Pietracamela and Corno Grande

The mountain top town of Pietracamela

Since I am in the mountains, it only makes sense that I go hiking.  Very close to where I am house sitting is a national park called Grand Sasso (and a bunch more other words – but Grand Sasso is all you really need).  The medieval town of Pietracamela is really your starting point for a variety of hikes that lead to the tallest peak – Corno Grande – which is almost 3 km above the sea.  So that would be about 9,000 feet for all you non-metric kind of people.  Pretty high up for sure.

Corno Grande in the distance

I would have hiked up Corno Grande except that I arrived a little too late in the day to be taking on such an adventure, I had not notified the local alpine club of my intention, and I would be doing it alone, which is not a big deal for the most part, but it is a challenging climb, or so I read, and if anything did go wrong, being on your own, is not the wisest thing.  As it was, when I decided to embark on the hike from Pietracamela to Prati di Tivo, which is the ski resort right at the base of Corno Grande, I explored a massive rock slide right on the edge of town and after a couple of slips realized that no one knew where I was and it would be pretty stupid of me if I were to become badly injured.

Looking up at the massive rock slide. I wonder if it occured during the last earthquake. It appeared to have taken out a water pipe of significant size.

From the middle of the slide, looking down. That rock was wedged precariously and was about the size of my house in Smithers. The picture does not do it justice.

Getting out in the mountains though is refreshing.  And as much as I love history and its associated exploring, hiking in mother nature always brings about a certain level of peace in me.  The exertion combined with the connection to nature which as humans we are so often disassociated from, is a perfect marriage.

The beautiful mountains, comparable to B.C.

What I find interesting about these mountains though is knowing that they have been walked on at a minimum since Roman times and of course much before.  Looking out across the valleys and seeing all the little settlements is compelling.  What is even more compelling is how some of the land in the valleys is farmed.  I watched the other day this man cutting grass (for forage) with his tractor on this amazing angle that I would have thought the tractor would tip over.  It certainly is not for the faint hearted and certainly not the prairie dwellers of Canada.

14th century still feels near when exploring Pietracamela

Pietracamela is a funky medieval town that was built from the big rocks that came down from the nearby glacier.  The rock slide that is just on the edge of the town, which I am guessing likely occured during the last earthquake in 2009, took out a large pipe and path of sorts.  This absolutely massive rock that was sheared off the mountain, came tumbling down but surprisingly became wedged right on the edge of a cliff and sits there, right beside a house, dominating the skyline.  It was quite a site.  There is a fair bit of scaffolding support and areas throughout the town that are blocked off from access.  Some buildings have been restored but many still retain much of their ancient character.

On the other side of this was the rock slide. I would not want to live in this house. That rock is a bit intimidating.

An exceptionally tall building

I got lost in the twisting alleyways a fair bit before I found the path to hike to Prati di Tivo.  So my time was limited as I had to get back to Bascianella to walk and feed Benson.  However I would return to the place, this park, and certainly with the intention to hike that big ol’ peak.  Certainly the Abruzzo region is a secret to much of the world since I did not encounter any English speaking people and those people I did encounter were Italian.  But the hiking here would rival that in B.C.  But time is always a limitation, so this will have to wait for another day.

A picture is worth a thousand words!