship as we wrap this first chapter of the summer. On now to glacier ski camp (Sitka) and canoe-trip prep (Ed). What a ride!

We wrapped up our Victoria to San Francisco bike trip with two more days of stunning riding along the coast before being welcomed by the amazing Elizabeth and Tom who have been our home-base extraordinaires on this trip.
We are so grateful for another wonderful family bike trip, and also so very sad for Heron who broke his arm on a training ride at mountain bike nationals and is having to let go of the summer of his dreams including racing in Belgium.
Heron’s incredibly resilient and we know he will find his way through yet another cycle of fracture recovery and rehab. Summer plans are being rejigged and we are looking forward to giving him hugs in person in the coming days and weeks.

And then there were three… Today we said goodbye to Heron as he headed back to Victoria to rejoin Team Yukon for mountain bike nationals. Huge thank you to Elizabeth and Mike for the very generous airport shuttle run to SFO — you’re legends!

We soaked up every minute of today’s long ride: a stunning, hilly route winding through wild coves along the coast. Hard to believe we’re this close to San Francisco — it still feels untouched out here. A perfect day on the bike (other than missing Heron already).
#california #pacificcoastbikeroute #bikepacking #biketouring

Up early today to beat the heat as we spun up and over the biggest climb on the Pacific Coast Bike Route. Then all smiles as we zig-zagged back down to the ocean and then along the Mendocino coast. We rolled into camp and were met by @elizabethacfraser and new friend Mike for a camping feast and long overdue catch-up. A great day!
#california #pacificcoastbikeroute #bikepacking #biketouring

Brutal day on the bikes today— 36C, hilly, and straight into a relentless hot headwind. But finishing the last section of the Avenue of the Giants made it all worth it.
Moderate heat stroke was all but forgotten after an awesome river swim at our campsite, and a delicious garden dinner at The Peg House. Legs are toast, hearts are full.

#california #redwoods #pacificcoastbikeroute #AvenueOfTheGiants #bikepacking #biketouring

Two more days cycling through the redwoods, including the stunning Avenue of the Giants - dodging Highway 101 via pothole-riddled backroads and trails meant a broken spoke and cracked rim, but we’re patched up enough for now and rolling on.
Major shoutout to the incredible hiker-biker systems at the State Parks in WA, OR, and CA: $5-8 for a guaranteed campsite for cyclists even when everything’s been booked up for car campers since January—plus hot showers, drinking water, bear boxes, and often Wi-Fi and charging ports. Absolute game-changer for bike touring on the fly without reservations or a set plan.
Bonus joy: spotting Rambo Gabriel’s whimsical carvings in Eureka
#familybiketrip #redwoods #pacificcoastbikeroute #AvenueOfTheGiants #biketouring #bikepacking

California! We spent the day dwarfed by ancient redwoods. Some of these trees are so massive, all four of us could ride through them — literally. Definitely one for the bucket list :)
#california #pacificcoastbikeroute #redwoods #bikepacking #biketouring

Last day in Oregon - California tomorrow! The fog didn’t burn off until later in the day, but a beautiful day regardless. So lucky to be doing this as a family with our 15 and 17 year olds!
#oregon #oregoncoast #oregoncoastbikeroute #bikepacking #biketouring #bikefamily

An awesome two days on the Oregon Coast - a day off in Coos Bay to kayak, paddle board, read and eat constantly, and then a great ride today through to Humbug Mountain State Park. The wind has been at our backs and the views certainly do not disappoint! Our speedy little peloton is flying :)
#oregon #oregoncoast #oregoncoastbikeroute #bikepacking #biketouring

An awesome 110 km ride along sea lion rookeries and caves, endless sand dunes and too many bridges. Ed hopped on a bus to give his knee another day of rest and is making progress - woohoo!
#oregon #oregoncoast #oregoncoastbikeroute #bikepacking #biketouring

Another awesome Oregon day! Sitka and Joce spontaneously joined the Newport Celebration Run which was quite a party (Sitka won 3rd overall in the 10km race, and Joce was 3rd in her age category!) and then another stunning bike ride down the coast. Ed’s knee has been acting up so he managed to hitch a ride with a super nice family from St Catharines :) We all met back up at yet another great hiker-biker campsite, and are hoping that Ed heals up soon so he can join back in to the biking fun!
#oregon #oregoncoast #oregoncoastbikeroute #biketouring #bikepacking

