Top 20 Natural Monuments around Saint-Thibaud-De-Couz

The Cirque de Saint-Même, located at an altitude of 900 m, offers walkers landscapes of rare beauty. In a green setting, you will enjoy the coolness of three superb waterfalls dominated by an impressive cliff amphitheater. https://www.chartreuse-tourisme.com/offres/cirque-de-saint-meme-saint-pierre-dentremont-fr-2715680/

The access is very well signposted, and you can do a lovely loop hike, starting from Saint-Même-le-Haut, or from Saint-Pierre-d'Entremont for the more adventurous. At the end of winter, the water level can be very high.

Magnificent view of the heart of the Chartreuse region, the plain of St. Laurent du Pont, and Mont Blanc in the background, seemingly within arm's reach. The access path via the ridge that connects to Outheran is very straightforward. The climb from St. Jean de Couz on the SW side is quite complicated. The path is barely visible and rather difficult to follow on a very steep face. The final section leads up a very steep couloir, through a slippery and unstable scree slope. Furthermore, the exposure to falling rocks is quite significant; extreme caution is required (helmet recommended). The final section consists of short climbing sections and very steep ascents in fairly exposed grassy terrain (fairly straightforward, but exposed).

Magnificent viewpoint, both at the top and at the bottom. Some technical sections favor hiking rather than trail running. You'll find ibexes (and their babies), chamois, and marmots at the summit. This is one of the trails worthy of a Windows wallpaper! 👌 If you do a full tour, there are some sections that are close to climbing, so be warned. However, it's possible to turn around everywhere, with plenty of side sections, so there are always solutions! 😁

Magnificent! But be careful on the second part it is much more technical so hiking is ok, running less so :/

small viewpoint on Lake St André

Lake Aiguebelette is a natural lake located in France in the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. Main lake of the Savoyard Avant-Pays, in the southern end of the Jura massif, it is located approximately 10 kilometers from Chambéry, approximately 40 kilometers from Grenoble and approximately 100 kilometers from Lyon. It has an area of 545 hectares and is as such the seventh natural French lake after Lake Geneva (in part), Lake Hourtin and Carcans, Lake Grand-Lieu, Lake Bourget, Lake Annecy and Lake Marville (at Kerguelen). Bordered to the east by the Épine chain which culminates with Mont Grelle at 1,427 meters and to the west by Mont Tournier, its maximum depth is 71 meters. At first glance, it is characterized by its often green color, whereas, in the same region, Lake Annecy is bluer and Lake Bourget is more often steel gray. Lake Aiguebelette is a private lake which belongs to the Rivérieulx de Chambost de Lépin family and Électrcité de France, who have entrusted its management to the Communauté de Communes du Lac d'Aiguebelette. Its banks are shared between five riverside municipalities: Aiguebelette-le-Lac, Lépin-le-Lac, Saint-Alban-de-Montbel, Novalaise and Nances. In the southern part of the lake there are two islands, surrounded by reed beds. In order to preserve the quality of its waters and its environment, thermal motor boats have been prohibited on the lake since a decree of 1967. It has also been the first regional freshwater nature reserve in France since March 2015. Source: Wikipedia

Very beautiful panorama of the Chartreuse seen from the north-west, with Mont-Blanc in focus to the north-east, the Belledonne massif behind the Chartreuse and the foothills of the Vercors to the south, as far as Obiou which can be seen when the weather is nice. And all after a short climb, with a few slightly steep passages however...