Don’t come this way!!

       EONS ago, we were skiing in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula with two other couples.  Near dusk one day, Charlie blazed a trail for us skiing through the woods as we returned to our chalet on the outskirts of the resort. We were all in need of some warm fireside chatting and wine sipping as we flew through the woods, deep with new snow.  I was a few seconds behind Charlie and watched as he went air born over a small ridge. A nanosecond later he yelled, “Don’t come this way!”  I stopped and crept up to the top of the ridge as the others joined me.  Below us Charlie lay spread eagle, laughing whole-heartedly, and waving his poles in warning. His jump had landed him in a pile of thick brush and rough branches. (Later, when he took off his ski pants, he discovered that his calf had been impaled by a stick!)
                                 


    

Le Chameau

        Last week on a hike, Charlie’s warning rang over and over in my head.  The one thing I wanted to do more than anything else in Iles Des Saintes was to climb Le Chameau, the highest point of Terre De Haut at 309 meters.  We had a tourist map indicating that there were two ways of getting there.  One was a road on which no vehicles were allowed and the other was a trail that started off the Crawen Plage (beach).  I preferred the trail from the beach and was prepared to climb it alone since Dan said he had no interest in going prior to our hike.  But he had a change of heart, and began leading the way… the way that I didn’t think was the way.  There was a bench there and a single marked stone, but nothing else that looked like a clear path. We hadn’t even reached the beach yet where the map showed the beginning of the hike. How could THIS be the path? 



White square is summit of Le Chameau.
White solid path is road to top.
White dotted path from Crawen is beach trail.
Red dotted path is Dan's trail.
Black dotted path is where the trail really ended.
Black triangle is ES at anchor. 

       Dan, the Cub Scout reasoned, “We just have to go UP.”  And up we went on a incline so steep that my thigh muscles still stung days afterward. Through the bottom third of the ascent, the bush was thick and some of the branches I used for handholds were dead, breaking in my hand.  Other shrubs were thorny, so I began studying branches more before grabbing. 





This was taken after we crawled through the bush. 

       I asked, “Do you even see any signs of goat traffic?  (I hadn’t.)  Dan admitted that he saw only a single turd. Onward I followed.
      “Don’t come this way!” Charlie whispered again.
      “Surely,” I insisted,”we’d see some sign of others who had gone this way before.”  Minutes later we saw part of a green bottle, perhaps from a celebration at reaching the summit. That’s encouraging!  How much longer could it be?  There appeared to be a clearing ahead- yes, we’re almost there.  No, just the top of a ridge from where we could see that the peak of Le Chameau loomed still upward.
      The terrain looked clearer and easier to the left of us, but I urged Dan to go right in hopes of intersecting the REAL trail.  Another piece of discarded wine bottle surfaced and then- and THEN lo and behold….. a stone marked with yellow paint!  A few steps more to the right brought us in full view of more yellow spots and the REAL PATH!!!



Note the yellow spots to mark path.

   



Exit Strategy is in center anchored at Pan De Sucre.

Another view from the peak

        
      The views from Le Chameau left me speechless, or perhaps I was overcome with finally reaching my personal goal!  I was so glad to have Dan share this adventure with me, even though his trail added to the challenge.


This is NOT the only shirt Dan has although he's often wearing it in blog shots.

   
PS:  We did see a nanny and her kid on the way down.  And guess what?!  The yellow path led us back to the BENCH.