A nice chill ride today as Heron continues to recover from his crash - lots of time to explore and picnic at Devil’s Punchbowl and also the super cool Oregon Coast Aquarium (underwater tunnel and super playful rescued otters being favourites!). A great restful day all around and so nice to be 4 again!
#oregon #oregoncoast #oregoncoastbikeroute #bikepacking #biketouring #bikefamily

Heron is back! yukon4explore is complete again with Heron’s return from road nationals in Quebec - woohoo! All the logistics worked out with Heron retrieving his touring bike and panniers from YVR storage and flying to Portland this morning and then taking a shuttle to meet us on the coast, while his coach flies his broken race bike back to Whitehorse for replacement (thanks Hudson for all you do!). Heron’s only with us for 12 days before he returns for 5 more weeks of bike racing (MTB nationals in Victoria, then two weeks of road racing in Belgium, and then two weeks of road and MTB racing at Canada Summer Games in Newfoundland). We are making the most of it, starting with a beachfront apartment in Gleneden tonight to spoil ourselves and Heron :)
#oregon #oregoncoastbikeroute

The Oregon Coast was showing off all of its beauty today! A great day with a tailwind, beautiful lunch spots, a great hiker-biker site at Cape Lookout, and a super interesting tour of Tillamook Creamery (it’s right up there with the best ice creams we have ever had!). Life is good :)
#oregon #oregoncoast #oregoncoastbikeroute #bikepacking #biketouring

Oregon! Where the cafes are full of vegetarian and gluten-free food, the people are awesome (thank you Randy for bringing us across the Astoria bridge in your pickup truck so we could avoid that panic-inducing experience!), and the coastline is gorgeous (thank you to the Oregon Beach Bill that ensures public access to the coast). We are super happy to be here :)
Today was also awesome since we could cheer Heron on with live reporting of his final race at road cycling nationals - an impressive 4th place (milliseconds off the podium) after a crash in the race yesterday that totalled his bike frame and sent him to the hospital - we are incredibly grateful that he is okay and were surprised to see him race today looking like a pro covered in gauze bandages. That kid certainly has grit - can’t wait to see him soon!
#oregon #oregoncoast #seaside #oregoncoastbikeroute #biketouring #bikepacking #bikefamily

A beautiful final few days riding along the Washington coast - today we head into Oregon! A nice tailwind meant lots of time for go carts, mini golf and reading in the sunshine. Two more days until Heron joins us!
#biketouring #bikepacking #washington #activefamilies

We were not so enthused with the rainforest yesterday after four hours of heavy downpour on our bikes, but a pivot to a cozy warm cabin made everything seem wonderful again at the Quinault Rainforest. Sitka explored the largest Sitka Spruce in the world, we did a great hike to a waterfall once the rain had stopped, gritty Aberdeen entranced Ed with tales of Kurt Cobain’s early days, and cruisy miles brought us back out to the coast tonight at a great hiker-biker campsite by the beach. We are definitely fair-weather adventurers - thank goodness for well timed cozy cabins, hot showers and laundry machines!

#washingtonstate #olympicnationalpark #olympicnationalforest #biketouring #bikepacking

Check out some fun press for @heronlandgillis who is currently in Quebec with his coach hudson.lucier and awesome teammate Nico Giangrande (together this duo recently won the KCIBR and Southern Lakes Gran Fondo together). Canadian Road Cycling Championships start tomorrow - good luck boys! To read the article, google “Yukon News Heron” and it should come up.

