7 peaks over 2,000 meters in 5 hours, 2 cars, 2 hikers and a dog

3 Agosto
The first part of this hike, from forca di Presta to Pizzo di Diavolo has alway been one of my favorites.  The views are incredible and the people are sparse.  I have written before about choosing your hikes in the Sibillinis, and for those of you who want to check off the tallest peak in Le Marche, you can start from either this trail's beginning or its end.  Obviously if you do the latter, you will do this hike in reverse and end up doing 8 summits over 2,000 meters and you are tougher than me, probably.
We started this hike at 0835 from forca di Presta above Arquata del Tronto to the southeast and Castelluccio to the northwest.  At 1600 meters rounded off, you have only 800 meters of altitude gain to reach these summits (not counting the saddle descents and re-ascents of the subsequent  peaks which are not difficult).   Head on up to the little rifugio Zilioli and take a left.

Heading up, sometimes seems like straight up, from forca di Presta to Prato Pulito, that point on just to the right of center photo.

A puppy left at the refuge or escaped from one of the local shepherds was thirsty and hungry, so he got a bit of Bacco's ration of water and dog biscuits.

The top of Prato Pulito on the left and Cima del Lago distant right

This picture from my hiking buddy, Sven and his panoramic capable iphone shows Prato Pulito to the right, Cima del Lago to the left and then continuing right from Cima, Redentore and Pizzo di Diavolo which are your next stops.  For us, it was 1 hour and 15 minutes to the refuge from forca di Presta, and to include pizzo di Diavolo and a return to Redentore (it's a dead end) figure another hour and a half.

One of the best things about this hike are the views of lago di Pilato below, which you can't see from Vettore unless you add a leg to that hike.

You can also see the marvelous Piano Grande of Castelluccio from all along the crest

Looking back from Mt. Redentore, you see my friend Sven walking on the edge

The 20 or so roundtrip hike from Redentore to Pizzo di Diavolo is one of the few "hairy" hikes I have done in the Sibillini mountains. It gets pretty narrow along here with a steep drop on both sides, but is well worth it for the views from this mountain "peninsula"

Looking towards Mt. Sibilla from Pizzo

The view of the Sella (saddle) delle Ciaule where you see the trail leading down from the flank of Vettore to either the scenic overlook of Lago di Pilato or the descent to the lake.  In the distance you see all the way to Gran Sasso, tallest mountain in southern Italy

This photo shows the last 2 named peaks Bacco and I had not done over 2,000 meters.... but, we are on our way!

Love this panorama with Bacco and I atop Pizzo di Diavolo, Vettore just slightly to its right then far right you see Cima del Lago

Mt. Osservatorio, you just walk along this crest down from Redentore to forca Viola and you finish up all those hidden, unknown 2,000 meter peaks

Bacco  along the crest looking towards Mt. Sibilla

Bacco atop Quarto San Lorenzo

Finishing the last supra-2,000 meter peak in Le Marche. Bacco and I, as far as we know, have now done them all.

This is the last un named mountain (Mt. Bacco?) over 2,000 meters looking down into the valley where you find the town of Foce and lots of scouts camping right now.

No trail down from Mt. Bacco (haha), just a steep descent.

Looking back at where we have been with Mt Bacco, Quarto San Lorenzo, Osservatorio, Redentore all visible from the last part of this trail which involves a 3 km walk along a road to return to Castelluccio where we left the 2nd car.

You can still see some blooming in the valley even on 2 agosto.

The total hike with Pizzo thrown in took 5 hours and 5 minutes for the 3 of us, who move along pretty steadily (quickly) and it clocks in at probably around 14 km or just about 8.5 miles.  If you have just one car, I would do the hike out to Pizzo and return, it is one of my favorites!

I will leave you with a photo of Castelluccio from our descent, always a very photogenic spot from any angle.  

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.

Visso, Castelluccio, Pettacci, reading labels

30 Gennaio, 2009
Auguri a Luigi Lepore e Buon Compleanno.
We took off for the mountains so I could get my fix and visited the usual places: Castelluccio, Visso and our friends at Pettaci and Norcia.
The mountains are beautiful this year and I really had a yen to go skiing as their is an adequate base of snow this year. Bacco treats the snow just like sand and takes a bit of a snowbath every chance he gets.
We picked up some Ciauscolo (a wonderful fresh salami renowned from the Marche) of various types at Visso along with a cool Pecorino cheese aged in fossa (holes in the ground or caves) which gives it more of a granular texture and a spicier taste. 3 sandwiches of their prosciutto for lunch, a guanciale (aged and season pig cheek-great for pasta carbonara) for the house and we were on our way to Norcia via the back roads for a picnic lunch. There, we stopped in to see our friend at Beccofino, one of the finest restaurants within an hour of Nascondiglio di Bacco, shared a coffee and came on back to the Marche.
I am still trying to get my car insurance situation cleared up. I found a company that will insure the z4, thus enabling me to drive it to the licensing bureau, but needed information from State Farm describing my risk status. My Lenexa and COR friends Mel and Alice Hawk sent me along a letter saying I was, of course, the best driver they had ever insured and I took the liberty of including a scale of my own for the italian firm. Their system starts when you get your first driver's license and you are given a rating of 18. Every year that passes without a claim you descend the stairway, until you arrive at 0. Of course, I am in the negative numbers, by now, but I am not sure my homemade rating scale will past muster in Milan. Obviously, it costs a fortune here to insure a car with horsepower and model and risk rating weighing heavily on the final cost. Thus far, I have seen quotes ranging from 860 euros to over 2000 euros and todays dollar is at about 1.32 to the euro.
We are still living in a mud zone, but finally, there is sun again today. I arose before dawn to go the bank and the immigration office in Ascoli to finish the insurance stuff and initiate the process of my new visa procuration. We finally got through to the italian consulate in Chicago, which made a mistake with my visa last year. Hopefully with another go, I can secure the self-employed visa this time around. I let the better italian speaker here at Nascondiglio go through all our questions to become perfectly clear as to their requirements and the lady on the phone was actually pleasant. Crossing our fingers, I am scheduled to try again in late March.
Finally, for those of you who are not label readers, take a look at this article from men's health and take those readers to the store with you from now on! http://health.msn.com/nutrition/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100229943>1=31036
The pictures are of Bacco in the snow at Forca di Presta, the italian flag in trees contrasting with the snow and a photo of the mountain peaks of the Sibillini mts near Castelluccio and the offerings of Pettaci.
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