Les Lacs circuit (trail route no. 11)

The Bouchouse mountain stream is fed by the Le Pansier and La Pisse mountain streams 1,900 metres above sea level. It crosses the municipality of La Roche-de-Rame, supplying it with water. This mountain stream then flows into the Durance below the municipality.

Des aiguilles jaune d’or en automne, des cônes violets au printemps… Le mélèze est un nuancier de couleurs tout au long de l’année, il porte plutôt bien son appellation d’arbre lumière. Il perd ses douces aiguilles caduques en automne et hiver. Au printemps, les petites branches de ce conifère sont parsemées de fleurs femelles, qui deviendront des cônes, et mâles. Le mélèze se plaît sur l’ubac et illumine la montagne.

Une petite population de mouflons fréquente les lieux. Le mouflon méditerranéen, issu de croisements entre mouflons de Corse et d'autres espèces de mouflons ou de moutons, a été introduit il y a plusieurs décennies par les sociétés de chasse. C'est un animal mal adapté à la neige, aussi se tient-il sur les pentes sud vite déneigées. Le mâle arbore de grandes cornes enroulées. Les femelles, le plus souvent sans corne, peuvent parfois en avoir, droites et peu développées.

Bel Pinet stands at 1,400 metres above sea level in the Bouchouse valley, in the municipality of La Roche-de-Rame. Bel Pinet, or Bel-Pinet, designates the slopes under the rocky cliffs of the Oumbras. It was once irrigated by the Bel Pinet Canal, which suggests that it used to be cultivated and would therefore have been less wooded. The term "Pinet" simply means a place planted with pines (Pinus in Latin). So Bel Pinet means a beautiful place planted with pines, or a beautiful pine wood.

The path runs through a forest of Scots pine, recognisable by its orangey trunk, especially at the top. This tree is very drought-resistant (it is very limey soil here) and can also withstand low temperatures. It is therefore found in large numbers in the intra-alpine valleys. 

Here, a wood of aspen trees, with smooth greenish trunks and round, crenulated leaves, adopt magnificent autumn colours. The petiole («tail») of aspen leaves is flat and twisted and can therefore be caught by the slightest breath of air. This has the effect of making the foliage tremble, hence its French name bois de tremble!

In the nineteenth century, there were four quarries in La Roche-de-Rame. They exploited deposits of metamorphosed limestone which was pink in colour. One of these, the Combe Mounière quarry, produced stone which was used in particular in the construction of the new Cathedral of Saint-Arnoux in Gap, between 1866 and 1904. When exposed to the elements, the surface of the limestone takes on a grey patina.

A harsh call sounds from the forest. A jay perhaps? No, a nutcracker, its cousin. With dark, white-spotted plumage, this bird's strong beak can break open hazelnuts (although not walnuts as suggested by its name in French, cassenoix (walnut breaker)) and in particular it can dissect Swiss pine cones in order to reach the pine nuts inside. It inhabits high forests. It buries Swiss pine nuts in the ground to store up food for the winter. When winter comes, it will find the pine nuts again even under a thick layer of snow. Those it forgets will germinate.

On the water's edge, in the wet meadow, plants with a cottony head sway gently. This is cotton grass, a plant which has insignificant rudimentary flowers but it has fruits that have feathery tufts which aid their dispersal by the wind. The fruits are grouped in such a way that their tufts form a very appealing «pompom»! These plants are well adapted to the mountain climate.

The common frog has adapted to high altitudes and can occupy waters up to an altitude of 2,800 metres. It is capable of surviving the harsh winters by sheltering from freezing temperatures under a rock or tree stump. This amphibian is the most common frog in the mountains and is recognisable by its chocolate coloured mask which highlights its golden eyes. Interestingly, the tadpoles mature very slowly: it takes two years for them to become adults.

La Roche-de-Rame lies between two small valleys where the municipality's alpine pastures are located: the Bouchouse and L'Ascension valleys. The latter only has one sheepfold and a number of lakes, including the Lac de l'Ascension, lying at an altitude of 2,306 metres.

The limestone pavement is a more or less horizontal geological surface formation created in compact limestone. It is the result of the dissolving of the carbonate substances in the limestone by cold water flowing over it, which leads to the formation of crevices, gullies and cavities. Numerous limestone pavements were formed when the large Quaternary glaciers melted (cold water!), but they continue to be eroded when the snow melts.

De là, vous apercevrez le majestueux Mont Pelvoux, haut de 3493 m d’altitude. Cet imposant massif a longtemps été considéré comme le plus haut sommet du Massif des Écrins. C’est en 1828 que le sommet du Pelvoux fut vaincu par le capitaine A. Durand avec les chasseurs de chamois J.-E. Mathéoud et A. Liotard. Il est composé de quatre sommets : la Pointe Puiseux (3 946 m), la Pointe Durand (3 932 m), le Petit Pelvoux (3 753 m) et les Trois Dents du Pelvoux (3 682 m).