Lac Vert and Lac du Forlet

From the parking lot, join the Lac Vert road and take the trail (blue-white-blue) up to Lac Vert (1044m) or Soultzeren Lake, which occupies the site of a former natural lake, the Darensee. Its current extent was given by raising a first dam in 1835 that was raised again in 1890. It gets its name from the green color given by the presence in its waters of a microscopic alga that proliferates around Saint John’s Day, the period when the green color is most marked. Cross the dam and follow the drivable path to the first bend then the trail (yellow disc). After the farm and the Gaertlesrain pasture, before entering the forest, pass next to the Erichson chalet of the Club Vosgien de Munster, whose G. Erichson was president from 1923 to 1930. At the small clearing of Tiefenbrunnen, with its chalet of unusual architecture, follow the trail to the right which opens into the glacial cirque where Lac du Forlet (wrongly called Trout Lake) is nestled, the highest lake of the Vosges (1065 m) built between 1849 and 1853 to regulate the flow of the Fecht and which owes its name to the pine trees (Forle) lining its shores and not to the presence of trout in its waters (Forelle).

Take the red triangle to the left that passes in front of the farm inn before taking the Neunlist Trail (President of the Club Vosgien de Munster 1984-1997) and climb towards the ridge and the Soultzerer Eck (yellow triangle). From there follow the main ridge which leads to the Col de la Schlucht (red rectangle) along the granite cliff which, on the Alsatian side, overlooks the Cirque du Forlet with, on the Lorraine side, the high chaumes of the Tanet-Gazon du Faing nature reserve created to preserve this area of moors and wet beech forests, which until recently hardly had any trees. Even if this situation evolves little by little, the trees that develop there testify through their small size and twisted shapes to the harshness of the climate and the strength of the winds to which they are exposed.

The Taubenklangfelsen rock (1299m) offers a plunging view of the Cirque du Forlet and the Valley. Further on, the orientation table reveals a 360° panorama from where, in clear weather, the view extends more than 200 km around.

Arriving at the Route des Crêtes at the Dreieck parking lot, continue straight through a high beech grove before climbing to the summit of Tanet (1292 m) and its pile of rocks. Continue to the "Collet du Tanet" and at the signpost take left the path (red bracket) that passes under the ski lift. At the hairpin turn, turn towards "Schupferen" which you pass to reach the trail junction near Schanzwasen. Then pass the small pass on the left to descend towards Seesttaedlé (blue-white-blue) and the Parking.