The Secret Wood of Gargamelle

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Immerse yourself in the Chambaran Forest from the Trappe.
Head to Gargamelle, a ruin in a clearing, to see the Smurfs or, if not, deer or roe deer.
Walk part of the Way of St James in Chambaran.
Please note: this is an old, manual GPS track, see reviews

Details

n°151342
Creation:
Last update:
Last review:
  • Walking
    Activity: Walking
  • ↔
    Distance: 7.04 km
  • ◔
    Average duration: 2h 10 
  • ▲
    Difficulty: Easy
  • ⚐
    Back to start: Yes
  • ↗
    Ascent: + 67 m
  • ↘
    Descent: - 68 m
  • ▲
    Highest point: 652 m
  • ▼
    Lowest point: 598 m
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Photos

Trail in autumn colours
Notre Dame de Chambarand Abbey
The Mouze cross
The ruins - Gargamelle

Description of the walk

(S/E) Park in front of the Trappe de Chambaran.
Head north-west for a short distance and turn right onto theGR® de Pays du Tour du Pays de Saint Marcellin, following the high hedges surrounding the Trappe for 800 metres.

(1) At a place called "Mur de la Trappe", leave theGR® and head north on a wide forest track for 1 km. Walk 600 metres along the edge of a large field on your left, then continue for 400 metres until you reach a three-way junction at an elevation of 629 metres. At the junction, take the path on the left until you reach a large crossroads with five paths.

(2) Take the right-hand path, which descends into a small valley, crosses a stream and climbs up towards a meadow. This is Gargamelle.

(3) Reach the ruins without making any noise. If you are lucky, you may see smurfs or deer frolicking.
Follow the track north, then north-east, ignoring several paths on the right and left. You will reach a large track at the edge of a clearing where there is a yellow mark with the Compostela logo on a tree.
This is a section of a variant of the Via Gebennensis (Genevois Way).

(4) Follow the yellow markings and the shells pointing south-east on the right until you reach the Secret Wood.
It is not uncommon to see wild boars crossing the path.

(5) Continue south until you reachthe GR® de Pays a little west of the Croix de Mouze.

(6) Follow the red and yellow markings west to the Mur de la Trappe to rejoin our starting trail, then the car park (S/E).

Waypoints

  1. S/E : km 0 - alt. 616 m - Trappe car park
  2. 1 : km 0.94 - alt. 639 m - Mur de la Trappe
  3. 2 : km 2.64 - alt. 609 m - Crossroads of 5 trails
  4. 3 : km 2.97 - alt. 611 m - Gargamelle
  5. 4 : km 3.35 - alt. 623 m - Junction with the Way of St James
  6. 5 : km 4.71 - alt. 652 m - Bois Secret
  7. 6 : km 5.76 - alt. 633 m - Junction with the GRP
  8. S/E : km 7.04 - alt. 615 m - Trappe car park

Notes

Beautiful views of the north-western flank of the Vercors.

Worth a visit

Visit the Trappe de Chambarand monastery shop.
Stop and watch the wildlife: red deer, roe deer and wild boar.

 Always be cautious and plan ahead when you're outdoors. Visorando and the author of this route cannot be held responsible for any accidents occurring on this route.

The GR® and PR® markings are the intellectual property of the Fédération Française de Randonnée Pédestre.

Downloads
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Reviews and comments

4.2 / 5
Based on 37 reviews
Reliability of the description
4.2 / 5
Ease of following the route
4.1 / 5
Route interest
4.1 / 5
User 6504431

Overall rating : 3.3 / 5

Date of your route : Nov 10, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★☆☆ Average
Ease of following the route : ★★★☆☆ Average
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

The walk is very pretty, but the Visorando route is disappointing, and unfortunately this isn't the first time we've had trouble with the route. In the end, we should have put less pressure on ourselves and followed the yellow markings, but as there were several walks, we preferred to follow the route, but it was complicated, and we ended up off track for 20 minutes.

