In the fall of 2020, I went on a hike to Montagne des Princes, starting from Frangy and arriving in Seyssel.

CONTINUE READING

At the end of the summer of 2020, I went on a hike in Geneva, following the Swiss part of the Allondon river until its confluence with the Rhône. The river starts in Pays de Gex (France) below the Jura mountains. I visited its source many years ago.

Here is an official brochure (PDF) about the Allondon river.

CONTINUE READING

During the summer of 2020, I went on a hike along the right bank of the Rhône in Geneva: Starting from Pont de Sous-Terre in the city, I walked all the way to Russin.

It is not as straightforward or pleasant as the Sentier du Rhône on the left bank but the path has its moments. Since then, I also walked a third section of the Rhône in Geneva: Starting in Valleiry (in France), I crossed the border at the Far West of Geneva and walked upstream towards Russin. Here are some photos.

CONTINUE READING

A few weeks ago, the Vidange du Rhône (or Chasses du Rhône, meaning Flushing of the Rhône) took place between Barrage de Génissiat (Genissiat Dam) in France and Barrage de Verbois (Verbois Dam) in Geneva. Both the CNR (Compagnie Nationale du Rhône), which manage the dams on the French side, and the SIG (Services Industriels de Genève) cooperate on this operation: It is performed every few years in order to purge sediments brought into the Rhône river by the Arve, which accumulate and increase the risk of floods.

For a few days, the dams in the area are opened and their reservoirs emptied, in order to increase the discharge rate with the goal of flushing the sediments from the river bed. The river then turns gray, just like the Arve. Another side effect is that the level of the Rhône is lowered, almost as low as before dams were built along the river so it becomes quite the view. One other, less happy, consequence is that it is a bit of a fish apocalypse, with many of them dying because of the increase in solids suspended in the water.

I went to see this phenomenon in the area around Bellegarde-sur-Valserine, first in Éloise near Pont de Grésin, as part of a hike. Then a few days later, I visited Bellegarde itself just for this purpose and walked along the Rhône. Because of the the Corona restrictions on border crossings, unfortunately, I couldn’t visit the area upstream of the Verbois Dam in Geneva.

CONTINUE READING

As my last outing of 2019, I went on a hike to Barrage de Génissiat, a large dam on the Rhône, then followed the river north to Bellegarde-sur-Valserine.

CONTINUE READING

While waiting for a bus to Nantua, I stopped at Bellegarde-sur-Valserine, a city west of Geneva, for about an hour in early morning. I walked around, visited a park along the Rhône then went back to the train station.

CONTINUE READING

Earlier this spring, I went on hike to Le Vuache, a mountain in the Jura located on the other side of the Rhône from Fort l’Ecluse.

CONTINUE READING

Last fall, I went on a walk in Geneva, following the Sentier du Rhône (Rhône Trail) from Lake Geneva (Lac Léman) to La Plaine (Dardagny). The official map of the trail is available here.

CONTINUE READING

La Jonction is a place in Geneva where the rivers Rhône and Arve join with each other. The rivers have different colors and, when meeting, their waters mix together into the one final river, Rhône. For a good view of this phenomenon, there is a viewpoint next to the water, as well as a bridge (Viaduc de la Jonction) 40m above.

CONTINUE READING