We made it to the coast! A gorgeous day along more paved rail trails riding through Sitka Spruce forest through to Forks and then to the Pacific Ocean where we will spend the next month as we bike South. This trip is bringing back so many memories of past great West Coast trips in Europe (sunsets every night - what more can you ask for), and of course the route itself from when we (Ed and Joce) rode Victoria to Tijuana 20 years ago for our honeymoon :)
#pacificcoastbikeroute #washington #biketouring #bikepacking #activefamilies

yukon4explore is yukon3explore this week while Heron is away at Canadian road biking championships in Quebec! Yesterday we started our Pacific Coast bike trip from Victoria to San Francisco - a route we planned a year ago before things went sideways… We contemplated cancelling many times but in the end it is the route that worked best for Heron’s complicated racing schedule this summer so here we are, and so far it’s been awesome. We caught up with old friends in Victoria last night and then spent today on rail trails in Olympic National Park. The scenery is gorgeous, our hippie campsite tonight is super fun, and we are grateful to be back on the road again!

#washington #olympicpennisula #biketouring #bikepacking #activefamily #crescentlake #olympicnationalpark

The Land-Gillis fun news continues this week with some exciting developments for Heron! After years (a lifetime!) of riding his bike year-round and world-wide on family bike trips, Heron decided this year that he wanted to try his hand at bike racing. With the help of very generous local sponsors, he fundraised for racing equipment and travel expenses for the season, and qualified for both the road cycling and cross-country mountain biking teams at the Canada Summer Games in Newfoundland this August. Then, at his first outside-of-Yukon bike race this May in Penticton (the Future Champions Camp), he was selected for the Belgium Project - sponsored by COG Events, Heron will be road racing in Belgium for two weeks this summer! This, alongside racing at Jr Nationals for road cycling in Quebec in June, and Mountain Bike Nationals in Victoria in July, is going to make for quite the summer. We are super excited for him, and so proud of his initiative and boldness to go for it with this dream!

Congratulations to Sitka who won a Silver medal tonight at the Canada Wide Science Fair in Fredericton, NB!! A huge achievement and reflection of his passion and remarkable drive. What a celebration of science, discovery and youth innovation - these kids are all incredible!

Six years ago we stumbled upon the Chilkat Triathlon while on a bike trip through Alaska, and Ed knew he wanted to jump in as his “one shot to do a triathlon without having to swim.” This gorgeous kayak/bike/run triathlon in and alongside the Chilkat River was an amazing experience of cross-border community and environmental conservation. The boys were 9 and 11 at the time and pumped to bike beside Ed while he sweated it out, offering him water bottles, cheering him on and talking one day of doing it themselves.
This year was the first time the event was held again since we were there in 2019 (covid, etc), so we decided to go for it. Heron was away bike racing in Penticton, so it was just the three of us, and the race organizers agreed that Sitka could give it a shot despite there being no youth category. We weren’t sure how it was going to go, crossing into the US, and Sitka and Joce having never attempted a race like this before, but it was amazing. Such a wonderful community and sense of shared humanity (including shared physical pain). Sitka shocked us all and paddled, biked, ran his heart out - winning the open men’s event! Ed and Joce were pleased to have survived to the finish line : )
Thank you @chilkattri for a wonderful weekend and event. We hope that the Yukon and Alaska can continue as neighbours and friends.
A few pics mixing up 2019 and 2025 on the same course : )

A huge day for Sitka who won the Commissioner’s Award today for ‘Best in Fair’ at the Yukon Stikine Regional Science Fair. He will be representing the Yukon at the Canada Wide Science Fair in Fredericton this June! Sitka has been hard at work on his project since August, spending at least 5 hours a week testing ski waxes, learning to code with online courses at Stanford and University of Michigan, and building machine-learning algorithms to analyze his data. His best algorithm has a 90% predictive value for selecting the race wax of the day, and he is on track to have the algorithm ready for Team Canada at the 2026 Olympics. We often don’t understand what he is doing as we can’t keep up with his learning curve, but our little guy is on fire and it has been so much fun watching him explore and learn at lightning speed with help from mentors across Canada. What a journey already!

So much fun to be able to cheer on Heron and Sitka and their amazing Yukon teammates at the 2025 Ski Nationals in Canmore. Over 900 talented and determined (and crazy strong and fit) skiers from across Canada giving it all on distance races, sprints and relays. Incredible!

