Refuge des Merveilles - Refuge Valmasque

Dogs Leashed

Features Lake · Views · Wildlife

This could preferably be stage 2 of a 3-day round-trip backpacking trip around Mont Bego starting and ending in Casterino.

Reservations are recommended for overnight stays at Refuge Merveilles and Refuge Valmasque.

This hike starts at the Refuge des Merveilles and passes south of Le Lac Long Superieur before you start the single, very manageable ascent to 2,565 m (Baisse de Valmasque). On this part of the hike you'll be able to spot several petroglyphs on the rocks that you pass, and the notion of people having made these several thousand years ago is simply fantastic.

From the Baisse de Valmasque, you'll have beautiful views back along the trail, that you have just climbed, and forward toward the string of lakes that you'll be passing as you continue on. This part of the hike follows along the GR52 Trail.

From the Baisse, the trail winds down and the GR52 turns of to your left a little before you reach Lac du Basto. This is the first of a series of three very beautiful lakes (the following two being Le Lac Noir and Le Lac Vert) that you'll pass, before the trail ends at the Refuge Valmasque, where you should book your overnight stay ahead.

Along the route you'll probably spot several chamois and, if you are lucky, also ibex.

See the previous and following stage of the loop around Mont Bego here:
Stage 1: Castérino - Refuge des Merveilles
Stage 3: Refuge Valmasque - Castérino

You may spot marmot, chamois, and ibex.