Four days in Tessin: Gorda to Cap. Cadlimo

Breakfast at 7:00, not particularly satisfying (matching expectations, but one can always hope), and we are underway at 7:45. The weather is perfect, the clouds from the days before have all blown away (we can actually see the Rheinwaldhorn) and there’s a nice breeze to keep things cool. We start out going up, up, up along a nice path towards the Capanna Nido d’Aquila. Once we hit the broad ridge we turn off to the left and climb gently through a really, really nice landscape. There are beautiful places one could bivvy, a couple nice looking lakes, some ponds, nice views, etc. Along the ridge for a bit before turning off to the right and starting to head down towards Acquacalda. 

Down down along a nice path, crossing some streams (this is something of a theme for the day), one wet foot crossing (g has his Merrills with him, A gets wet shoes), along we go. Food break along the way, meeting another path at Brönich; now we start to see some other people. Onward and onward until hitting the larger trail at Lareccio. This one is way more popular, particularly with bikers coming the other direction (probably they have taken the gondola up from Airolo and are then riding down?). Anyway, now we start to head up, up again into another really pretty valley. Up up, enjoying the views and the breeze, another food break on a big flat rock, up, up to the Passo del Sole. New views!

Now it’s down from the path, turning off towards the Passo dell’Uomo, and then along a new valley, with new views for a bit. We turn off this busy trail (heading towards the Passo del Lucomagno) and contour around towards the Val Cadlimo. A food break and some water pumping along the way and then we head into the valley. This valley is surpassingly lovely, which is good since we walk the whole length of it. ;-) Lots of nice things too see as we go up, up . One of the more unusual of these is a herd of yaks(!) being driven by a shepherd, 6 dogs, and his family. That was weird. At the end we turn right and head up, up, taking in more amazing views, to the Capanna Cadlimo. We have time to get checked in and have a cool beverage before dinner, yeah!

The hut is pretty full (at least given the Corona restrictions), and many of the visitors aren’t the usual hut visitors, but things are well organized and everything works. We have a good meal, play a game, then head off to bed to process all of the many memories and mental pictures from what was a quite long, and really nice, day.

Track:

Stats: 9:40, 27.7km, 1730m up, 970m down