Photo : kallerna / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Le Lac Allos
Lac d'Allos, at 2,230 metres' altitude in the Mercantour National Park, is often presented as the largest natural high-altitude lake in Europe. It occupies a cirque carved by the Quaternary glaciers of the upper Verdon and is overlooked by Mont Pelat (3,051 m). Its area is about 43 hectares, and its depth can reach 50 metres, which sometimes gives it a very saturated blue tint.
A developed path climbs through the woods from the Laus plateau to its shores, then lets you walk round it. The lake has no surface outflow: its waters reach the Verdon by an underground passage, towards the source of the Chadoulin. There are trout and Arctic char, as well as alpine flora of grasslands, rhododendrons and larches. The little chapel of Notre-Dame des Monts stands on the shore, with a sundial dated 1757.
