The Montagnou de la Pâle caves in the Très-Croutz Forest

The start is just past Ferme Cacha, at a bend in the road. Park your car in the small car park with two spaces.

(Start/Finish) Turn right off the road (in the direction you arrived from) onto the yellow-marked path towards Le Pladi. N.B. The start of this walk is also identified as “Route No. 4” or “Karst Discovery Trail” by the Saint-Pé-de-Bigorre Tourist Office, and is marked in green.

Follow the series of bends along a wide path that is a little rough at the start. At signpost 759, you’ll see a large sinkhole to the right of the path (with traces of old mountain bike jump ramps).

805 m after the start, at elevation 570, you’ll find the entrance/exit to the Grotte de la Bouhadère or Porche de la Bouhadère (which blows cool air in summer) to the left of the path. It lies a few metres back from the path, immediately below it, marked by a signpost.
Equipped with a torch and a helmet, you can pass through its low entrance and enter a first chamber large enough for more than ten people to stand upright. Do not follow the meandering passage that leads out of this chamber, as you will soon come across a dangerous 11-metre-deep shaft.

On your way back out to the path, on the right as you climb, a little higher up, there is a small gaping hole. This is another entrance/exit to the Grotte de la Bouhadère. You can even spot a third, much smaller one in the ledge below and to the right of the second hole.
All three holes lead into the same cavity of the Grotte de la Bouhadère.

Walk back down the Yellow/Green path for a few dozen metres and, at^{the first} signpost at the junction, turn left onto a secondary path, marked only in green, which leads in 5 minutes to the so-called No. 1 entrance to the Grotte de la Pale.

(2). A little further along this same path, you’ll reach the two so-called ‘No. 2’ entrances to the Grotte de la Pale (also known as the Gabarrets Caves or the Soleil No. 2 Caves).

Then retrace your steps and, at the crossroads, rejoin the main Yellow/Green path by heading uphill to the right and passing the entrances to the Grotte de la Bouhadère once more. Continue the ascent. At another junction with a second sign (elevation 630), take a new secondary path on the right, marked in green and signposted ‘Sentier du milieu’.

After a few hundred metres, you’ll reach a signpost. Just before this signpost, a small path branches off uphill to the left. It is in a small ravine marking a fracture that the Grotte des Coumates, or Tute des Loirs, opens up.

Return to the secondary path marked in green and continue along it to the left. After a few hundred metres more, you’ll reach a sharp limestone pavement where you’ll need to use your hands to climb over a small ledge.
Proceed with extreme caution, as the area can be dangerous, until you reach the monumental vertical entrance to the Gouffre du Hayau, hidden behind the rocks. A 30-metre shaft prevents entry without specialist equipment.
When cavers enter this cave, they emerge at the Grotte de la Bouhadère after descending more than 100 metres underground; this is known as a ‘traversée’.

(3) Retrace your steps eastwards along the secondary path marked in green, pass the Sentier des Coumates again, and well before the junction with the main path, turn left onto a small but clearly marked path which, following the contour line, leads to the Crèque Noèle cave in 5 minutes. It is a delightful little cave which you can enter standing up with no equipment other than a torch or even a helmet (and which is well worth a visit in its own right).

Retrace your steps eastwards to the secondary path marked in green, then on to the main path, marked in green and yellow, and continue the ascent straight ahead. You’ll reach a flat area. At the multi-directional sign for ‘Sentier karstique-Ferme Soulas-Ferme Cacha’ on the right, carry on straight ahead. Pass one of the boundary markers for the undivided forest of Saint-Pé on the right – here, a simple rock engraved with the number 110 and painted red and white.

At the signpost (and a special marker), head up to the right of the path and look for the vertical entrance to the Gouffre de la Borne 109. This chasm can be identified by a steel bar spanning its entrance and a wooden barrier providing basic protection against access. Do take care in the vicinity, however!
This marks the end of the walk.

(5) Retrace your steps along the main path back to the Cacha farm car park (S/E).

The mountain ridge we are focusing on today (or ‘chaînon’ – a ‘sarrat’ or ‘serra’ in Gascon) is that of La Pale, topped by the Picoulets ridge (meaning ‘little peaks’).
Traversed for centuries by shepherds and charcoal burners for pastoralism and forestry, this ridge was also explored in the mid-20th century by Father Bernard Abadie, who discovered most of the remarkable caves throughout the Saint-Pé massif, and particularly here:

• Coumates Cave
• Gouffre de la Borne 109
• Hayaü Abyss
• Bouhadère Cave
• Grotte de la Pâle (or Grotte des Gabarrets)
• Crèque Noèle, ...

Warning
The locations of the caves on the IGN map are very approximate, if not downright fanciful; do not rely on them. OpenStreetMap is a better option.

Estimated time
I completed this route in 3 hours, including breaks. This is a fairly generous estimate.

Shelter
Only the entrance porch of the Bouhadère cave might offer shelter in the event of a heavy rainstorm or hailstorm.

Equipment
Bring the usual equipment for a short route in the mid-mountain range (hiking boots, suitable clothing, rainwear, water, a little food, a knife, a compass, a map, a whistle, etc.).

Flora and fauna
The vegetation in this mountain range reflects the extent of soil dryness caused by the terrain and the highly permeable nature of the substrates
. This is a south-facing slope, very sunny, well sheltered and rather arid. On the northern slope, it is quite different, with a mix of deciduous and coniferous trees: boxwood, birch and hazel – two pioneer forest species – as well as larch, American red oak and beech, and two species that colonised the forest in the late 19th century: Douglas fir and spruce. On the ground and on the tree trunks, mosses and ferns dominate.
The wildlife is mainly found in the air: many birds of prey live within the reserve.

Geology
It is well worth consulting the guide published by the Saint-Pé tourist office, which provides an excellent description of the environment: a nature trail through karst terrain.

Places to visit nearby
- The town of Lourdes;
- The Batsurguère valley;
- The village of Saint-Pé-de-Bigorre, the village itself, its cultural heritage, its events, the Très Crouts Forest and the Pibeste-Aoulhet Regional Nature Reserve, and water sports;
- The Bétharram Caves;
- The Gaves Valley,