A Long Hike to the "Bolle di Magadino" Nature Reserve

Wednesday March 4th -- You'd think we would know by now not to plan a mountain hike before checking webcams, and not to assume that just because we were in the same place two weeks earlier that the conditions are still the same... and even though it had snowed here in the North to the lowest levels, we certainly didn't expect the amount of snow we faced near Biasca where we wanted to do the final stretch of the Strada Alta ("high road"... of which we have two segments still to do) in the Leventina Valley.

So we stayed on the train (a long trip, because we took the old, longer route) to Bellinzona and did an easy but very, very monotonous walk along the Ticino Canal to the Magadino Nature Reserve (1500-hectare biotope for birds passing through), where only the final 30 minutes of the three-hour hike actually offered something to see. The first two hours to where the Ticino River enters Lago Maggiore were the longest 8.5 kms I have ever walked. Nothing to see except a row of trees and the same snow-covered mountain ahead... not even the water. And we could have gotten there with a bus, but we wanted to walk our 12 km.

At the reserve we saw a few standard winter fowl: Cormorants, various ducks and swans, Eurasian Jays and maybe a woodpecker. But we noticed that the marsh grasses had been cut, and there are sure to be way more birds when the marsh grasses grow again.

At least we had sunshine although also a cold wind... and the trail was not asphalt, so that's a good thing, and my feet hardly hurt, which is quite astounding. And now we've seen up close the marsh lands that we have often admired as we make our way past there by train on other excursions....

Start of our hike in Gudo. This was the only thing of interest we saw in the next two hours!

 

The Ticino River (one of Switzerland's most important rivers) just before it empties into Lago Maggiore. We walked about 8 km parallel to this, along the treed alley on the far left.

We started in Gudo and walked to Magadino, and walked the permissible trails through the Nature Reserve. It took us about three hours. There was a bit of a cold wind blowing, so not as comfortable as we had hoped. 

One interesting structure along the very straight path is the railway bridge, which crosses the large plain toward Locarno (this bridge we have crossed many many times!

A lone locomotive making its way across the railway bridge behind us.

View behind us to the East after we entered the nature reserve. 

The most interesting thing we saw on our hike!

Here the Ticino River empties into Lago Maggiore from the East. Directly across is the Maggia Delta, where the Maggia River empties into the Lake from the West (at the city of Locarno). 

At the end of two trails were these bird hides. No birds to see here, though.

The view of the Gambarogno (East side of Lake Maggiore) from the second Bird Hide. Our ultimate goal is that church across the way in the village of Magadino

 

View across Lago Maggiore from the bird hide. It is probably more interesting when everything is green!

On the last short stretch through the reserve is where we saw the more interesting ponds

 

Very common winter bird: The Cormorant

 

Other common winter birds

Last view of the reserve as we head along the lake to Magadino

Along the lakeshore were several art pieces made of locally quarried marble (Arzo Quarry near Mendrisio)

A look up at the church in Magadino before catching the bus back. A hike up this mountain is something reserved for another day.

 

And another last look across Lago Maggiore from Magadino on the lake. 

 

First and probably only time we will walk across the Magadino Plain!

We have done lots of hiking in the mountains arround this area