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Distance: | 100 miles |
| Difficulty: | Moderate |
| Way-marking: | Typical GR markings. Very well done. |
| Trails: | Mostly mountain footpaths.
| Lodging Styles:
| Very good selection. Take avantage of local B&Bs which require booking at the tourist office. If you're traveling off-season, be sure to try a "meuble", a French apartment that's in a private home or attached to someone's house. They're usually rented for a week in summer but are available for single nights in the off-season. They're affordable and a great way to be the "first American" to have stayed somewhere.
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Best Season:
| Spring, summer, or fall. You might even be able to do it in the winter if you can find available lodging.
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Highlights:
| I loved this hike. A real immersion in a little-known part of France. Chateau ruins all along the route.
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November is not my favorite month of the year. Sure, there's Thanksgiving and the beginning of the Christmas season, but there's also wind, dry brown landscape, short days, and a feeling of being "in between" the better parts of the year. Albeit, November is where we found ourselves after a long busy summer, four weeks of group trips in Europe, and a week of filming in Alsace, France. We were two tired retailers who just wanted to get out and walk.
Already being in France with 10 days at our disposal and being well versed on the Grand Randanee or GR footpaths available in Europe, we decided to take our chances on the little-known GR53 located in the upper region of Alsace. After all, it was just a short train ride away.
We needed three things: a well-marked trail, since it gets dark early in November leaving little time for getting lost, a trail that most likely would not be covered with snow, and a trail that would provide available lodging along the route.
What we found was exactly what we were looking for, maybe even better.
The GR53 begins in Wissembourg, practically touching the German border, before angling southwest along the crest of the northern Vosges Mountains for about 100 miles.
Waymarking, done by the local Vosgien Hiking Club, proved to be excellent. The walking was easy underfoot with lots of November leaves, brisk comfortable days, and a bit of autumn color still lingering on the trees. The valleys here aren't really valleys at all, but more like clearings that have been opened to make room for a town or small village. In many ways the area is reminiscent of western Pennsylvania.
The GR53 also abounds with history making the trail not just an outdoor experience, but a place of learning and discovery. Look out from just about anywhere along the low tree-covered mountains and you'll see a chateau ruin in the distance. It is also here that the Marginot Line, France's ill-fated defense against the Germans, was implemented.
Lodging along the route was particularly enjoyable as we discovered the French "meuble", a private house or apartment, normally rented for a week by several people or a family. Being November, on the lowest months in the tourist calendar, it was easy to book for a single night and at $42 including breakfast, proved to be an excellent value. I was growing fonder of November by the day.
Our celebrity status from being the "first Americans" almost everywhere we went was a real advantage. It's fun to go where people like you. Besides being the first Americans, we were the first hikers to cross a newly constructed bridge which prompted the workers to take our pictures. Somewhere out there our picture is on a French Parks and Recreation newsletter.
All long-distance routes take on a personality, like having a third person on the trip. You know when you've made a mistake because after awhile you know, the route would do this or do that. The 53 was no different.
All in all, this is an excellent route in a relatively unknown part of France, as well as being easy to accomplish. Even in the month of November.
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