Couldn’t be prouder of Heron and Sitka this winter, who have been training non-stop to prepare for and qualify for Ski Nationals in Canmore in March, and launched their own ski-waxing business to pay for the costs of their competitions! Wax It to Win It grew out of Sitka’s ongoing work on his waxing algorithm, and evolved to also involve providing professional race waxing services. This weekend was their inaugural service weekend, providing race wax to the Canadian Masters Ski Championship. What an awesome community of skiers from @whitehorsenordic and beyond who supported their enterprise and continue to encourage both Heron and Sitka.
The race series was awesome (we got to race on skis waxed by Heron and Sitka and can attest that they were super fast!), and we are so proud of our boys’ creativity, resourcefulness and incredible hard work they put into everything they do. So awesome @heronlandgillis and @sitkalandgillis!

Full house tonight! Thank you everyone for joining us today for the book launch / celebration of Bike Touring With Kids! Stay tuned for a webinar version in the future for those out of Yukon:)

Happy Solstice! We kicked off our holidays and celebrated the shortest day of the year with a family bike relay at the 5 Hours of Light fat bike race (riding sunrise to sunset only takes 5 hours this time of year in Whitehorse!). Thanks @cmbcyukon for a super fun event - and now for the return of the light!
@brook.landmurphy @sitkalandgillis @heronlandgillis

Bike Touring With Kids: A Visual Story Ride for Winter in Whitehorse

Got kids?* Got bikes? Got dreams of exploring the world together and making unforgettable family memories?

Join us on January 26th at Mt. Mac’s cozy Grey Mountain Room for a Sunday afternoon virtual ride through the years and across continents with the Gillis-Land-Murphy family - Ed, Jocelyn, Heron and Sitka, who have cycled together from Cuba to New Zealand to Norway, from toddlers to teenagers - and are now celebrating the launch of our second book, Bike Touring with Kids: Europe Epic.

Gather with other Whitehorse bike families and cycling enthusiasts, to hear and see our stories from the road - and get inspired to plan your own active family adventure this summer and beyond!

Your ticket (available on www.yukon4explore.com) includes $5 off the purchase of Europe Epic at the event, signed by the author.

Activities for the kids, snacks and refreshments for a winter afternoon dreaming of your next family adventure!

*Having children not required - this event is for all cycling / travel enthusiasts irrespective of family status!

@sitkalandgillis @heronlandgillis @yukoncycling @icyclesports @cadencecycle
#whitehorse #yukon #biketouring #biketour #bikepacking

Congratulations to Sitka who found out today he is the recipient of the 2024 STEM Project Grant! The funds are going towards his fleet of test skis and waxes as he continues his work on Wax it to Win it: a Golden Algorithm for Team Canada. Many thanks to Alain Masson and Graham Nishikawa for their ongoing support and mentorship in his project of creating a machine-learning algorithm that can make automated wax recommendations based on a multitude of snow and weather conditions. He has been working hard on his online coding and machine-learning courses at Stanford and University of Michigan, and is so excited to start wax testing to gather data to train his algorithm. The eventual goal is to make the algorithm a useful tool for Team Canada for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.
It’s a big project for a little guy and it has been so heart-warming to see all the encouragement and support from everyone he has reached out to. What a community!
@crosscountryyukonsquads @whitehorsenordic
#stem #yukonstikineregionalsciencefair #ownthepodium #crosscountryskiing #sciencefairfoundationbc

The window here between summer and winter is so very short! It’s been a flurry of fall fun and biking before the snow settles in, including super Canada Summer Games trials for both mountain biking and road cycling (Sitka is too young to attend the games but went out anyway for fun). We had the biggest CSG turnout for trials to date and it is so awesome to see so many talented and motivated young cyclists in the Yukon!
Meanwhile Jocelyn and Brook’s annual mountain biking getaway in Carcross got a bit foiled by snow at the higher elevations - here’s hoping we can get a bit of autumn back!!

Thank you William Labarge and Pete Sandiford for the great CSG trials pics :)

Annual Labour Day adventure weekend in Carcross/Crag Lake - always our favourite first getaway after the school year has kicked in - we are so grateful to live in such a beautiful place!

Our favourite way to end a summer of adventuring is always cottage time :) Two weeks of sleeping in, cousins/Gillis family time, endless paper books and board games. On our way back to Yukon now after nine amazing weeks away!

