Le Caroux from Les Avels

No markings

(S/E) Leave the Auberge des Avels via the road (north-west). At the fork, leave the Croix de Douch car park on your right.

White and red markings

(1) Turn left, go through a gate and descend along the Route des Gorges de Colombières. Cross the bridge over the Ruisseau d'Arles, pass the mill and reach the entrance to the hamlet of La Fage.

(2) Climb up the path on the right. After three hairpin bends in the undergrowth, climb up through the heather towards the south-west. Continue along a wider path and come out onto the Caroux aux Clapasses plateau.

(3) At the T-junction, continue straight ahead into the heathland. Cross the plateau and reach another T-junction.

(4) Continue straight ahead across the plateau. At the fork, turn left towards Jasse de Joucla, then leave the ruins on your left and reach a peat bog.

(5) Cross it on a wooden pontoon. Continue south-west, enter a pine forest and reach a crossroads.

(6) Turn left onto a wide grassy track. At the crossroads, continue straight ahead towards the south. At the fork, descend to the right and reach the Caroux orientation table.

(7) With your back to the valley, take a balcony path on the left, first heading north, then north-west. This leads to a wider path; take it to the right. At the fork, take the right-hand path along the edge of the forest. This leads to a track; take it to the left, then turn left under the pine trees and you will reach the Font Salesse refuge.

(8) Behind the refuge, take the track heading north. At the fork, continue left, going around the Fontaine Salesse on the right. Cut across a track, walk along a low wall and descend through the beech forest on a steep, rocky path. Leave the woods, cut across a path and come out onto a path below.

Yellow markings

(9) Descend to the right along the stony path between the beech trees and reach the Douch picnic area. Take the D180E5 on the right for 200 m and reach the entrance to a car park.

(10) Climb up to the right along the Défense de la Forêt Contre les Incendies (D.F.C.I.) firebreak. You will reach a hairpin bend.

(11) Continue climbing to the right. 400 m after a second hairpin bend, look for a path climbing to the left (elevation 1060). Take this path and you will reach the Caroux watchtower.

(12) Take the path on the left through the heathland, then descend along the edge of the beech forest. Reach the T-junction you encountered on the way up.

White and red markings

(4) Take the wide path on the left on the plateau and reach another T-junction that you already encountered on the way there.

(3) Descend opposite. Continue along a path that plunges into the Colombières Gorges, heading north-east. After three hairpin bends, you will come to a road at the entrance to the hamlet of La Fage, which you passed on the way there.

(2) Take it to the left, pass the mill and cross the bridge over the Ruisseau d'Arles. Go up the road and cross a barrier near the Croix de Douch car park, which you already passed on the way there.

No markings

(1) Turn right onto the road on the hillside and reach Les Avels (S/E).

Hike completed by the author on 04/09/2020.

This route follows the GR® 7 from Croix de Douch (1) to Douch (9). Its description can be found in the TopoGuides published by the French Hiking Federation:
- "La Traversée du Massif central par les Parcs: de La Bastide-Puylaurent à Castelnaudary" (Crossing the Massif Central through the Parks: from La Bastide-Puylaurent to Castelnaudary), reference 7002,
- "Crossing the Haut-Languedoc", reference 716.

From the T-junction (4), the GR® 7 joins the PR® "Le sommet du Caroux". Its description can be found in the TopoGuide "L'Hérault à pied" published by the French Hiking Federation under reference D034.

From La Fage (2), the climb up to the Caroux Plateau is steep.

Auberge des Avels (S/E).

Showers: water, picnic area (bread oven and statue of a mouflon), stopover lodge shortly afterwards (9).

View of the Colombières Gorges from (S) to (3).

Tourbière de la Lande (5): to avoid trampling on sphagnum moss and sundews, do not leave the wooden pontoon built on the bog.

Caroux orientation table (7): overlooking the Orb valley, the Gorges d'Héric and Bardou. The panorama stretches from Pic Saint-Loup to the Pyrenees, with the Gulf of Lion in the background. Observe the colony of red kites.

Viewpoint (11) overlooking:
- the Montagne de Rosis watchtower,
- the Montagne de l'Espinouse wind farm.

Caroux watchtower (12):
- 360° panorama, in particular from Mont Ventoux to the Pyrenees,
- view of Dio Castle.