Annual Gola dell'infernaccio hike with Bacco and another mystery tree

22 Giugno

After a 13 hour work day last week, I decided to spoil myself and Bacco, who gets quite annoyed and acts out when I work too much and don't pay enough attention to him (who needs a wife).  We headed up to the trail head for Gola which is about 90 minutes from us in the Sibillini mountains, parked at the entrance and walked the 1st km on the road which gives access to the cattle ranchers who graze their animals up in the mountain valleys.  There is a veil of water which falls from the cliff to the left in the picture above to start you off on the trail.
The cool vapor and sent of greenness meets you (I smelled tomato leaves for some reason) and you hike up into the shear cliffs of the gola which have been eroded by the power of this little torrent over the millenia.

You then walk along the river enveloped in the sound of rushing mountain water, which I love on the same level as wind blowing through the pine trees in Rocky Mt. Natl. Park or in back of Nascondiglio di Bacco.  The 3 y.o. flat coat retriever never tires of submerging his black coat in the cool water and drinking his fill so he can mark the entire length of the trail as his property.

We hiked the hour and a half to the spring which in summer marks the start of the river.  We are just finishing up the snow melt here, so the springs were overshadowed by the water from higher up.  There was no one on the trail, a great place to clear your mind and enjoy the beauty of the mountains on either side, listening to the european goldfinches and european robins and european chickadees singing and once in a while the bellowing of the cattle higher up.

Now, here is the picture of the mystery tree which is full of hanging bunches of yellow flowers without any scent, but impressive nonetheless.  Kudos to whoever guesses correctly...I am just too lazy to search it out on google right now.

Finally, a couple of photos from the return trip and an update on the winery construction where just before our 1st serious rain in a month, the roof of the working part of the cantina was finished.  Now we are almost ready for those who do the inside work, such as the tubing for wine and must transfer, electricity, refrigeration, etc.  In the vineyard, we are still choosing which branches to keep and which to cut away and have just the montepulciano vines to finish, maybe another weeks worth of work.  Then, back to the beginning and we will start to cut away excess grapes, so our young vines can concentrate all their energy on just the 5 or 6 bunches we leave hanging.

The town is Montefortino as viewed from the road to Gola dell'Infernaccio.