Knowing that the Sunday will be rainy and stormy — the thunderstorm started at 4am. and it is still going on as I am writing this at noon — we opted for a hike on Saturday. This time we headed a little closer to home and an easier drive away than last weekend, to one of the sites in the ski area of Les 7 Laux on the Belledonne range. We started the hike (9.8K in 4h, D+/D- 522m) in Pipay at the altitude of 1550 meters and climbed a very gentle uphill to 1900 meters, and then after descending  a bit, climbed again to Le Crêt du Boeuf to admire the magnificent  view to the higher peaks of Belledonne.

Some Fall colors have started to appear on higher altitudes, not so much here in the town yet, and not in tree leaves,  but mostly on the ground: mainly heather and blueberry plants, and some other berries we didn’t recognize, but are not edible according to a friend.  We saw one marmot who disappeared in his burrow as soon as we got within a couple of meters, but was too curious to stay hiding, and soon reappeared to observe us.