Lac d'Allos, Alpine lake in Mercantour National Park, France.
Lac d'Allos sits at 2,230 meters elevation and covers roughly 60 hectares with depths reaching around 50 meters at its lowest point. The blue waters are surrounded by alpine vegetation and rock formations that shape the basin.
In the 12th century, this lake was known as Levedone before acquiring its current name. Over centuries, the natural water body has endured the harsh alpine conditions of the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence.
A chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary under the name Notre-Dame des Monts stands on the lake shore. Its wall carries a sundial dated 1757 with the inscription "Dieu seul est éternel ; déjà loin de toi". Trainees of the European centre PARTIR studied the building as part of rural heritage training sessions.
From the Laus plateau car park, past the hamlets of Villard and the Cluite forest, a one-hour round-trip walk leads to the lake; allow another hour to walk around it. The shoreline path is uneven and rocky, so sturdy shoes help.
The lake has no surface outlet: its water drains through a natural underground passage and reappears at the source of the Chadoulin, which feeds the Verdon. Sediment studies place the start of lake sedimentation between about 13,500 and 12,300 years ago, at the end of the last glaciation.
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