To be honest, I am not a fan on forests on Chartreuse range. They are muddy and messy. There’s nothing to see, no scenery, and they are all the same: mostly leafy trees growing on steep slopes, occasional spruce blocking whatever little beam of sunlight that gets filtered through the dense canopy, a lot of fallen trunks and branches, and dead leaves on the ground. Did I mention mud? In some places there are a lot fern and moss, which makes it a bit more interesting, but still messy. I so much prefer the dry pine forests on Belledonne. They are more structured, and smell so good.

That said, today’s hike was not the happy sunny hike I wished it to be, at least two thirds of it was not. It was  not all leisurely and scenic walk on a pristine alpine pasture among colorful wild flowers. Instead, the first (last) two hours we climbed (descended) 1000 meters on a muddy and rocky trail under trees, bothered by flies and other flying bugs (plus huge slimy black snails on the trail), and got to spend too little time on the alpine meadow under Rocher de Lorzier. Anyway, we were happy we saw some sun and the clouds did not block the views.

Above are the photos from the forest section, and below the alpine meadow section on our hike from little village of Mont Saint- Martin to Col d’Hurtières and back in 16.3 kilometers and almost six hours (D+/D- 1190m).

The last photo is from our lunch spot at the church and town hall of Mont Saint-Martin. If we ever want to hike again to Col d’Hurtières or more generally in  that region, we are sure to choose another starting point, maybe Col de la Charmette.  The advantage of starting the hike from Mont Saint-Martin was its location just a short drive from home (less than 30 minutes), and we saw five little wild boars crossing the road when we drove to the town in the morning!