Day 3: Nature medley
| Details | |
|---|---|
| Start | Ottone Brentari hut, 2475 m |
| End | Caoria, 854 m |
| Length | 13 km |
| Ascent/descent | +84/-1677 m |
Another trail's stage in a granitic environment, characterized by a traverse over lunar-looking scree and a long descent that leads back to the Lagorai mountains. This is an uncomfortable environment that never attracted crowds of walkers, a mountain that managed to retain its primordiality and a charm that few other corners of Trentino can offer. The walk ends in the Vanoi Valley, where mass tourism has not yet arrived and where the human dimension still represents a value to be preserved. As in the previous stage, the key element is water, that in numerous noisy streams have carved long valleys similar to those of the Western Alps.
Long and all-descent section, but undoubtedly one of the most varied. We start from the barren massifs of Cima d'Asta, and after a short and almost flat fraction among huge granite boulders, we take the steep section that from the Forcella del Passetto (2490 m) leads to the Forcella della Val Regana (2047 m). It’s almost five hundred meters of zigzagging between narrow tracks that are a great fit for chamois' hiking skills, a little less so for us humans.
After the fork, we descended and slowly entered a beautiful woodsy environment. We crossed more than one meadow with grass taller than us (a little annoying, we apologize for the few photos). The environment so rich in greenery also gave us a snack break of the much-needed fruit, missing from our daily menĂą since the start of the hike.
Interlude: life's chances
After the long vertical section of the Gabrielli trail, where the focus was on getting our feet in the right place and hands on rocks that wouldn't move, we opened the following discussion. In a deliberately argumentative tone, I said that life gives you good opportunities at the wrong times. For example: you meet a new person who sparks some interest (not necessarily in the sense of romantic involvement), but then the conditions are not suited to go beyond that first encounter. It's like life making you crave a tasty plate of pasta with homemade ragout after a strenuous hike, only to serve you canned meat without even a side dish.
Federico tried to bring the discussion back to reality. Isn't that always the case? Isn't it just as Seneca, the Roman philosopher, said? There is no such thing as luck: there is only the moment when talent (or preparation) meets fortuitous opportunity.
We then reached a conclusion on which we both agreed: we know that looking for a job costs effort, that getting a degree costs effort, but we seem to have forgotten that cultivating good relationships and finding the people worth doing it with also cost effort and time. Perhaps we should remind it to ourselves more often.
Always in the shade of the forest (blessed be it, given the very hot day), we followed the trail until it opened up into a road suitable to all-terrain vehicles. At several points, we wondered if it was worth stopping at one of those crystal-clear puddles to refresh our feet, but we preferred to hold on to the end so that we would never have to put our boots back on again.
Chiare, fresche et dolci acque,
ove le belle membra
dei nostri stanchi pie' immergeremmo1.Francesco Petrarca, “Canzoniere”
While chatting about politics and the advantages of nuclear energy, on the comfortable forest road we arrived in the small village of Svaizera (I swear I read “Switzerland” the first time, wondering how it could be so close), with huts and wooden cabins mostly used as barns. We don't even realize that the final downhill leg finally brought us to Caorìa, and we start looking for the first fountain for the too-postponed restorative foot bath. An elderly local, amazed to find two people submerged in the town's fountain, worried that we wouldn't catch bronchopneumonia, but we were too ecstatic to listen to him.
What's up for tomorrow?
Another fairly long leg, by which we will leave the granite realm of Cima d'Asta and approach the limestone of the Dolomites. It will be almost the opposite of today, mostly all uphill. The halfway point will be at the elevation where we will glimpse the world-famous Pale di San Martino peaks, unforgettable postcards of the Dolomites.
I humbly apologize to the great poet Petrarch for tainting his verses.↩