Mississippi: First day is a zero day

I felt mighty relieved after having dropped off the car. Now we were eventually out of money spending civilisation and could concentrate on the outdoor side of things. Luckily the campground at Lake Bemidji was very quiet and the weather absolutely gorgeous. Sunshine with no cloud in the sky. My biggest fear had been that we would have to assemble our boats in pouring rain, but instead we had perfect weather and brilliant fall colours. Our plan was to assemble the boats, practice packing and then paddle eight miles to the next campsite, but it did not work out that way. At noon we weren't anywhere near being ready and therefore we decided to start our trip with a zero day... So why did it take us so long to get ready?

First of all the assembly of the boat is rather time consuming, especially if you do it for the first time. Brian's Folbot is much easier to assemble than my Feathercraft K1 which took me almost half a day! I admit that I am not really good with these mechanical things and it had helped a lot that I had done a practice run with my friend Wulf in Germany shortly before leaving. But although it took me forever to assemble the boat, I did it all on my own without any injuries and nervous break downs. But the next step was almost equally complicated: Packing the boat! Although the K1 is quite roomy, the space is very difficult to access and it took a lot of experiments to find out where what fits best. When hiking I can be ready for take off within one hour including breakfast but I doubt that this will be possible with having to load a kayak.

Of course the most exciting moment was the maiden voyage of our boats as neither of us had been on the water with it before. Brian was afraid his boat would sink the moment it hits the water and was pleasantly surprised that this was not the case. I was next and was very relieved that sitting in the kayak felt more comfortable than expected.

With the kayak I had gone through the same tedious buying process as with my bike 5 years ago. First you have to have to do an insane amount of research and deal with millions of small technical details. Than you have to part from a big amount of money without knowing whether it is really worth it. And then comes the most frustrating part with disassembling and assembling the whole thing for transport. Having two left hands this is an endless source of frustration for me until I have the while process down pat. At that point I usually regret the whole idea and wonder why I haven't contended myself with hiking. During this while process my mood and motivation are constantly going downhill, but paddling the kayak yesterday for the first time in glorious weather was sort of the turning point. I really enjoyed being on the water and felt very much one with the boat. I start looking forward to this trip now - and today will be our first full day of paddling!

Mississippi: The start

This trip had had a rather stressful start due to my very tight planning. Between flying in from Santiago and leaving for Minneapolis I had had just 3 1/2 days in which I had to change gear, go through half a year's mail, try to assemble the kayak again and do about 500 other little things. The time was too short and although I managed to get all the important things done I felt rather stressed out in the end. Luckily I had stayed those days with my friend Wulf who provided the perfect logistics from fast internet access, printer and copy machine to a last minute repair of a broken kayak brace. Without his help I would probably have died of a stress attack.

But finally on Tuesday morning I was sitting in a taxi to Berlin airport with two huge bags containing a foldable kayak and a shitload of gear. Luckily I had a baggage allowance of 2x23 kg but the kayak is very bulky and luggage dimensions were the biggest problem. But to my big surprise check in at the airport went smoothly and my huge bags were accepted without checking their size. And so I started a 18 hour trip from Berlin via Copenhagen and Reykjavik to Minneapolis. At the end I felt like a Zombie. But the worst was still to come: US immigration! I was thoroughly quizzed about my past and future travels, my financial situation and marriage plans. Unfortunately I did not have a return flight and when asked when I wanted to fly back I could only say that it would be within the next 6 months. Wrong answer! "So what are you going to do if I only give you 2 months?", asked the immigration officer. My heart sank. Admitting that I had a paddling partner was another mistake. "Why is your travel partner not your boyfriend?" was the next question. It went on and on and when I was about to wonder whether I would be sent back to Germany I was eventually given the usual 6 months stay. And when I stumbled out at least all my luggage was there and intact.

Things improved rapidly now. My paddling partner Brian was already waiting for me and our CS had already come to pick us up. We were given a whole basement to spread out our combined 100 kg of gear and I could sleep in a nice bed. I definitely had to catch up on sleep! Next day we spent busy shopping and buying paddling gear, food and a phone card for me. The SIM card for me turned out to be the biggest problem because surprisingly smartphone data is very expensive in the US. All over Europe I had been able to get unlimited data for my smartphone for less than 15 EUR per month, but here I have to pay 50 USD for the slowest speed and worst coverage. The main problem is that in Europe you can choose from a modular system whereas in the US you can only buy packages of voice, text and data. We went from T-Mobile to AT&T and back until I finally bought a plan. Luckily our CS hosts had let us borrow their car. Without our own wheels we would never have been
able to accomplish all that.

