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Departure from the car park, located at the beginning of Rue du Théâtre, opposite La Popotte, the base camp for regulars at the Théâtre du Peuple, and what remains of the Pottecher factories.
The trail is marked by the Club Vosgien ( see Practical Information).
(S/E) Walk up Rue du Théâtre towards the theatre. Pass it after about 300 m and you will arrive at a three-way junction, next to an imposing wooden building.
(1) Turn right onto Route des Champs Colnots. Follow this road for about 300 m until you reach a junction with a tarmac road on the left and a grassy path on the right, next to an old wooden farmhouse sheltered by an imposing lime tree.
(2) Leave the road and take the small path on the right, which climbs steeply up the hillside, first between a meadow and a garden, then disappears under a canopy of vegetation, emerging only when it passes between two chalets. Ignore the road that leads to them and continue straight ahead uphill.
When the path levels out and reaches a wooded valley, turn right onto a faint trail that joins a small road a little further up. Be careful, at the point where you have to turn, the map does not show the path that leads to the bottom of the valley, even though it is more visible than the one you have to turn onto. At the road, turn left and continue to the farm.
(3) The road ends at the farm. Go around it on the right to pass it and continue along a tree-lined path that leads to an old farm in the middle of pastures. Leave it on the left of the path and continue until you reach an area of blueberry heathland, then the forest canopy. A little further on, leave a path on the left, towards La Roche du Frey, and continue until you reach the Berhamont ridge and the GR® 553 trail that runs along it.
(4) At the path, turn right onto a straight path that more or less follows the ridge until you reach a forest track. Forestry operations have recently been carried out (July 2022) in this area, which is more or less passable, especially in wet weather.
After balancing between the two slopes, this track quickly moves away from the ridge, leaving it on the right. Continue for about 200 m.
(5) Leave this track for the one that descends to the left. It quickly winds its way down a long bend to the left, then another to the right, descending the entire wooded slope. As you approach the first pastures, it joins a service road leading to a house that can be seen below as soon as you take a few steps to the right.
(6) The path then climbs back up towards the Croix de Fresse via a balcony path above the Goutte de Laula. In this section, the view is unobstructed and offers a beautiful panorama of the lower Vosges. Follow this path until you reach the crossroads where the cross stands.
(7) Cross the pass to begin the descent on the opposite side, passing in front of the cross. Throughout the descent, the view offers a beautiful panorama of the upper Moselle valley, the Col de Bussang and, in the distance, the Grand Ballon massif. Pass under the Chalet de la Croix de Fresse and descend straight ahead for about 500 metres until you reach the start of a path on the left, after a wide curve to the left and when the track begins to curve back.
(8) Leave theGR® and turn right. The atmosphere changes once you reach the canopy of vegetation covering the path. As you approach the first farm, the path makes two consecutive hairpin bends before coming out onto a small road, just before the Quatre Vents crossroads.
(9) Cross the crossroads, continue straight ahead, descend the first hairpin bend to the left, then immediately turn right into the first small lane you come to. After the houses it serves, the lane continues along a pleasant path that leads to the first houses of the village of Bussang. At the end of the path, turn left to return to the car park where you started (S/E).
Visorando member
Moderate 
Difficult 
