Tour of Lac de Joux

The Vallée de Joux, with its eponymous lake, is nestled between two Jura mountain ranges. The valley, with its rugged, unspoiled nature, is a true gem. Circular trail no. 127, Tour du Lac de Joux, is stunningly beautiful. Forests, meadows, and boardwalks alternate; the scenery and views are fantastic. The weather changed almost every 10 minutes; rain, wind, and sunshine alternated, so we hardly saw anyone around – wonderful.

Circumnavigation of the Lac de Joux lake. My hike today took me to the Vaud Jura. Away from the snow that just won't disappear at my Schwarzsee. Until the middle of the week there were still several centimeters of snow right by the lake and suddenly there were a few touring skiers again 🫣. Hikes at high altitudes are currently unthinkable in my region. So off to a foreign country. The Lac de Joux is the largest lake in the entire Jura massif and lies at 1004m. The lake is therefore only slightly lower than the Schwarzsee at 1045m. But since we are far away from the main Alpine ridge, which has received the most fresh snow in recent days, there was only some visible white in the landscape at the highest altitudes. My hiking boots started clockwise from the lake outflow in Le Pont because that is simply the first town on the lake that you reach via main roads from the east. I discovered that there are parking spaces (free) on the right side of the lake. This side of the lake up to the village of Le Sentier on the upper lake basin is clearly less varied than the left side of the lake. There are many tarred sections on the lake walk, often accompanied by trees on the left and right (ideal for shade in summer), but it is precisely these trees with their roots that have made the path very bumpy (wavy). Instead of these tar bulges, it would have been better to make a compacted gravel path, which would also be easier to repair. So with a stroller it would be extremely difficult on this path by the lake and even on foot you constantly had to be careful not to trip when looking at the landscape. After about half of my tour I reached Le Sentier, where I quickly stocked up on food and drink. That was already planned, I started without luggage. When walking back to the starting point, on the left side of the lake, you are still right by the lake until about halfway, but then you climb up to a high plateau. From here I often encountered chamois, even right in the lawns by residential buildings 😳. In fact, this was the most beautiful part of the whole tour, forest paths with an alpine, rocky character. According to the motto: The best comes last 👌🏼😊 Addendum. When looking at photos #9 & #10, I noticed something that I almost forgot, but is still a very lasting memory of this tour. On the right of these photos you can see lots of little black dots. It was catastrophic! On the first half of the tour to Le Sentier, there were swarms of these little black flies over very long stretches. They were having the time of their lives. Millions of them 🤮🤬. I could puke when I think back to it. You could only breathe through your nose otherwise your mouth would be full. And after such passages you had to shake yourself vigorously because your clothes were swarming with these annoying creatures. I wonder if it would be better at a different time of year?

Cool hike. Great hiking trails. Inspired by Ulrich and Sabrina

Left to go around the Lac de Joux, gray but dry on the first half and rain on the rest of the tour, note my very nice encounter with a whole herd of chamois that I was able to approach within 15 meters without they don't go all over the place. Wonderful moment.😆👌

Very nice tour with as a reward the chamois placed in the meadows next to the path.