VIa.14    Section Passo Forcella - Passo del Bocco    28km

Upon a restfull night we moved on along the trail. While we had a decent view when starting we soon came into the clouds. The trail follows the ridgeline with some very steep to vertical slopes. I was sometimes glad to be in the clouds so I could not see how far the cliffsides went down. The higher up the trail went the more snow we encountered. Than we arrived at the Rifugio Passo delle Lame at 1300 m. It was closed and the windows where borded up. We took a short break in the cold and consulted our maps. From here the trail goes up another 300m. Parallel but a lot lower is a gravel forest road which we decided to take. We did not want to go into the snow.

Along the road we came by a shelter from the foresters. It was not locked. We went inside for another break. Here we could sit down evenso it was as cold as outside. The next rifugio the Monte Ajona was of course closed too. So we took a shortcut avoiding the bend towards Passo dell Incisa which would have taken us up to almost 1500m. Along our hike we than came by a herd of free ranging horses. Next came the Rifugio Malga Zanoni which was closed too as it was not a weekend which are the only days they are this time of the year. On we went passing through a former quarry and by an sheep farm. The dogs where a nuisance but we made it to the road. This paved road soon became the E1 again. We followed the road up to Passo del Bocco which took us back into the clouds. At the pass we went into a bar to warm up with a hot drink.

By now we had decided to stop hiking south along the E1 but instead going by public transport south towards Rome and hiking back north from there. We waited until a bus should arrive to take us down to Bedonia. We waited and waited but the bus never came. The bar owners finally got us a taxi. The driver came all the way from Bedonia to pick us up. He was instructed by the owners not to drive reckless. Finally we arrived in town where we staid for the night. Steady booked our transportation for the next day.

Hiking in the clouds near Passo del Bozale

Closed rifugio at Passo del Lame

Plenty of snow along the trail near Passo del Lame

Horses near Castagneto

Passo del Bocco in the clouds