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arnaudchouchou
arnaudchouchou

Overall rating : 2.7 / 5

Date of your route : Nov 04, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★☆☆☆ Disappointing
Ease of following the route : ★★☆☆☆ Disappointing
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : Yes

The route was completely different from the directions provided by Visorando... in short, we had to navigate by sight

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Delph1969
Delph1969

A very pleasant, easy hike
Just yesterday, perhaps, there was a lot of mud, so be careful

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mariethe.
mariethe.

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Feb 26, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★☆☆ Average
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

Have an IGN map as there are many trails

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DAVID jean luc
DAVID jean luc
• Edited:

Overall rating : 3.7 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 02, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★☆☆ Average
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

PLEASE NOTE: Bring a good IGN map (St-Étienne-de-St-GEOIRS No. 3134 SB) as there is no mobile phone reception along the entire route (GPS does not work)
If not, enjoy a pleasant hike in the shade of the Chambarand forest with its pretty little clearings.

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Noustous
Noustous

Overall rating : 2.3 / 5

Date of your route : Jun 12, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★☆☆☆ Disappointing
Ease of following the route : ★★☆☆☆ Disappointing
Route interest : ★★★☆☆ Average
Very busy route : No

The GPS route is NOT RELIABLE. On the ground, point 4 is not in the right place at all and caused us considerable disruption.
We are very disappointed because we were unable to complete our walk.

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frajean
frajean

Overall rating : 3.3 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 31, 2022
Reliability of the description : ★★★☆☆ Average
Ease of following the route : ★★★☆☆ Average
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

at the crossroads of the five trails, there are no signs indicating the direction to Gargamelle. There is a small paved road, but we weren't sure if it was part of the trails and made a mistake. It's a shame because the route looked appealing. Maybe next time.

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lesbaladeursFCR
lesbaladeursFCR

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Feb 20, 2022
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

A pleasant route where you can find peace and quiet in the woods. No animals or insects, but lots of water (as expected) and mud, but nothing too disturbing!
We extended the route by going to the Gargamelle houses. From there, we took the uphill path to rejoin the trail. The meadow and the Gargamelle spring... very nice; it was like something out of a fairy tale.
Be careful though, there are so many paths that it's easy to get lost... I speak from experience!
Always take a map with you, otherwise you'll get lost!!!
Otherwise, a little signposting would be welcome for everyone.

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BK626
BK626

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Nov 22, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★☆☆ Average
Very busy route : Yes

The route is well explained but ultimately not very interesting, especially as we searched in vain for the Smurfs and other wildlife. What's more, there were lots of hunters out that day! The paths were very muddy... However, it may be of interest to geologists. All in all, not great...

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Brigitte BAUDOIN
Brigitte BAUDOIN

Overall rating : 3.7 / 5

Date of your route : Oct 22, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★☆☆ Average
Very busy route : No

A compass is highly recommended.

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smaragdin
smaragdin

I don't think the situation has really improved!

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les marcheuses de veurey
les marcheuses de veurey

Hello, I saw that the person who did this hike said it was very disappointing. Has it been fixed since then?
is the path passable?
thanks if anyone has done it recently

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smaragdin
smaragdin

Overall rating : 2.7 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 27, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★☆☆ Average
Route interest : ★☆☆☆☆ Very disappointing
Very busy route : No

Very disappointing route, the forest paths are rutted by vehicles, with puddles full of manure, and the forest is completely uninteresting: lots of coppice, no beautiful tall trees as you might expect in Chambaran. As for the view of the Vercors, it's almost non-existent except through a fence!
The route has also changed slightly in places.

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craco.35
craco.35

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Sep 28, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★☆☆ Average
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

Hello, between points 3 and 4, the path is no longer visible. You need to head north to rejoin the Compostela trail and reach point 4, which is not correctly positioned. Point 4 is further east(100m). The correct path to follow is the one that passes under the "M" of Gargamelle and continues south-west towards point 5. This was recorded on two different GPS devices, which gave the same result but differed from the route.
Otherwise, it's a nice circuit to do again and again in different seasons. Thanks to the author.

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69729902
69729902

Overall rating : 3.3 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 20, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★☆☆ Average
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★☆☆ Average
Very busy route : No

not very interesting.

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