page_title: Verdon Gorge
section_title: Geography
hierarchical_section_title: Verdon Gorge / Geography
caption_attribution_description: English: viewpoint "Falaise de l'Escalès" of the Verdon Gorge Deutsch: Aussichtspunkt "Falaise de l'Escalès" der Verdonschlucht Français&#160;: le point de vue "Falaise de l'Escalès" des Gorges du Verdon
context_page_description: The Verdon Gorge is a river canyon located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of Southeastern France. It is about 25 km long and up to 700 metres deep. It was formed by the Verdon River, which is named for its startling turquoise-green colour, one of the location's distinguishing characteristics. The most impressive part lies between the towns of Castellane and Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, where the river has cut a ravine to a depth of 700 meters through the limestone mass. At the end of the canyon, the Verdon flows into the artificial lake of Sainte-Croix-du-Verdon, named the Lac de Sainte-Croix.
  As it is close to the French Riviera, the gorge is very popular with tourists, who can drive around its rim, rent kayaks to travel on the river or hike. The limestone walls, which are several hundreds of metres high, attract many rock climbers. It is considered an outstanding destination for multi-pitch climbing. The variety of 1,500 routes encompass cracks, pillars and seemingly endless walls, with a range in distance from 20 metres to over 400 metres. The climbing is generally of a technical nature.
context_section_description: The source of the Verdon is close to the col d'Allos hill in the Trois Eveches mountain range, whence it continues, flowing into the Durance river near Vinon-sur-Verdon after traveling 175 kilometres. Between Castellane and the Pont du Galetas, the river passes through the lac de Sainte-Croix, created by the construction of a dam of the same name. Before the dam was constructed, the village of Les Salles-sur-Verdon occupied the river plain. To create the dam and reservoir, the government forced the village to evacuate, dynamiting and destroying the church and other structures, before flooding the area in 1973. Les Salles-sur-Verdon was reconstructed as a more modern settlement higher up the valley. Today, it is the youngest village in France.
  For some distance the Verdon Gorge forms the border between the départements of Var to the south and Alpes-de-Haute-Provence to the north in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur région.
  This region between Castellane and the Lac de Sainte-Croix is called the Gorges du Verdon, or Verdon Gorge. It is split into three distinct parts:
  “Prégorges” (‘pre-gorge’), from Castellane to Pont de Soleils,
  the deepest part of the Gorge, from Pont de Soleils to l'Imbut, and
  the Canyon from l’Imbut to the Pont de Galetas.
  The Verdon Gorge is narrow and deep, with depths of 250 to 700 metres and widths of 6 to 100 metres at the level of the Verdon river. It is 200 to 1500 metres wide from one side of the Gorge to the other at the summits.
caption: A view of the Verdon Gorge form the Falaise de l'Escalès
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "PictureProject 1.7.5 W", "Image DateTime": "2011:09:20 00:03:48", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "170", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "9228", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4168", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "9284", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "4264"}