Below the hamlet, take the pastureland track that leads to the Urine stream, cross the footbridge and climb uphill into the forest on a trail to the right that cuts across a hairpin bend in the track and much further uphill a second one. Continue opposite until reaching a crossroads (1,950m). Continue then crossways uphill, following the GR® 58 into the Bois Noir (Black Wood), cross the Estachons stream and head to a ski slope, above the hamlet of Valpreveyre. Climb up along this track in wide bends along a rather steep slope to reach a vast grassy basin near the Clot de Besseys below the rocks of the Collette de Gilly pass. Next, leave the GR® 58 behind to turn left and walk crossways (GR® 58B) to the Pré du Vallon meadow. Pass above the shepherd’s hut below Roche and climb up fro the little Urine valley to the pass of the same name (2,525m).
(Marc Buisson, CDRP 05)

Right at the heart of the Queyras Regional Nature Park, created in 1977 to marry economic development with the preservation of the area’s natural assets, the trail leaves the hamlet of Roux to rise up towards the ridges, passing the famous larch forests that are so characteristic of the Queyras landscape.
On leaving this hamlet, which offers an array of local handicrafts, the trail follows a damp valley on the outskirts of the Brune wood (which gave its name to the ski slope that crosses it) to arrive in another hamlet: Valpréveyre, “little valley of the green meadows”. Protected by the Gilly ridge in the South (a winter refuge for mouflon sheep) and the Gardiole hills in the North, its few traditional houses in larch wood and the two chapels stand proudly under the surveillance of the towering Bric Bouchet peak (2,997 metres).
The larch forests and cembran pines (from the word cinq, owing to the arrangement of the needles in groups of 5) have always been exploited by man. Not only does their wood resist water, but the low forest population density leaves enough space for the soil to allow the development of nutrient-rich pastures for the herds.
Life is nevertheless hard and the campsite established there suffers regularly from storms: the Boucher stream frequently floods its banks, carrying away anything in its path, as was the case in October 2001. In spite of the protective structures built over time and the catastrophes, nature often proves to have the upper hand.
The trail climbs a slope used as a ski run in winter. On leaving the conifers, it comes out onto alpine pastureland and criss-crosses between huts and sheepfolds. The “Pierres écrites” sheepfold still bears inscriptions left for posterity by the inhabitants of Abriès (see the “Pierres écrites” trail in Abriès).
These large spaces are also frequented by the bearded vulture (the French term “Gypaète Barbu” refers to the moustaches on either side of its head), the largest predator on French territory with a wingspan of 2m 80cm. Reintroduced in 1993 in the Mercantour region and currently a protected species, it has settled in various places in the Alps and feeds solely on the bone and tendons of its carrion.
The Urine pass borders Italy and opens onto the clearly less sheer slopes of the Italian Piedmont region.
(Sara Zeidler, Gilles Chappaz, Grande Traversée des Alpes)