Now this warm weather has been the cause of many mountain flanks becoming unstable, and we have been surprised several times this summer by trails that have been closed due to danger of rock slides. We knew that the trails BELOW the road we wanted to walk were closed, but there were other trails we mapped out, so it should have been OK.
We got up very early to be at the Pass at 9 a.m., but one look at where we were going told us it would be a long, dark journey, so we got the cook at the pass restaurant to fire up his deep fryer to make us a breakfast of French Fries, in the hopes of having less shadow by the time we got going at 9:30 a.m. Well, after barely leaving the restaurant, we came across a sign that informed us that the entire area all the way to the lake was off limits.... luckily, we had the option of a Plan B, i.e. walking Eastward on the North side of the Valley, which actually meant more sunshine... and the day was just as successful as if we had planned this originally.
The trail we ended up walking is part of the "Four Headwaters Trail", which is an 82-km trail which takes you to the source or headwaters of four of Europe's most important rivers: The Rhine, the Rhone, the Reuss and the Ticino. We were at the source of the Ticino this time (having already been at the source of the other three on previous hikes), so that was special in itself. And what made the whole day a success was the fabulous fall colours. The entire hillsides on both sides of the valley are covered with wild blueberry bushes turning red: a tableau of greens, yellow and reds, it was stunning. And I ate my fill of blueberries along the way.
Since we had already had a change of plans, we also did a 40-minute detour to a little alpine lake which we hadn't noticed on the map, but the trail markers pointed to. Idyllic place for a picnic lunch, then on to the Pian Secco Hostel where we had an hour to kill before descending to All'Aqua in the valley bottom to catch our bus back out to Airolo.
Just as we got to the bottom we saw a rescue helicopter hovering... hovering, means something bad had happened. Then the first, second and third of about 10 fire engines and police cars raced past toward the pass... our bus came and the driver turned on the news, and we heard a small plane had crashed into the mountainside not 200m from the place we started out this morning, and this happened just after we left the hostel. More to the point, I saw such a plane flying up the valley earlier as we were hiking, and it might very well have been the same. So tragic.
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| On the way to the Nufenen Pass (on the right) is Mount Nufenenstock ahead. Our plan was to walk behind this mountain and come up to the hostel on the left, then walk along the hillside on the left. |
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| The lake and restaurant at the Nufenen Pass... we had a breakfast of French Fries at 9 a.m.! |
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| From the pass we can see Lake Griessee where we wanted to walk to, but this entire section was off limits due to danger of rock slides from Mount Nufenenstock on the left. The wind-turbine on the left is apparently the highest-altitude wind-turbine in Europe. |
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| Looking to the West, the Nufenen Pass road descends to the Obergoms Valley where the Rhone River flows from the Rhone Glacier south-westward toward France |
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| This sign warned us that the area we wanted to walk is totally off limits. So we decided to simply walk the northern trail instead. |
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| Our original plan was to walk to Lake Griessee, cross the Corno Pass and walk to San Giacomo before heading down to the Valley bottom. But our Plan B was just as successful. |
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| On this hillside East of the Nufenen Pass are the headwaters of the Ticino River, which eventually flows into the mighty Po River in Italy |
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| Heading eastward down the Bedretto Valley |
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| Walking along the very young Ticino River |
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| After crossing to the North Flank, a view backwards shows us the Nufenen Pass on the right, and the Pass Road below |
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| Zoomed view of the unusual structure near the Corno Pass... this is the Corno-Gries Swiss Alpine Hostel that we wanted to walk to from the other side. We'll go up there on a different trip. |
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| Stunning landscapes |
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| The hills are covered with wild blueberry bushes turning red |
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| This almost looks like a mosaic |
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| We were wading in blueberries. Whenever I felt like it, I just picked a handful |
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| Here is where we did a detour to the little lake called Lago delle Pigne |
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| It was idyllic up here, so this is the place we picked for our picnic lunch. |
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| Perfect place for a picnic lunch and to take off one's shoes! |
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| I can't get enough of all the rock formations in these mountains |
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| Down the other side from the lake was a bit trickier |
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| Below, the Swiss Alpine Club hostel "Pian Secco", a popular rest stop along the Four Headwaters Trail |
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| We decided to stop here for a Panaché/Radler break before heading down to the valley |
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| Taking it easy, no racing down the hill today to catch the next bus... |
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| A map on the hostel wall shows the entire Four-Headwaters Trail. |
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| A very nice easy 45-minute walk took us back down to All'Aqua, where we watched several fire trucks, police cars, and rescue helicopters pass by before our bus came to pick us up. We found out shortly thereafter that an airplane crashed nearby |
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| Heading out of the Bedretto Valley toward Airolo |
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| It was not a hardship to scrap Plan A for Plan B. Plan A would have taken longer than the 5 1/2 hours it took us to walk the 13 km for Plan B |
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| This was the news item about the crash. I saw a very similar small plane flying up the valley past us about 3 hours earlier. Might have been the same one doing a couple of runs. |
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