Discovering the Route des Crêtes

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It is an emblematic route of the Vosges massif: the Route des Crêtes. More than 70 km of bitumen crisscross the highest peaks between Alsace and Lorraine, meadows and forests. It offers breathtaking panoramas, unforgettable encounters and sometimes, at the end of the path, a little adventure. The 13 -hour newspaper takes you along the Vosges Crêtes Route for a day at altitude. A day that starts at dawn for a group of hikers. It is in search of another emblem of the massif, the chamois, that they leave with Yannick Holtzer, mountain guide. “The Route des Crêtes allows us to have positions, where very quickly, walking for a few minutes, we arrive at the observation places of the animal”he explains.

The foot of the Hohneck, a highest point in the Department of the Vosges, and a glacial circus are places where chamois are particularly like. They are almost immediately attentive observers. “Looking at their behavior, seeing that there are births every year is nice”Share Gilbert Kravtsoff, Breton tourist.

Today, accustomed to the Hauts-de-Vosges cliffs, the Chamois had nevertheless disappeared before being reintroduced in 1956. “Now there are many of them, there are between 900 and 1,000 on the entire large crest of the Vosges massif, which marks the Route des Crêtes”, Note Yannick Holtzer.

On the Crêtes road, thousands of vehicles run through it every day. An incessant back and forth. And in the middle, many regulars, like tourists from Essonne, in love with these landscapes. “We see the Vosges on one side. When we go up a little we see Alsace, we have a feeling of freedom. When we see these mountains, it’s magnificent”says one of them. The road, traced during the war of 14-18 for military reasons, has now become strategic for tourism.

And then there are the other essentials of the ridges: its farms and its inns. To produce his cheese, Christophe Schickel, innkeeper farmer, still uses wood fire, like his father, his grandfather and his great-grandfather before him. “Every day, we will do the same cheese, but every day, it will be different. It all depends on the weather, it all depends on the draw, it all depends on where the cows were …”he assures. A traditional cheese which he sells directly to the farm where hikers and tourists can also sit down. On the menu, the famous Marcaire meal, traditional massif farms. Dishes that we share, a bit like at home, on large tables.

Enough to regain strength before returning to the road, direction the Markstein, at 1,200 meters above sea level. The ski resort is also the main site of paragliding in the massif. “In the Vosges, we do not have large mountains that protect us. These are only low massifs. When there is little wind, it’s perfect for practicing paragliding and performing great distances on the massif”Details Yassinne N’Doubella, paragliding instructor.

It is also the ideal place to learn to fly, while enjoying another point of view on the mountains. In a few minutes, Alain Bertrand, tourist from the Loiret will fly with an instructor, for a two -seater flight. “There is always a little stress that goes up. Even if we have already done it once, apprehension is still there”he confides. For the last point of view: the large balloon and its 1,424 meters, the highest point of the massif and end of the Route des Crêtes.