The river Valserine () is a tributary of the

Rhône The Rhône ( , ; wae, Rotten ; frp, Rôno ; oc, Ròse ) is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and southeastern France before discharging into the Mediterranean Sea. At Ar ...

that flows for from the

Col de la Faucille Col de la Faucille is a high mountain pass in the department of Ain in the French Jura Mountains. It connects the town of Gex in Ain to the towns of Les Rousses and Saint-Claude in the department of Jura. The Tour de France has traversed this ...

in the

Jura Mountains The Jura Mountains ( , , , ; french: Massif du Jura; german: Juragebirge; it, Massiccio del Giura, rm, Montagnas da Jura) are a sub-alpine mountain range a short distance north of the Western Alps and mainly demarcate a long part of the Frenc ...

to its confluence with the

Bellegarde-sur-Valserine Bellegarde-sur-Valserine (, literally ''Bellegarde on Valserine''; frp, Bèlagouârda) is a former commune in the Ain department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 11,326. On 1 January 2019, i ...

. The Valserine Valley has great charm; it includes the Pont des Pierres that spans the river between

Montanges Montanges () is a commune in the Ain department in eastern France. Population See also *Communes of the Ain department The following is a list of the 393 communes of the Ain department of France. The communes cooperate in the followi ...

and Mulaz (in the commune of

Confort Confort () is a commune in the Ain department in eastern France. Population See also *Communes of the Ain department The following is a list of the 393 communes of the Ain department of France. The communes cooperate in the followi ...

), as well as the Pertes de la Valserine just north of Bellegarde-sur-Valserine, a

canyon A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tenden ...

in which during the dry season the Valserine runs underground. As the river flows through the village of

Mijoux Mijoux is a commune and village in the Ain department in eastern France. Geography The village is situated in the upper section of the narrow Valserine valley, nestled between high limestone cliffs to the south-east that form the first anticli ...

, it marks the border between

Ain Ain (, ; frp, En) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. Named after the Ain river, it is bordered by the Saône and Rhône rivers. Ain is located on the country's eastern edge, on the Swiss border, where it ...

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

in the

Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (ARA; ; frp, Ôvèrgne-Rôno-Ârpes; oc, Auvèrnhe Ròse Aups; it, Alvernia-Rodano-Alpi) is a region in southeast-central France created by the 2014 territorial reform of French regions; it resulted from the merger of Au ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

) and Jura (in

Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Bourgogne-Franche-Comté (; , sometimes abbreviated BFC; Arpitan: ''Borgogne-Franche-Comtât'') is a region in Eastern France created by the 2014 territorial reform of French regions, from a merger of Burgundy and Franche-Comté. The new region ...

).map
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See also

References

Further reading