The summit of the Drumont via the eastern slope from Urbes

Head to URBES (68) between Bussang and Thann. Park in the car park located after the ‘Benelux/Bâle’ campsite along Rue de la Scierie, which begins on the RD 4066 (formerly the RN 66) at the foot of the climb up to the Col de Bussang.

(S/E) Continue along the road (Rue de la Scierie) towards the west and, after the right-hand bend, you’ll reach the viaduct.

(1) Pass under the central arch of the viaduct, which was originally intended to carry a railway line. See “During the walk” §(A).
Before the last house, turn right onto a grassy path, then right again. Low stone walls serve as retaining walls and fences. Note the signposting for the Tunnel Discovery Trail in the opposite direction. Here, too, is an information panel dedicated to this viaduct, with a striking iron sculpture beside it. Walk past the village’s water reservoir.
The path leads onto a small tarmac road that heads towards the hamlet of Brisgau.

(2) Continue straight on, following the Yellow Triangle signposting for about 300 m. Do not go down into the hamlet but turn left onto a dirt track which is actually the old railway line and is not signposted. In a cutting in the rock, pass under a footbridge and turn left immediately to cross over it.

(3) At the end of this, turn left towards “Gustiberg/Drumont”, following the Red Disc markings. The climb consists of a series of tight hairpin bends. The path crosses several forest tracks. At the fourth one, turn left. The welcoming “Paradis Hissel” chalet is signposted 400 m ahead, still following the Red Disc markings. Continue to a Fork in the road, just before the chalet.

(4) Turn right, following the Blue Triangle markings, towards Le Drumont. After about 50 m, do not follow the track but head left up the path that starts on the embankment, right at the start of the area that has been clear-cut, offering a first view of the Markstein and the Grand Ballon. The path, which is often straight, climbs gently.

(5) When you reach a forest track (marked with a Blue Cross), continue straight up a path which widens slightly and veers to the left, leading to the edge of the woods at the boundary of the pastures belonging to the Ferme Auberge de Gustiberg.

(6) Carry on straight ahead, following the Blue Triangle markings, towards the summit of Drumont, leaving the return path on your right. The climb becomes quite steep. Cross a small copse to emerge at the foot of the pastures belonging to the Drumont Farm Inn. One last little effort and you’ll pass beneath the paragliding launch area, where the paragliders skim past the hikers’ ears.

(7) Cross the fence and follow the path uphill towards the orientation table visible at the summit of the Drumont. It offers a 360° view. The signs on the table make it easy to get your bearings. Look out for the Grand Ballon and its ‘ball’, the Thann valley, the Ballon de Servance with its mast, and many other peaks.

(8) After taking in the spectacular views, head down towards the north-east (Blue Rectangle markings) to join the^GR®531. On the left, you’ll see the traditional boundary markers of the old border (here, marker 3149), erected after the defeat of 1870. Continue to the Hasenkopf crossroads.
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(9) At the crossroads, leave the^GR®531and turn right to follow the^first path, marked with a Yellow Disc, which descends through the scree. You’ll soon reach the Lochberg meadow. Pass to the left of the livestock buildings, then turn right to go underneath them. The path widens and you’ll come to the access road to the farm. Continue to the hairpin bend at the far end of the pasture.

(10) Do not follow the signposting which heads left, but take the forest track straight ahead – unmarked and slightly uphill towards the south-east. After a good kilometre, you’ll reach the Gustiberg pasture once more.

(6) Carry on straight ahead along the fence (marked with a Yellow Triangle) and follow the gravelled track to the Gustiberg inn. Walk past the buildings and follow the tarmac road for a few hundred metres until you reach, a little further down, the^first junction which serves as a car park.

(11) Turn right and follow the road. After a second junction, turn left to follow a path marked with a Yellow Triangle towards Urbes. After a few zigzags, the path joins another road. Turn right, then a little further on turn left to reach the Maison du Haut Mahrel. Don’t count on finding shelter in bad weather – everything is closed.

(12) Before reaching the building, go down the few steps of the stone staircase on the right and head towards the fountain. After a short descent, you’ll come to a lovely road. Turn left. The road becomes tarmacked.

(13) On the left, you’ll see traces of an ancient Roman road. See “During the walk” §(B).
Ignore the first path on the right but carry on until you reach the junction of two lovely roads.

(14) Turn right, passing the site of a former sawmill. See §(C) information board. Some remains of the buildings, including the waterwheel pit, are visible. You will soon come to a bridge which was also intended to carry the railway line.

(15) Climb the embankment on the right to visit the site of the tunnel entrance and the memorial. See §(D). Head back down, pass under the bridge and, at the junction before the left-hand bend, veer slightly to the right then turn left, climbing the steps of the porch of a former camp administrative building.

(16) Follow the Red Disc markings, passing in front of the two entrances to the Saint-Antoine mine. See §(E). Continue along the path, which is equipped with wooden footbridges. The path winds its way along the bottom of the main road and leads to the site of a former ore washing plant and then a spinning mill. Cross the stream via a metal footbridge.

(17) Turn left to rejoin the Red Disc-marked path, which, at the edge of the woodland, leads to the access road to the campsite. Simply turn sharply left to reach the car park (S/E).

The “Paradis Hissel” shelter, 2 hours 15 minutes from the start, is ideal for a first break.

Places to eat:
- at the Drumont farmhouse inn (closed for an indefinite period on the day this route was proposed – please enquire).
- at the Gustiberg farmhouse inn.
A watering point for our four-legged friends at Lochberg and Haut Mahrel

Names and meanings of the Club Vosgien signposts.

In 1933, work began on the construction of a standard-gauge double-track railway line intended to link the stations at Bussang and Wesserling, thereby providing a connection between Mulhouse and Épinal. The Vosges mountain range was to be crossed via a tunnel passing beneath the Col de Bussang. Work was halted in 1935.

(A) – The Urbès viaduct, abandoned in 1935, still stands isolated and unused in the middle of the landscape. Measuring 37 metres in length and 20 metres in height, it is constructed of reinforced concrete. The visible parts were to have been clad with cut stone from the Vosges sandstone. The earth embankments flanking the structure, created by the tunnelling work, were never completed. They were intended to be 75 metres wide at the base and 20 metres wide at the crest

(B) – A Roman road, which followed an ancient Celtic track, crossed the Thur valley and linked Basel to Metz via the Bussang Pass. This short section, approximately fifty metres long, is characterised by two ruts spaced 112 cm apart from centre to centre, preventing carts from slipping into the ravine. A section of this road also remains near Malmerspach.

(C) - The sawmill was set up to produce the timber required for the scaffolding and formwork of the structures, as well as for the construction of buildings on the railway line’s construction site. Situated alongside the stream, it operated during 1933 and 1934, powered by a waterwheel.

(D) – The Urbès Tunnel was originally a bold project: to link two valleys by ‘piercing’ the Vosges. For economic reasons, it was abandoned in 1935. The Second World War broke out shortly afterwards. The unfinished tunnel provided a good hiding place and was taken over by the Germans in 1943 for use as an armaments factory. Aeroplane engines were manufactured there. It then very quickly became one of the 70 satellite concentration camps of the Natzwiller-Struthof camp. The entrance was protected by a concrete bunker. It is a major memorial site in the Hautes Vosges region of Alsace

(E) The Saint-Antoine Cave
Excavation of this mine began in the late 17th century. Copper and limonite were extracted here. Mining operations ceased around 1760. The extracted ore was washed a little further up the slope. The tunnels are now flooded.