Next day was a big challenge for me. We had a rental car for two days. When I had booked it Brian and I had agreed that he would be driving but unfortunately he had let his driver's licence expire. That meant I would have to drive - but I had not been behind a steering wheel for three years! I was extremely nervous although everyone assured me that driving is like cycling. Once you have learnt it you never forget. And it turned out to be exactly like that. Once behind the steering wheel my last driving felt like yesterday and to my big surprise I actually enjoyed it. Of course it helped a lot that Brian was doing all the navigation. Also driving is so much easier in the US with wide roads and a speed limit.

Next highlight was a visit to Aldi. Yes, there is Aldi in the US and they sell German chocolate. We could do almost all our resupply at Aldi which was very cheap and made me happy. We also went to Chipotle twice, my favourite Mexican fast food place where you can get huge delicious burritos. Time passed very quickly in Minneapolis but we got everything done and set off for Lake Itasca early next morning.

Lake Itasca is the official source of the Mississippi River but we were not able to start there. This summer had brought an unusual drought and extremely low water levels. Plus a storm had passed through in July downing hundreds of trees that the Forest Service had not been able to clear out yet. We still drove to Lake Itasca to take the usual photos of the Mississippi source but what we saw confirmed the rangers' warnings. The Mississippi was almost a trickle there and no way we would get through there in a boat. But not everyone came as prepared as we were. We saw a young Canadian couple with their canoe who were to embark on a Mississippi thru paddle as well. Apparently they did not have a clue of the low water levels. We are now curious to see how they fared. We continued on to Lake Bemidji where we stayed at the Park camp ground. I took the car back to the rental drop of all own my own without getting lost or wrecking the car and was subsequently awarded the American driving certificate by Brian. Now we are at Lake Bemidji with 150 kg of gear and food and wonder how all this will fit into our kayaks.

Paddling the Mississippi: The Plan

Ursula and I this year

When I came back from the Yukon last year, I was both extremely happy and shaken. I was happy because paddling the Yukon had been a fantastic experience and I had discovered that I liked the paddling. But I was also shaken because I had had a very disappointing experience with my paddling partner and and had lost confidence. I immediately called my hiking friend Ursula, the only German I know who has hiked, cycled and paddled more than I (although I am hard on her heels now). Ursula has done a lot of paddling herself including the Yukon. After I had told her all my paddling adventures I asked for an idea for my next paddling trip. I was eager to go paddling again and was looking for a long, but easy trip that could be done in the shoulder or winter season to have the summer free for hiking. Ursula did not think very long and immediately suggested paddling the Mississippi. I did not think very long either and, although I knew almost nothing about the Mississippi, decided almost immediately that it was a good idea. And because it fit perfectly into my schedule for 2012 I decided after some cursory research to embark on this paddling trip after my hike through Europe.

Buck 30 on the PCT in 2004

A couple of weeks later I was skyping with Buck 30, an American long-distance hiker I had met on the PCT in 2004. Although we had not hiked together a lot we have always stayed in contact after the PCT.  Buck 30 and I always seemed to just have hiked a trail that the other one was planning to do next. He helped me a lot with his notes for the Arizona Trail and his recommendation of the Larapinta Trail and I sent him hiking and biking my favourite trails and routes in Australia. Buck 30 has quit working last year and was looking for ideas like me. So we were chatting about all sorts of trails and trips when I mentioned my Mississippi plan. Buck 30 did not think very long either and asked me what I thought of paddling it together. I was very much taken by surprise by this suggestion and still shell shocked from my last group experience but Buck 30 removed my biggest concern immediately by suggesting to paddle in two separate boats. And so I warmed quickly to the idea. Being relatively new to paddling it would be a great help to have a partner and after a long solitary hike through Europe I would be longing for company.

And so the plan began to take more and more shape. It was funny to develop the planning with one of us always hiking. While I was doing research on boats, maps and logistics Buck 30 was hiking Te Araroa in New Zealand. And while I was finishing my hike through Western Europe he did all the last fine tuning of our trip in the US. Despite the fact that we almost only communicated through emails the planning was easy and efficient. Soon we had both purchased a foldable kayak and purchased our flights. I'll be paddling in a Feathercraft K1 and Buck 30 in a Folbot Cooper. Neither of us has been on the water with the boat and neither of us has much experience in paddling a kayak. Basically two rookies will embark on a 2,350 mile long paddling trip that will take us 2 to 3 months.

