Hiking near the col de la Charmette

Riding up 2/3s of the Col de la Charmette is one of my standard training rides. It's a dead end road that tops out around 1200 meters in the Chartreuse. From there, most people hike the standard trail to the Grande Sure. There is a little known road, however that descends towards St. Laurent du Point. Although closed to traffic, i is accessible on foot. Most people ignore it because it descends very steeply for a mile or so, but curious people are rewarded by a beautiful prairie with a brook running through it a little further down the road. We all went hiked down there and floated boats down the stream until we couldn't take the bugs anymore and hiked back up the steep road to the car.