Oh la la la la! Our final days in France, these 3rd and 4th days of the Olympics, were mind-blowingly awesome. Our ‘Tour des Olympiques’ by bicycle had us enjoying all the events and sights on our own two wheels from 8am to midnight both days - there was just so much to soak in! Heron planned in plenty of delicious stops mid-ride including a surprise for Sitka - a decadent gluten free bakery - and a super fun trip up the Eiffel Tower.
Our ticket resale sleuthing skills paid off with discount tickets to the track last night, including the unbelievable 100m men’s final and Canada’s gold in hammer throw. Heron’s city bike navigating skills also paid off with great spots to cheer on the women’s road cycling race yesterday and the team triathlon relay today (so impressive - perhaps the most jaw-dropping thing we have seen so far).
The bikes are now returned, our bags are packed, and tomorrow we fly back to Canada after a truly spectacular seven weeks of hiking and cheering on amazing Tour and Olympic athletes in France. This trip wasn’t what we had planned, but it sure was awesome!!

- lots of videos in this post, compliments of Heron

We didn’t think anything could top seeing the Tour de France in person this summer, but being here in Paris for the Olympics is truly incredible. We are on cloud nine, especially as we are back on bikes for the first time in two months since the arm fractures, able to whip around the city on virtually car-free streets from one awesome thing to the next (they added 60km of bike paths to their already amazing network of 240km of bike lanes, and have shut down much of the city to vehicle traffic for the games). Oh how we have all missed cycling! Heron is our city bike navigator and doing an awesome job :) It took us a while to find a rental company that stocked helmets - we’re not quite ready to do the European no-helmet thing - especially as keeping up with Heron on cobblestone is enough of a challenge!
At every turn there are people singing and dancing in the street in all different languages- so much joy and so much pride. Yesterday we caught Morocco’s awesome win against USA in the men’s soccer/football quarterfinals, and today was a mix of men’s road cycling (so amazing! and free!), and soaking in all the awesome energy at the Canada Olympic House for the women’s soccer quarterfinals and the amazing results in the pool. The city is buzzing and it’s a real experience to be part of it :)

A perfect final day in Bretagne. We happily left our backpacks at the campsite and practically skipped around it felt so amazing to be pack free! We took a boat tour out to the fascinating Chateau du Taureau which, amongst other things, served as an island prison where aristocrats could pay to have misbehaving male family members imprisoned without trial. From there it was off to the beach to soak in one last glorious swim in the Atlantic and to rent kayaks to continue exploring by boat. Then one last delicious galette food truck dinner and then off to a free beautiful backyard jazz concert down the street. We could easily spend many more weeks in Bretagne!
Tomorrow we are off to Paris for our final hurrah of catching some Olympics before heading back to Canada. What a trip so far!

#bretagne #france

Days 8 and 9 on the GR34 brought us through Locquirec and along the gorgeous coastline into the department de Finistère. Every day we spend on this trail, we love it even more, especially when we get a beach all to ourselves for snack break. As the GR34 is almost 2000km long we are only getting a slice of it, but what a beauty! We are meeting more and more cyclists at the campgrounds who are cycling the Bretagne Coast, but being able to be right on the coastline on this trail makes hauling around these backpacks worth it :)

#gr34 #france #bretagne #hiking #hikingfamily

Days 6 and 7 on the GR34 were quite different experiences - first, a long 26km hike along the Béguer River into Lannion and back out to the coast at Le Yaudet - an old Gaulois outpost that pre-dates the Romans (maybe even a stomping ground for Astérix and Obélix? We’ve seen a couple millennia-old menhirs!) Then today, a three-hour trek along the steep bluffs overlooking the rugged rocky shoreline meeting relentless ocean waves, into wide shallow beaches that grow longer by hundreds of metres as the tide flows out. Baguette vending machines and great food are also making us happy on this spectacular Breton coast - hard to believe we have just 3 days left to Morlaix!

