I started out at Balise 124 and followed the Route de L’Armee des Alpes which was a wide, sunny track.

Along the way are casernes from WWII.

Then I entered the Parc de Mercantour for the climb to Baisse de Levens which passed through a shady forest of pines and firs.It’s particular to the region and called l’Ostryaie

It took about 45 minutes to get to the Baisse de Levens. I followed the balises pointing to Mont Gros but shortly after this point, the trail seemed to peter out.

June 2012

June 17, 2012

Instead of following the trail along the ridge, I probably should have climbed straight up the steep hill to get to Mont Gros but it was poorly indicated.

Anyway it was a beautiful spot to eat my sandwich.

I then followed the balises down a very gentle path that wound round and round ending up at balise 136 (?) which was under the Col de Brouis on the road.

It was a kilometre or two up the road to get back to my starting point. All in all it was a beautiful, shady hike, perfect for warm weather. In springtime, the snowy Mercantour in the distance and the spring flowers budding everywhere made it special.

All in all, it was a little over 4 hours with a denivilé of about 350m. Since it was mostly shady, it’s a great hike for warm weather.

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