Friday, September 18, 2015

Col de Jaman

After the greatest downpour of the year the great winds blew all the clouds away and revealed a magical 360 degree landscape of absolute beauty!

The lac Léman and Jura were cleaned. The air was magnificient. Chasse season opened today so if you go for any of the many beautiful hikes here be aware. We bumped into some hunters who had hung out in their cars during the storm. 
This is one of the spots migrating birds fly through at this time of year. They know the pass will be the easiest place to fly through the Alpes. Hete the black nets used to catch and study them has been taken down because of the rainstorm, which just ended. We got to see some birds of prey and a few pipits.
The geology of this area is fabulous! The limestone dried up almost instantly, it was amazing. 20 minutes ago there was practically a stream flowing through here!
The architecture of the cheese house is typical and unique to this area. The roofs are made of tavillons, which are wooden shingles. They are an art to produce and to place on the rafters. They kept us dry as the rain came down in sideways sheets! Viva natural materials!