And yet that seems to be what DC and the male hiker she met believed she was going to do- the anti-clockwise loop. We only have a partial selection of the texts and none of the details of the phone calls with DC and family members where she shared further info. I believe that she went with her (5 days of supplies?) down to Refuge de Venasque, then on towards Hospital de France, possibly taking a shortcut, and then to Porte de la Glère.
ETA ...I go for this, partly I suppose because it was a beautiful walk as I’ve seen from the guide books... it makes sense to me that this would have been her journey rather than the other ones suggested.
I recall that she asked the couple she met for fruit. She was on her way to Pic de Sauvegarde and they were surprised that she was ascending so late in the day. I don't believe she told them about plans after climbing the summit.
Dan created a map that seems to assume that, regardless of what she said in her text messages, what she really meant was that she was going to cross the Port de Venasque, immediately enter France, and arrive at the Refuge de Venasque near dusk. Dan defended this idea even though many of us questioned whether that was a wise hiking decision.
Two points argue against this:
- no evidence that she was at the Refuge de Venasque
- no wifi contact on Nov 23, which confused Dan since he knew she would have wifi within 30 minutes of leaving the refuge and for much of the trail in France between the refuge and the Port de la Glere.