When I was doing research on a German paddling forum I earned a lot of disbelief and blame for that fact. My German compatriots could not understand how you can embark on such a long trip with no training and a new boat you have not even been on the water with. Instead of getting advice an boats and paddling I was scolded. Luckily my Australian friend and paddling teacher Alan came to my rescue and gave me lots of advice on which boat and paddle to buy. I must admit that I am bit afraid myself how we two rookies will fare on this trip but we have two things in our favour. We might not have much paddling experience but we have both spent years outside on long expeditions and have a lot of outdoor experience. Plus the Mississippi is a very tame river. It has a very low flow rate, no rapids or other obstacles and is relatively warm compared to the Yukon.

When we first talked about the Mississippi Buck 30 told me not to have a romantic Tom Sawyer image of the river but being from Germany I hardly have any image of the Mississippi at all. Although I have done plenty of research now and have read several Mississippi paddling blogs I still have no clear image of the river. This will be very much of a surprise trip full of new experiences. Buck 30 will also keep a journal of this trip here.

A hike through Western Europe: Conclusion

Heat wave in Spain

Let's start with my two usual questions. Did I like this hike? Yes, I liked it tremedously. But it was a hike full of surprises and extremes. And I have not learnt that much in a single trip since hiking the PCT. Although I had spent a lot of time planning this hike I encountered a lot of surprises. The biggest one was that I had very much miscalculated the time needed for it and I have written a separate post about this topic. But you learn from your mistakes: I will definitely plan my next hiking trip in Europe differently and allow a lot more time. I was also surprised by the health issues I encountered and still need some time to figure out how I will deal with the tick problem in Europe and my new hay fever. For the first time in my hiking career I have also had foot problems. The strange noises in my knee have disapperead though now and I hope that the pain in the Achilles tendon will soon do so, too.

What I liked a lot about this trip was the tremendous variety I have encountered. I have walked at all altitude from beach walks to high mountain passes of almost 3,000 metres. I have been on perfect single file trail through forest and have pounded seemingly endless roads. I have hiked through the most spectacular mountain scenery in the Pyrenees and dreadful suburbs and industrial areas in Spain. I have woken up with my tent covered in snow in April and have suffered through heat waves in Spain. But one thing was constant: I have never eaten so well on a trip!

Would I recommend this hike to a friend? Yes, absolutely! Europe is a great hiking country and I can recommend it to anyone. But here is my conclusion in a bit more detail:

Freezing in April

Route: I would change very little of the route I have hiked, but I would allow at least 3 more weeks for it. Given the time frame I had the route was too long and I would have been better off shortcutting a bit in Germany. If I had had more time I would have substituted parts of the Camino with a hike through the Picos de Europa in Spain. My route through Germany this year has been nice, but if I had to chose I think that the route I had hiked through Germany last year has been better. My route through France has been excellent and the very best part has been the mountain range from the Vosges, down through the French Jura and the Chartreuse to the Vercors. I will definitely be back in France to do some more hiking. My hike through Spain has been very difficult for various reasons. I found the Spanish Pyrenees a bit too hard for my liking, but would probably enjoy them with a longer time frame. The Spanish Caminos were the worst hiking on the whole trip, but at least it has given me the pilgrimage experience.

Camping in France

Gear: After so many miles of hiking I do know what gear to bring and so there were no big surprises. As usually my Thermarest delaminated and all my Platypus bottles broke. A tent pole broke too but could be repaired. I have gone through 3 1/2 pairs of shoes and 3 pairs of socks. The rest of my equipment is still more or less intact. But I want to mention that this trip will make me change to major gear items: I have used a Tarptent Rainbow and it has became my default tent now. Its freestanding mode has been great when I had to use it inside shelters. It has been proven to be very windstable as well.  And of course it is very roomy. This trip has also made me change from down to synthetic in sleeping bags. I have carried the BPL 240 quilt and it turned out to be one of the best purchases I have ever made. I have used this quilt in weather from -5 to 35 Celsius. I wasn't cold even in the unexpected spring snow storms and had good ventilation in the heat. Synthetic can be so much more abused than down and is therefore much better suited for my long trips through different climates. I also became addicted to a new piece of gear: my smartphone. It has been incredibly useful for doing research on the way. And I became addicted to my daily internet fix before going to sleep. I'll never leave home without one any more.