#gr34 #bretagne #hiking

Today, day 5 of GR34, was our favourite day on the Bretagne (Breizh) coast so far. Our fevers simultaneously broke overnight and what a relief! Today’s 24km hike around l’ile Grande had rugged coastline, long beaches, delicious gelato, a wonderful midday swim, and a much appreciated beach cafe supper. With the virus on its way out and appetites back in full swing, our current meal orders include 6 mains and 4 appies for the family (which earns many shocked looks) - good thing French cuisine on the North coast is so affordable!
#bretagne #france #gr34 #hiking #hikingfamilies

Days 3 and 4 on the GR34 were very different hikes - first, an endless series of steep climbs down into cozy ocean coves, then right back up again until we reached old-town Paimpol for delicious galettes (Pic 2 shows the “staircase” carved into the slope side). Then, we skipped ahead to the Côte de Granit Rose and its famous fields of pink boulders perched precariously along the rugged shoreline.
It would all be lovely if we weren’t all coughing and fevered from a full-family sickness - at least we’re mildly miserable together in a beautiful place that’s (finally) seeing some sunshine! So far all are keen to keep hiking as the ocean air feels good and the hiking is easy - we’ll stop if that changes - tbd!

#france #bretagne #hiking

Day 2 GR34 on the Bretagne coast! Another beauty day meandering along the coastline, up and down steep cliffs overlooking the rocky shore. The kilometres are flying by on this terrain so we have more time to do two of our favourite things - reading and eating :) A Bretagne speciality is “galettes” - delicious buckwheat crepes both savoury and sweet. As these are gluten-free, Sitka has made it his mission to eat as many as possible - breakfast, lunch and dinner if it was up to him! Our campground not only had a beautiful greenhouse pool, pétanque, mini putt, basketball and ping pong, but also a galette food truck with filling savoury crepes for €3.50 - the French sure know how to camp!
#france #gr34 #bretagne #hiking

Day 1 hiking on the GR34 was lovely and easy - we would be lying if we said we don’t miss the dramatic Alps landscapes, but the GR34 trail on the Bretagne coast certainly has its own charms that led it to be voted “Favourite Trail” by the French in 2017. It is wonderful to have the cool Atlantic ocean breeze especially after the oppressive heat in Nice, the trail is right on the cliff side, and our bellies are very happy to have Breton villages at regular intervals to treat ourselves to fresh produce, gelato and hot-from-the-oven boulangerie! Our bags are so much lighter, and we are looking forward to this change of pace and scenery :)

#gr34 #bretagne #france #hiking #hikingfamilies #activefamilies #activeholiday

Travel day through Paris en route to St Brieuc to get set up for our last big hike of this trip - 10 days on the GR34 in Bretagne! For our last big hike we are opting for some variety from the mountains with this Atlantic coast trail, also appealing due to daily availability of food (no more calorie rationing for us!).
Today’s highlights included spotting Tour riders at the airport in Nice, visiting some new spots in Paris that we didn’t get to when we were here in 2022 (including the tombs of famous French men and women in the Pantheon, and the Renaissance-era Parc du Luxembourg), finding some 2022 “desserts of Europe” favourites (macaron au framboise for Sitka lived up to the memories), and getting even more excited about coming back to Paris in two weeks to see the Olympics once we have finished our GR34!!
Also, Heron’s cast did not leave Nice with us - he is very pleased to be leaving it behind :) 89€ was all it took to get an X-ray, consult with orthopedic surgeon and nurse appointment for the cast removal, all within an hour - so much simpler than we were expecting!

#gr34 #paris #olympics #stillhiking

Wow wow wow - La Grande Arrivée du Tour du France in Nice did not disappoint! Three days in Nice soaking in the hype of the final stages of the Tour de France, including seeing the start of Stage 20 (mountain stage), the final time trial of stage 21, a rooftop beach dance party by DJ Ofenbach and an unbelievable fireworks and drone show over the bay (1500 drones making incredible art over the Mediterranean Sea - mind-blowing!). It’s been such an experience following the Tour while in France this summer, and being able to witness these incredible athletes push themselves to the limit every day. We are especially in awe of Biniam Girmay as the first black African to win a stage in the Tour (and he won the overall Green jersey!), Derek Gee from Canada who finished 9th overall and put himself out there time and again, and Jonas Vingegaard who we have loved since we biked through his home region in 2022. Hats off to all the Tour riders!!

