La Tête des Faux

A 1914 battlefield left as it was, two and a half hours' walk above Orbey.

Start: Col du Calvaire, Orbey

Distance

7.2 km

Elevation

+ 140 to 160 m

Duration

2 h 30

Difficulty

Intermediate

Loop

Yes

Start

Col du Calvaire (1,144 m)

The route

What to know before you go

La Tête des Faux tops out at 1,220 m, straddling the communes of Orbey, Le Bonhomme and Lapoutroie. From 1914 to 1918 the front line ran across the summit, and the ground still shows it: trenches, concrete shelters, rusted barbed wire frames lying flat in the grass. On 2 December 1914 the 28th alpine light infantry battalion took the Tête des Faux and threw back three counter-attacks in the same day. On the night of 24 December the German assault cost the French side 137 dead: there was no Christmas truce here. The waymarked loop from the Col du Calvaire circles the site in two and a half hours, with a stop at the Carrefour Duchesne national war cemetery. There is little climbing, but the ground is stony and littered with old iron, which is why the resort and the trail databases both rate it intermediate. You come here for the history rather than the view: the forest has taken the summit back, and the remains turn up along the path without warning.

The route, step by step

A breakdown of the loop with the key landmarks and distances.

Start at the Col du Calvaire
Free car park at the pass, 1,144 m, the same one used by the Lac Blanc resort and the Three Lakes hike. Roughly twelve kilometres of road up from Orbey. Follow the Club Vosgien waymarks toward the Tête des Faux.
The Carrefour Duchesne national cemetery
The cemetery sits under the firs, on the site of a French rear camp. It holds 408 soldiers, 116 of them in an ossuary, and takes its name from Major Henri Duchesne of the 215th infantry regiment, killed on 2 December 1914. A monument raised by the 14th light infantry battalion, dated June 1915, stands among the crosses.
The climb to the summit
The path rises gently through the forest on a bed of stones and roots. The first lines of barbed wire frames appear beside the trail, lying flat in the bilberry.
The summit and its battlefield
A summit cross set on a pile of blocks, trenches still readable in the ground, moss-covered concrete shelters, corrugated iron left where it fell. The GR5 long-distance path crosses the summit. The monument to the 62nd alpine light infantry battalion remembers the officers and men who died here between 1914 and 1918.
Back to the Col du Calvaire
The descent follows waymarked forest tracks, including a cobbled stretch inherited from the wartime military roads. Back to the car park at the same pass.

What you'll see

The main points of interest along the loop, in the order you'll meet them.

The 1,220 m summit, on the front line from 1914 to 1918

Trenches, concrete shelters and barbed wire frames left in place

The Carrefour Duchesne national cemetery and its 408 soldiers

The 14th light infantry battalion monument, June 1915

A battlefield protected as a historic monument since 1921

The cobbled roads the army built, still walkable today

Recommended gear

The minimum list to head out with confidence, even in good weather.

Closed walking shoes: the ground is stony and old iron breaks the surface everywhere
A windproof layer and something warm: 1,220 m is colder than the village
1 L of water per person, there is no water point on the route
IGN TOP25 3718 OT map if you extend the walk to the Étang du Devin

On the trail

A few images to get a feel for it before lacing up.

Our tips for the day

1The resort lists the loop as open from 1 March to 15 November. Outside that window, the road to the Col du Calvaire can be under snow.
2Move nothing and dig nowhere: the battlefield has been protected as a historic monument since 1921.
3Barbed wire and rusted sheet metal sit just above ground level along long stretches. Keep children close and dogs on the lead.
4The cemetery has been on the UNESCO World Heritage list since September 2023, with the other First World War funerary and memorial sites. Commemorations are held there in September, every other year.
5To make a longer day of it: an 8 km memorial trail, waymarked with a green ring, has linked the Col du Calvaire to the Étang du Devin since 2014. Looped from the pass, reckon on 12 to 13 km and about 4 h 30.
6At the Étang du Devin the peat bog hides pockets of open water and the habitat is fragile: stay on the path.
7The Linge Memorial covers another battlefield in the same valley. The two visits pair well over a stay.