Miscallaneous: I had to learn that couchsurfing is difficult in Europe, especially in the big touristy cities. For places like Basel or Geneva I had to send out more than 10 requests to get one invitation, whereas in other countries usually my first or second request gets accepted. But hosts here seem to be so overrun by backpackers that many don't even bother to answer any more. Finding a host turned out to be so time consuming that I gave up on couchsurfing in Spain.
Long-distance hiking in Europe is unfortunately a very lonely thing. Although you'll meet plenty of day hikers or people out for a weekend, it is very rare to find like minded long-distance hiker along the way. The only place were I met some was in the Pyrenees on the GR 11 where you'll meet hikers going from coast to coast. Of course there are plenty (and very often too many) people on the Caminos, but they are pilgrims on a very different mindset than long-distance hikers.
Hiking in Europe is not more expensive than hiking in the US or Australia. I spent my normal average of 10 EUR per day on food and ate very luxuriously with that. The only other big expense with accommodation, especially in Spain. In Germany I stayed mostly with friends. In France I stayed almost always in my tent because camping was easy and the weather was fine. But stealth camping along the Caminos in Spain was a bit difficult and CS unsuccessful. Therefore I stayed almost twice a week in a cheap pension. But overall this hike has not cost me more than a thruhike of the AT or PCT.

A hike through Western Europe: Facts and Figures

Length of hike: about 4.500 km
Thereof alked alone: 4.500 km
Duration of hike: 172 days from 01.04. - 19.09.2012
Thereof rest days: 14
Thereof rest days due to illness: 2
Nero days: about 20
Average daily mileage including rest days: 26,12 km
Average daily mileage excluding rest days: 30, 41 km

Number of nights in my tent: 125
Number of nights in free shelters: 10
Number of nights in youth or pilgrims' hostels: 9
Number of nights with friends in Germany: 10
Number of friends visited: 4
Number of nights in hotels, guesthouses or holiday apartments: 12
Number of nights with Couchsurfing hosts: 6
Number of Couchsurfing hosts visited: 3

Equipment failures: 1 broken tent pole, 1 delaminated Thermarest, 2 Platypus bottles with holes, 3 ½ pairs of shoes, 2 pairs of socks

Number of resupply packages sent from Germany: 4

Illnesses: Diarrhea because of Antibiotic treatment of Lyme disease, temporary deafness because of hay fever

Most scenic part: France from Vosges to Vercors
Ugliest part: Spain Camino del Norte
Positive trail surprise: Germany Elisabethpfad
Negative trail surprise: Spain GR 11 in the Pyrenees

Best learning success: Gerald's lessons about German forestry
Scariest experience: Nightly encounter with geocachers
Most dangerous animal encounter: Tick bites

The Pilgrimage experience: Hiking the Spanish Caminos

When I had planned my route through Western Europe I had chosen the Caminos very reluctantly. I knew that it would not be stellar hiking, but I had never been on a pilgrimage trail in all my hiking career and thought it was about time now. So what do I think of the Caminos - now that I have hiked on three of them for over a month? As you might have guessed: I did not really like them.

A63 on the Camino Primitivo

To understand the crux of the Caminos you have to go back to the Middle Ages, the time when they developed. Back then pilgrims wanted to get from their home town to Santiago as quickly and as safely as possible. Beautiful or spectacular landscape did not interest them - they just wanted to get from point A to point B. They chose the easiest routes in the easiest terrain and went from one big city to the next one. And this is exactly were nowadays motorways, highways and railways are built! So naturally hiking the Caminos nowadays means hiking on or near busy roads. Even when much effort is taken to route the Caminos off pavement you will almost always be within sight or earshot of motor traffic. You won't see much spectacular scenery either. So if you want to hike in nature or are looking for great landscapes you are wrong on the Caminos. But what are the pilgrims looking for then? What is the pilgrimage experience?

Hostel in Santiago

Most pilgrims like the sense of community, the sharing with other pilgrims. People, who would normally enjoy their holidays in hotels and apartments are now sleeping in dormitories with up to 50 other pilgrims. There is no privacy, sometimes bed bugs and always people snoring. But pilgrims find that so attractive that they get up at 5 am and start hiking before sunrise to secure a bed in these hostels before the others arrive! These pilgrims' hostels are very cheap, but the majority of pilgrims is not on such a low budget that they could not afford better accommodation. Hardly anyone is cooking, but the cafes and bars along the Camino are full with pilgrims for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The advantage of this run to the hostels is that you have the Camino all to yourself after 5 pm....

