Here is my account of a short hike with my son in Ordessa NP in July 2013.
Day 1.
We parked at Col de Tentes, Gavarnie and set off in the early afternoon. It was immediately apparent that we were not going to get the nice sunny weather that we have experienced on previous trips.
As we headed down from Port de Boucharo, the clouds darkened, thunder rumbled and it started to rain. The worst of the rain was off to the west of us, but we still needed our rain jackets. By the time we reached the bridge at Bujaruelo in the bottom of the valley, the rain had stopped.
There is a tiny commercial campsite here, but we walked down the GR11 path where we were lucky to find a clearing in the trees next to the river where we camped for the night.
Day 2
We continued down the GR11 path beside the Rio Arra river.
Eventually we came to the junction with the bottom of the Ordessa valley. The path goes under the road and then crosses the Rio Arazas.
From there we continued up the GR11 into the Ordessa valley.
After a few km, we took an increasingly steep path up the south side of the valley to gain another path called the Faja de Pelay. This follows the 1900m contour along a band of limestone on the valley wall which offers great views of the whole valley.
The path goes through the trees above the cliff on the right:
Eventually we reached the head of the valley, from where the only way was up.
Up we went, until we came to the Refugio Goriz. We bagged a camp spot and then went into the Refugio to reserve a place for dinner at 7pm. The food was traditional, with choice limited to take it or leave it, but very tasty and almost limitless: fresh salad, a pork and bean stew/soup, followed by sausages. We were too full to eat the desert!
The evening sky was clear so we hoped for good weather for our planned ascent of Monte Perdido the next day.
