AWOL from Nascondiglio di Bacco, in the Sibillini mountains with Bacco

 Starting the hike out right with a big drink and a cool down.  This is a drinking fountain for the local sheep and from this point, about 2 km from the trailhead (unless you drive up to this point to save yourself some work, the road isn't at all bad)

 Bacco, taking time to smell the flowers

 The flowers on and around this trail were spectacular and nearly in full bloom

 Bacco on the summit of Sasso Borghese

 And the next stop, the top of Palazzo Borghese

 And finally, the summit of Mt. Porche

 This is a view of Castelluccio, the home of the famous lentils and beautiful flowers, now showing.

 A look down into a canyon below Mt. Porche

 A view of Sasso Borghese in the left foreground and Palazzo Borghese to its right with a saddle between the two, our first 2 summits and in the distance you see Mt. Vettore to the left and Cima del Lago and Mt. Redentore to the right.

And this is how Bacco ended his hike, in another fountain

30 Giugno
Bacco and I played hooky yesterday as I had worked something like 16 days straight and needed a break.  We or I decided to climb 3 peaks, Mt. Porche, Sasso Borghese and Palazzo Borghese, all above 2000 meters. The flowers are just incredible now and will be in full bloom for at least another week.  You can add a visit to the plateau of Castelluccio with the hike and get your flower fix, for sure.  The hike takes about 2.5 hours to scale the 3 summits and an hour and fifteen minutes for the return.  You will be adopted by families of flies, but they don't bite and hang around waiting for the sheep which graze in the mountain pastures.  There are excellent views of the Sibillini mountains, Lake Fiastra, the plateau listed above and one can see all the way to the sea, into Abruzzo and Lazio and of course, Umbria.  It is a nice hike and except for some scree in the early going which is tougher on the descent, not too difficult.  I headed first to Sasso Borghese, then backtracked for Palazzo and Porche, although the last one might be better to scale first as it is the most difficult.