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Showing posts from August, 2008

Lake Como: the Brunate - Montepiatto - Torno trail

Ahhh ...the celebrity allure of Lago di Como (no small thanks to Clooney). This is a repeat hike accomplished in full compared to the shortened version that we went on 6½ months ago in Hiking above Lake Como: 2 hours tops . This itinerary includes a steep descent to the village Torno where a slow boat takes you back to Como. The path is easy to follow if you look for the Strada Regia signs at the beginning and stick with the Montepiatto trail markers along the way. It's advisable to take the funicular tram up to Brunate (10 minutes). From there, exit the tram, go down the steps and head right. At each of the two forks in the road keep to the left. At the very end of the campo sportivo (sports field) the trail begins. The main points of interest are ice age stone formations and several tombs which have been carved out of granite rock. (Don't worry, there are no dead people in them.) The tomb ( masso avello ) has an interesting history in relation to the Roman Empire ...

The Initiation of Mister B

How to introduce a 6-month old dachshund to the thrills of alpine hiking We're going WHERE? Wake him out of his cozy dog bed, fasten the collar and leash, and tell him that you swear, you SWEAR on Maddie's prosciutto bone that he'll have the time of his life. And what better trail to work out his solid little legs than one that is named, sort of, after himself — the Sentiero dei Tedeschi , or German's Path. In Italy a dachshund is a bassotto tedesco , coming from the word basso (short) and tedesco (german). Pondering the Sentiero dei Tedeschi , you don't need to be a history buff to reason that this mountain path was once used by soldiers during World War 1. The clincher, you may be surprised to learn, is not for the sake of the path's name, but as to how we were going to reach the starting point. Walking was an obvious option but with an altitude difference of 764 meters (2506 feet) spanning between the base town of Peio / Pejo (Trento) and the beginni...