A hike, linking the Vosges, the Jura, the Alps, the Cévennes and the Pyrenees, within a unique track 3,034 kilometers long and 136,000 meters of elevation gain, which you cover between three and five months .
These crazy numbers belong to the HexaTrek, a route of gentle madness that aims to make a place for itself in the hearts of hikers.
Behind the project, there is Kevin Ginisty, 32 years old.
This Savoyard is an experienced adventurer.
In particular, he traveled the American continent on foot, from Argentine Patagonia to Canada.
In the last part of his trip, while walking the mythical Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), a 4,400 km trail crossing the western United States, an idea germinated in his head: to create a similar trail in France.
“I met Europeans crossing the Atlantic to do PCT. I wondered if there was a similar route across Europe,” says Kevin Ginisty.
Six months to develop the route
The Savoyard then immersed himself for six months in mapping software, mixing all the data available to set up the course.
With an obsession: to leave as much as possible to the hiker the possibility of bivouacking, that is to say, of camping in full.
The route of the Hexatrek © Hexatrek
"That's really what guided the route. In France, bivouac is allowed wherever it is not prohibited. Combining this with the topographic map and the French population density map, I found myself with this line, which starts from the Northern Vosges and goes to the Pyrenees, at Hendaye. We stay at an average altitude of 1,213 meters and 71% of the route is bivouacable", explains Kevin Ginisty.
"We didn't take a bulldozer to create the trails. They were already there. I simply connected 47 GR (long-distance hiking trails, editor's note). We are the country in the world with the most hiking trails."
An application as a
travel
companion
Kevin Ginisty sees even bigger.
He also wants to create an equivalent of the Guthook app, which helped him on the Pacific Crest Trail.
He thus imagined an application indicating each of the stages, the bivouac zones, the points of interest or even the places favorable to a supply of water or food.
But developing an app is expensive.
To carry out this side project, he decided to use crowdfunding.
It was a success: in a month and a half, the project raised 52,484 euros, or 874% of the necessary funds.
"I did this campaign thinking that there would be ten crazy people like me who would like to embark on a crossing of France and, in the end, almost a thousand people took part. I did not expect it from everything."
Among the rewards offered, free lifetime access to the application, but also the possibility of participating in the "pioneer march" alongside it, intended to set up road signs on the trail.
He will set off for this one on June 15, from Hendaye, in the Pyrenees.
On May 5, about sixty people left from the Northern Vosges and began to put up signs, in the opposite direction.
See this post on Instagram
A post shared by HexaTrek (@hexatrek)
"It's light signage with a panel every five kilometres. The idea is not to visually overload the paths. For that, we need local local authorizations. We already have them for 1,800 kilometers of journey," he says.
"
A challenge
more
mental
than physical
"
Three hundred and fifty people want to try the HexaTrek this summer.
Several hundred more will make at least one section of it.
For his part, ultratrailer Yves-Loup Fanton has got it into his head to cover the distance in 50 days... while running.
See this post on Instagram
A post shared by HexaTrek (@hexatrek)
"These participants will serve as testers by giving feedback on the application, in order to make changes to it," notes Kevin Ginisty, who still wants to reassure: "It's neither mountaineering nor via ferrata. It's really hiking. The challenge is more mental than physical."
Depending on their speed, hikers attempting the full adventure will take between three and five months to complete their journey.
It is therefore better not to leave too late in the year: the window risks closing for the participants with the snow which could be invited on the route.
A feature that brings the HexaTrek even closer to its big brother on the Pacific Crest Trail.
With the hope that, like the PCT, the HexaTrek will become a major annual event and a pilgrimage that a hiker must make at least once in his life.
You can follow the "pioneer walk" here.
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