The people at the desk were very friendly and we had a good feeling as we left the building and made our way to the sign marking the entrance to the gorge, or gole. We have found these gorges to be a pretty standard geological feature throughout the Abruzzo.
The trail starts off on the south side of the gorge and consists of a trail along the edge of the mountainside with the river far below. In some places, like here, the trail is loose scree.
Only minutes from downtown Caramanico, the trail takes you into a very peaceful setting with vast vistas into the gorge below and the cliffs on the opposite side. Some points are not for the faint of heart, with steep drops to your left as the trail winds around boulders.
The midpoint for our hike was one of several bridge crossings of the Orfento River - the Ponte Vellone. Other options for trails are possible as indicated on the map of the Maiella National Park issued by Edizioni Il Lupo.
Unlike the first leg of the hike on the cliffs, the return section follows the river along the bottom of the gorge. A nice contrast.
Shadow portrait at the Orfento Gorge.
The return route follows the north side of the river through trees, but from time to time we were rewarded with dramatic views up to the cliffs above. There are a few options for returning to Caramanico. One is to follow this trail to a point where an auto road crosses above. There, the river becomes a spectacular waterfall and a trail leads up to the auto road via steep steps. We cut it short and used our map to find another route up, which led us past a series of pens housing a community of river otters, and back to the information office.
