The Puy de Tourrettes and the Pic de Courmettes seen from Gourdon
Sometines, I update a page that already exists on this website; most often, I do this to reprocess photos so that I can present them at a higher quality. I am, however, calling this page a new page, even though its subject has already been shown on this site back in April of 2007. I feel that this is warranted, because I redid the page from the grond up: there are now more photos, the text has been rewritten, in other words, this really is a new page. Not convinced? See if looking at the original page helps.
This page shows photos taken on April 15, 2007 on a hike to the Puy de Tourrettes (1,268 meters or 4,160 feet) and Pic de Courmettes (1,248 meters or 4,095 feet). Ever since I walked around the Gorges du Loup and visited the Domaine de Courmettes,, I wanted to see what the view from the Pic de Courmettes was like. I had seen a few websites that described it as spectacular, but there were not too many photos. I decided to remedy the situation.
The journey started in the parking lot of the tiny village of Courmes at about 8:30 a.m. and followed the GR 51 hiking trail ("GR" stands for Grande Randonnée and denotes major hiking trails. See this page for more information). After a while, I had to turn left to remain on the GR 61. While I had climbed steadily since leaving Courmes, the path now adopted a gentle downhill slope through a wooded area
Click on any of the small images below to see a larger version!
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The hike begins in the tiny village of Courmes |
We begin climbing |
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Sometimes the paths skirts meadows |
Mostly it leads through woods |
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We keep following the GR 51 hiking trail |
A cistern used in combatting forest fires |
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To stay on the GR 51 we must turn left |
Temporarily, the trail descends |
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Almost exactly one hour into the hike, we reach this rock fountain |
The trail leaves the woods and we enjoy wonderful views |
Soon, the path began climbing again, and got out of the woods and into the open. With no trees in the way, the view opened up dramatically. The path at this point was really rather easy; the main difficulty consisted in not tripping over a rock while admiring the scenery. From here, I had an excellent view of the Gorges du Loup and the village of Courmes far below. I had covered quite a bit of ground! After a while. I had to abandon the GR 51 and turne right to start ascending the northwest side of the Puy de Tourrettes. The view was opening up more and more as I got higher; at the same time, the path, where it existed at all, got steeper and more rocky until I reached the summit, a fairly large gently sloping field.
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Still climbing under open skies |
Looking down on Courmes, from where we started a while back |
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Looking back to Courmes and the Gorges du Loup |
We are definitely above the tree line now |
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We are about to leave the GR 51 hiking trail and veer right... |
...to take the more rocky path to the Puy de Tourrettes. |
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The scenery is just spectacular |
As we get close to the summit, the path gets steeper |
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On the summit of the Puy de Tourrettes |
The trail to the Pic de Courmettes |
Here, we are at 1,268 meters (4,160 feet) above sea level. It had taken me about two hours and a half to get to the highest point of the hike. From here, I also had an excellent view of the Pic de Courmettes and its craggy and uninviting (unless one is into rock climbing) west face. To get to the Pic de Courmettes, I made my way down the south side of the Puy de Tourrettes until I reached the lowest point between the two peaks; a cairn marked the spot. Then I started climbing again. Looking back, it became evident just how steep the path down from the Puy de Tourrettes really had been. The summit of the Pic de Courmettes was the perfect spot to have my picnic lunch and relax for a while while admiring the glorious view.
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We'll stay away from that part! |
Between the two peaks |
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Looking back to the Puy de Tourrettes |
On the summit of the Pic de Courmettes |
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Time to take a break and admire the view |
Looking down onto the village of Le Bar-sur-Loup |
Even though at 1,248 meters (4,094 feet), the Pic de Courmettes is not quite as high as the Puy de Tourrettes, it is from here that the view is the most spectacular. Looking down the mountain's south side, one can clearly see the Domaine de Courmettes. To the southwest lies the village of Le Bar-sur-Loup, whereas in the northwest, we can see Courmes where the car is waiting, some 630 meters (2,067 feet) below us. On the summit, many rocks were literally covered with overwintering ladybugs, a rather unusual sight. Soon, it was time to head back. Rather than climb up the extremely steep path to the Puy de Tourrettes again and head back the way I had come, I decided to make my way down to the point between the two mountains and then head southeast down the ravine to eventually join the path that leads to the Domaine de Courmettes. There was no real path, but as long as I headed in the correct general direction and kept going downhill, I should be on the right track—or so I thought.
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Looking towards the north |
Looking down onto the Domaine des Courmettes |
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Hibernating seven-spotted ladybugs |
Time to leave the summit and begin heading down |
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On the way down |
It's getting steeper the further down one gets |
The further down I got, the more narrow, steep, and rocky the ravine I was in became. At some point, any further progress was blocked by an enormous thicket with thorny branches. Clearly, I there was no way to continue from there. I had to climb back up much of the areas I had come down from; I eventually did find a ravine that ended up on the path that led to the Domaine des Courmettes. From then on it was easy. I passed a herd of sheep and continued up towards the Plateau de Courmettes. I joined the GR51 again at the spot I had passed in the morning and continued down through the woods on the same path I had come up a few hours earlier and finally reached Courmes and my car.
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The terrain is getting increasingly difficult |
Dead end! I missed a turn and had to climb back up this part |
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Grazing sheep by the Domaine des Courmettes |
Back by the trail that leads to Courmes |
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First we have to climb up to the Plateau de Courmettes |
Looking to the Pic de Courmettes were we sat four hours ago |
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Walking through the wooded trail that leads back to Courmes |
Finally, we are back in Courmes |
With all the ups and downs, one climbs some 950 meters (3,117 feet) during this hike. Because I stayed on the summit of the Pic de Courmettes for quite a while and lost a great deal of time on the way down, the entire trek took almost nine hours if one includes the emergency beverage break when returning to Courmes (I had run out of water when I reached a dead end on the way down). The whole hike could be done in much less time, and provided one stays on marked paths and doesn't get stuck in ravines, there is no difficulty whatsoever. This is clearly a highly recommended outing!
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