CAMPING

Theoretically, you can spend every night on the GR 11 under some kind of roof. (In addition to refuges, hostels and hotels, there are primitive huts along the way that hikers can use in a pinch.) But that assumes a strength and speed we knew we didn’t have, so we carried a tent — and were glad we did. It gave us flexibility and ease of mind. Once, for example, when our legs and the afternoon both gave out halfway up a pass, we camped on a stamp-size piece of flat near a spring. Our bedroom view that night was a glorious panorama that included Mount Perdido, the third-highest peak in the range. In addition to those posed by topography, there are some limitations on where you can pitch a tent; we passed through two national parks — Ordesa and Monte Perdido National Park and Posets-Maladeta Nature Reserve — with camping restrictions.