GR54 Tour des Écrins — Day 5 of 8 | Solo Hiking the French Alps

This video is part of an 8-part series following my hike of the GR54, the Tour des Écrins, through Ecrins National Park in the French Alps. The GR54 is a roughly 180–190km circuit trail, widely considered one of the toughest and wildest long-distance treks in Europe — tougher than the more famous Tour du Mont Blanc. It loops around the Écrins massif, crossing more than a dozen mountain passes above 2,500m, and passes beneath some of the range's most iconic peaks, including La Meije, the Barre des Écrins (the southernmost 4,000m peak in the Alps), and Mont Pelvoux. The terrain shifts constantly: forested valleys and alpine meadows in the lower sections, exposed rocky passes and scree slopes higher up, glacial lakes, and long descents into traditional mountain villages. Nights are spent in remote mountain refuges and valley gîtes along the route. It's a trail known for its solitude — far fewer hikers than the Alps' more famous routes — and for its wildlife, including chamois, ibex, and golden eagles overhead. This series follows the trail day by day, stage by stage, capturing my full trek from start to finish. I hiked relatively early in the season, beginning on Sunday June 28th. To make things a little more challenging, much of Europe was experiencing a major heatwave at the time, and temperatures were regularly between 30 and 40 degrees Celsius during the daytime. #GR54 #TourDesEcrins #FrenchAlps #Hiking #Trekking #EcrinsNationalPark