Cast off sticks

The pilgrim community feeling reminded me very much of the trail communities on the AT. But because the AT is longer and harder the friendships forged there tend to more intense. Compared with the camaraderie on the American trails the pilgrim community seemed just like a poor copy to me and with more and more people on the Caminos the morale seems to get worse and worse.With everyone and their mother now hiking the Caminos you see a lot of inexperienced hikers out there. I have never seen that many huge and ill-fitting backpacks before. Everyone  has a shell attached to the backpack. Instead of using modern lightweight trekking poles most pilgrims carry wooden sticks. I have even seen people dressed up in medieaval clothes to be more authentic pilgrims. And at the end of the trail these wooden sticks are left behind everywhere. My hostel and the pilgrims' office in Santiago were full of cast off sticks and at Santiago airport they even had a special trash can for them because some pilgrims try to take them on the plane which of course is not allowed.

Another locked church

I had first thought that people hike the Caminos out of religious reasons but this is mostly not the case. Although most pilgrims are on some sort of spiritual quest, very few do it with a Christian motivation. And the official church is definitely not helping them: Almost every church along the Caminos is locked. There are no masses, prayer services or any other spiritual guidance offered to pilgrims from the official Spanish Catholic church. There are only very few exceptions like the hostel of Padre Ernesto in Guemes or the German pilgrims' meeting in Santiago. The Catholic church is continuously losing members in the Western world and here is a chance to win some back. Thousands of hikers flock to Caminos looking for spiritual enlightenment and the Catholic church does not seize this opportunity and basically just ignores them. (If you are looking for a more spiritual experience try the lesser known pilgrimage trails in other countries. I myself have hiked the German pilgrimage trail "Elisabethpfad" on this trip and found it a lot better than the Spanish Caminos. Almost every church was open, the one and only cheap guidebook was a mixture of prayers, historical anecdotes and trail descriptions and of course there were also pilgrims' hostels.)

Coffee stall on the Camino Frances

To me in the end the "pilgrimage experience" seemed just to be a cheap hiking holiday with the Camino offering the comfortable logistics of cheap accommodation, luggage transport and menus del peregrino (pilgrims' menus in restaurants). I guess that you can still get a lot of the Caminos if you don't know any better hiking. And I have tremendous respect for all those overweight and/or out of shape pilgrims who struggle but make it to the end. They will find a sense of achievement, some enlightenment and trail friends. And if the Camino sparks their interest in hiking - more power to them. But you will find all these things in a much purer and intense form on other long-distance trails.

Bottom line: If you are a new to hiking the Caminos might be a good and easy way for you to get started. But if you have already hiked other more nature oriented long distance trails you will most probably be very much disappointed with the Caminos.

Tips for hiking in France

On this trip I have hiked 1 1/2 months all over France and consider it a great country for long distance hiking. There are several reasons for that: 

Trail marking on the GR 7

France is a centralised country and that reflects positively on the trail system. All the long distance trails called GR (Grand Randonne) are uniformly marked with red and white stripes and numbered. One central organisation, FFRP is overlooking them and publishes the relevant guidebooks called topoguide. IGN publishes maps for the whole of France in various scales and there is one overview map with all French long distance trails that is fantastic for planning purposes. When you have decided on your route you can easily mailorder the appropriate guidebooks and maps. But it gets even better: on GR-info.com you can download all those trails as a gpx track for free! All this is almost perfect but there still are some flaws. The topoguides are in French only but I would still recommend them even if you don't speak French. They contain all the maps, give hiking times and use universally understandable pictograms for town services plus addresses and info on gite d'etapes. Unfortunately there aren't topoguides for all trails and they are difficult to obtain along the trail. Maps are sold almost everywhere but mostly 1:25000 scale only which is too detailed for long distance hiking. You have to carefully plan ahead or ship the maps/guidebooks to yourself, otherwise you might find yourself without decent maps. The gpx tracks I mentioned have to be treated with a grain of salt, too. Although some were very accurate, others were rather vague with too few track points and some hopelessly outdated. Especially on the GR 7 there have been major reroutes that were kilometres off the gpx track! 

