The wife and I recently returned from a trip to Italy. We were able to squeeze in some daytrips to go hiking and I will attempt to recreate the excursions we took in a series of posts over the next few days. I hope you enjoy!
We spent a couple of most excellent days in the Val d'Aosta area near the Swiss border in the NW part of the country. The small and sprawling town of Aosta is about 40 mins from the entrance to Gran Paradiso National Park. There are ancient Roman ruins, castles, mountains, charming villages, a vibrant downtown, good food and on and on. The park contains portions of many large mountains, the largest is 13,123' tall Gran Paradiso. Nearby and visible from parts of the park is the tallest peak in Europe, 15,781' Mt Bianco.
It was rainy and cloudy the day we arrived. We spent the night in a castle that has been converted into a B&B. Amazing. We woke in the morning and looked out the window:
Woah! There are actual mountains out there. I walked out to the courtyard that overlooks the town of Aosta.
So, the day is starting off great.
Before I go much further, here is some photos of the castle, as I'm sure you are interested. No one is sure how old it is, though some sources say the 12th century. There is evidence it was built to incorporate an older structure, ancient Roman even, from the 2nd century. Much of the surrounding structure has been changed and added to in the many years since then. Either way, it's still HELLA old.
Door from the 10th(!) century:
Ancient steps carved into solid rock:
Back to the present day:
We hopped in the rental car, an Alfa Romeo Guilietta. What a sweet ride!
We headed for the village of Cogne, where there is supposedly a visitors center near the park's entrance.
Along the way we visited an ancient Roman structure, an aquaduct which I think was restored in the 1930's:
My wife in front of her dream house nearby:
As we drive the twisty roads, increasingly great scenery and charming towns presented themselves before us.
Notice the toy lego-like Castle of Aymaville in the foreground.
We arrived in Cogne and reluctantly parked in the lot below the town after attempting to decipher Italy's confusing and strict parking laws. There is no parking in the town, the streets are too narrow. Notice the large parking lot (for residents only!?):
Cogne is pretty cool though. Quaint and very old buildings. I imagine this is the sort of place that Leavenworth and others are (badly) trying to mimic here in the states. Most of the towns near our parks are depressing logging or mining shanty towns like Morton, Longview or Welches. Not so, here.
No luck on the visitors center. It was lunchtime and mostly everything in Italy closes between 12-2:30pm. After a quick bite and confusing attempt at communicating with the French and Italian speaking locals (No Eng-lay-zay!) We just headed through the town towards the hamlet of Valnontey inside the park. There is a hotel, a campground and some cafes and restaurants, all closed for the season. But, wow the setting!
The sun was shining and we were at the edge of a large valley with massive snow capped peaks in the distance, a beautiful river flowing through it, the many larch trees just hinting at their change.
There was a trailhead here and we started walking towards a "Refugio" (refuge or shelter) many miles away. We knew we weren't going to make it, but it gave us a direction to head.
As we climbed, the views got better, but the light was pretty bad for photos as the sun was directly in front of us. I managed a few good ones:
Up the valley:
The other way:
far below us there was a group staging large packages for a helicopter that kept making trips up above us (i imagine taking supplies to the Refugio for the winter).
We hiked about 2 miles to a placard on a rotting structure at 7000' that identified it as "Toules".
There were several buildings, they were clearly VERY old, but what they were or how old, we don't know. Several even older foundations were in the area. Given how ancient much of the surrouding towns are, they could be hundreds or even thousands of years old. That is what I found so interesting and fascinating about Europe. I mean, the discovery of "the New World" was relatively recent compared to much of their civilization.
Hey, there goes the helicopter!
Pano:
Across the valley a single larch was standing out:
Larch leaves:
As evening approached, we turned around a headed back the way we had come. We went offtrail a bit and came to a 100' waterfall we missed on the way up:
We continued off the official trail on a user path that heads towards the river in the valley bottom.
Remains of an old structure:
Some of this park is private property, (difficult to annex land that has been settled and cultivated for millenia) so there are pastures here and there. We crossed several on the user path.
Looking back towards the trailhead and Valnontey:
Came across a Chamois laying down in one of the fields, but didn't get a photo because the light was so bad. Cool animal, here is a photo of one:
The river valley was absolutely stunning.
Looking upstream:
I probably could've stayed here forever. It's no wonder the area has been sheltering people for such a long time. It was a hard life up here in these mountains, but the people made it work. They, the mountains, still provide us with amazing joy just to look upon them.
Above us, the waterfall:
Panos:
Trail sign near a juntion:
Continued walking along the old road back to the parking lot and to the car before sunset.
Not a long hike (around 3.5 miles, 1500' eg), but a fine one among incredible scenery in a charming and exotic locale. I wish I had the time to just keep on walking up that river valley. Thanks to Google Earth, you kind of can! Check it out if you want to waste some time at work!