Day 11 of the GTM - our final day on la Grande Traversée du Mercantour! Today’s heat almost did us in - 22km and 1900m of descent into the very hot valley of Sospel. Our 14L of water disappeared all too fast and with no water or streams on today’s stage, we were counting down the metres before the town of Sospel finally arrived (complete with grocery store and ice cream!) as our final destination of this trek.

What an amazing hike the GTM has been - an entirely last minute decision to head south due to the low snow line this summer - but such a great plan C!! The Maritime Alps are stunning - our 11 stages (154km and 8817m total ascent) of the GTM traversed France’s Parc National du Mercantour, criss-crossing occasionally into the Parco delle Alpi Marittime on the Italian side. Together these two gorgeous parks cover 1700 square km and hold 600km of hiking trails - we could have happily spent the entire summer in the Maritime Alps!

Next step for us is a break for the feet and the backs to catch the final stages of the Tour de France in Nice, and to get Heron’s cast removed- the adventures continue!

—-

A side note on foot care, as concerns about feet are secondary only to concerns about food it seems! On the TMB Jocelyn and Ed both got bad blisters, despite wearing hiking boots that had been reliably blister-free for years (incidentally, the boys who opted for trail runners this year have had no issues at all!). Jocelyn’s unfortunately got so bad she needed a course of oral antibiotics to clear the infected blisters and get her feet ready for the GTM (the pain of walking on infected blisters is excruciating).

On GTM Jocelyn was on a foot-care regime to prevent that from happening again:
- “boots off” break every hour to change socks and let feet cool off
- six pairs of socks to rotate through the day (two “double layered” socks, two lightweight merino, two lightweight synthetic)
- second-skin (“compeed”) on any potential hot spots
- any open skin/open blisters disinfected, covered with polysporin/gauze/tape
- bare feet/sandals when not hiking

Happy to report no significant feet issues on the GTM!!

Day 10 GTM had us moving from the high Alps to the « medium Alps » with our final big summit over Le Pas du Diable into a series of beautiful ridges and valleys. Despite the heat as we approached the sea, Ed was in his happy history place walking amongst the military ruins at Authion - relics of the Napoleonic era and the Second World War.
We were already nostalgic camping at our last refuge of this route and sharing our last communal dinner of the GTM with one final long stage to do day 11 - what an amazing trip it has been!

A side note for those thinking of doing hut-to-hut hikes themselves and wondering about the tenting option, here are some pros of bringing a tent:
1. More affordable (prices ranged from free to 9€ at the most expensive - typically just 2€ to have a hot solar shower at the refuge)
2. More flexible - no reservations needed - in France especially easy to “bivouac” in most places from 7pm to 7am with no issue - on the GTM we camped every night right near the refuges with the refuges permission
3. Better sleep quality - not sharing a dorm with others who may be snoring, waking up to pee, etc
4. No risk of bed bugs
5. Still able to partake in the community aspect of the hikes with shared meals at the refuges

Cons of bringing a tent:
1 Weight in the backpack - we brought an MSR 2person Hubba tent (1.54kg) and an MSR 3person Hubba for the boys and the gear(2.07kg) - and 4 Therm-a-Rest ProLite Apex (620g each) - sleeping bags you would have to bring regardless if staying in the dorms/refuges - for us this was worth it but every extra kilo of weight in the packs does make the experience more difficult!

#gtm #france #mercantour #hiking

Day 9 on the GTM was one of the nicest so far, passing up and over the highest summit of the hike (La Baisse du Basto at 2700m - crampons were helpful yet again!), and then into the famous Vallée des Merveilles. This protected UNESCO site is home to over 40,000 rock engravings and was a treat to explore. The trail is getting a little busier each day as we approach the coast/Nice but it doesn’t feel over-crowded. With the shared meals every night we have gotten to know so many of the people doing this route or variants of it, and it feels like a celebration every afternoon at arrival to the refuges. French is the common language (the GTM is still a fairly well-kept secret outside of France), and we are very grateful to be so comfortable in this language.

#france #gtm #mercantour #valleedesmerveilles #hiking

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