Public water hydrant

Stealth camping was incredibly easy in France and I never had a single problem. The GRs generally avoid big cities and there is usually so much forest around that you don't even have to do a lot of pre-planning. Only Southern France posed a bit of a problem but only because the ground was so rocky and the vegetation so dense. There are lots of other advantages for the wild camper like the availability of water. I am not talking about natural water sources here that vary depending on the region. But in France almost every little village has a public fountain or at least a water tap. Sometimes those are elaborate old fountains, sometimes it is just a plastic hose our even a hydrant. And by the way, the cemeteries have water taps, too. So if you pass through a village you can almost be sure to find water without any problems. 

Unfortunately, another one of my little tricks did not work that well. Although French churches do have electrical outlets for recharging your devices most churches are locked nowadays. Only less than half the churches I have tried were open. 

No electrical outlets here...

When it comes to food there is good news and bad news. The good news is that French food is incredibly good. I absolutely loved French cheese. There are thousands of varieties from soft goat cheese to hard Tome. I could not stop trying different sorts. There is also excellent salamis and almost every little shop sells bread as well. Excellent ingredients for hiker meals. But this is also the end of the good news. Because the French are so proud of there food they don't sell dehydrated pasta and rice meals that like Lipton or Knorr. Nada, nothing, no matter how big the supermarket is. I mean I don't particularly like that stuff either but it is very practical for backpacking. There only is some flavoured couscous - sometimes. And very rarely flavoured risotto rice that takes forever to prepare. The only other option is fresh pasta like tortellini that you can get from the fridge section but it is very heavy, bulky and doesn't keep very long. As long as you are close to civilisation and shops you can live on bread and cheese and fresh pasta. But long lonely stretches or weekends are a problem. And worst of all for me chocolate is very expensive here and I eat a lot of this stuff. Generally food is more expensive here than in Germany. There are discount supermarkets here like my beloved Lidl and Aldi but you won't find many along the trail, only in bigger cities. 

To make resupply even more complicated there is the opening times problem. Except big supermarkets all shops in France close for lunch. Unfortunately lunch break times are unpredictable and can be anything from 12 noon to 5 pm. Sometimes only 2 hours, sometimes 4. Also small shops tend not to open some days or afternoons which can be Monday or Wednesday afternoon. And of course these small shops are not on the internet and therefore you cannot google their opening times. More than once I arrived hungry at a shop only to find out that it had closed 10 minutes ago and would only reopen in 3 hours... 

The French are very proud of their country and their language. Unfortunately this translates into a general lack of foreign language skills - or reluctance to speak them. Even in some small tourist offices staff would only speak French. Do not expect anyone to speak English. The French expect you to speak French. To make things worse a lot of French do not even try to understand your efforts in rudimentary French or sign language, although I have also met multilingual and very welcoming French people. So it definitely helps to speak at least some words of French, don't rely on English only. 

Although France has a great trail network hiking if not as popular here as for example in Germany or the UK. This leads to a lack of decent outdoor shops. Of course there is Decathlon, a huge chain of shops for outdoor stuff and sport. But they mostly sell their own cheap brand Quechua which is cheap but of very low quality. Even widespread international brands are mostly unavailable in France. For example I could not find a replacement TAR Prolite sleeping pad or Keen hiking shoes in France, not even in online shops. Also keep in mind that France uses a different system of gas canisters. You will not find screw top ones, only the blue Campingaz canisters, with and without valve. But there are adapters to solve this problem although I have not seen them for sale in France. 

Refuge in the Pyrenees

Most French hikers I have met were out on a day hike. Very few hikers were going for a couple of days and hardly anyone was camping. Almost everyone is staying in the refuges or huts. This hut system is very extensive - but also expensive! There are no fixed prices for the refuges. They very from hut to hut depending on the amenities and the location. They can be add cheap as 10 Eur or as expensive as 30 Eur. For me they were out of question and I never stayed in one. Keep in mind that a lot of those refuges don't have a permanent keeper and have to be booked in advance. If you arrive withouth a prior booking you might find a refuge completely locked up and usually there is not even an emergency shelter open! So do  not rely on these refuges for emergencies!

One last word on telecommunication. In every country I try to buy a local SIM card and stay connected with the rest of the world. In contrast to Germany and Spain telecommunication is an expensive business especially if you have to go prepaid. Rates for national calls are as expensive as 39 cent per minute no matter what company. Only Orange offers a very decent internet flat rate for 9 EUR per month, but getting the SIM card and subscribing to the flat rate takes more than 24 hours and the whole procedure is definitely not customer friendly.