Les Cornettes de Bise

Today we went hiking with some of Emilie's family in an area called Les Cornettes de Bise, which is in the Alps along the border of France and Switzerland.

Here's the view that we had shortly before reaching the summit. The altitude wasn't that high, so we were surrounded by plenty of greenery.

We stopped for lunch above a picturesque alpine lake (or perhaps "pond" is a more accurate description). I was surprised by how many snow patches remained despite being June.

As we continued our trek after lunch, we spotted a bouquetin (ibex) in the distance. The animal's horns really stood out with the snow as a backdrop.

It turns out that there was a group of nearly 40 or so (just counting the ones that we saw), including these two juveniles that were play fighting on a nearby rock.

At one point, we had to pass through a group of adults and their massive horns were pretty impressive (albeit a bit intimidating as well). They didn't seem to mind our presence, but definitely kept an eye on us throughout.

At one point we had a nice view of Lake Geneva, though there was a bit of haze. We were basically in the mountains on the side opposite Lausanne.

Throughout the hike we were accompanied by a local dog that took a liking to us. He just tagged along for most of the route and every once in a while ran off to a snow patch in order to cool down a bit.

At lower altitudes, the dog took advantage of a couple of streams that we passed in order to cool off. He clearly knew all the good spots, so I presume that his owners simply let him roam free during the day and he just followed hikers in what he must have viewed as his own backyard.

Shortly before finishing up, we passed by a group of dairy cows that the dog seemed to take some interest in. This made me think that perhaps it was a farm dog that was used to help herd the cows whenever it was time to move them to a new spot.