Vosges - Prelude

While cycling last summer, my friend Bart and I had discussed going on another hike. I thought it might be nice to go in the middle of winter, when it would be freezing with lots of snow. I knew such a hike would be tough, but it seemed a nice challenge. Bart wasn't sure if he wanted to join and it wasn't until the week before departure that he decided to stay home. That meant I had to go alone which seemed like a nice experience, but also meant this would be my first winter hike, my first solo hike, and my longest hike thus far. 

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By planning everything while I was being warm and indoors, it was easy to motivate myself and not think too much about the cold and hardship I was getting myself into. My original plan was to go to the Eifel in Germany, but as snow wasn't guaranteed there I went to the Vosges in France instead. I would travel there using the night train to Basel and then a regular one to Thann. From there I planned to walk north for ~10 days before taking a train back home.