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| K on the P trail to Blockhaus |
From the parking area at La Maielletta (which doubles as massive antenna complex serving the surrounding area), we headed up an older, poorly maintained auto road that a sign said was only for persons with disabilities and emergencies. At points, you can leave the auto road and follow a faint, poorly marked track through open meadows. But the gist is to get to the point that the auto road ends at a small parking area. From here, a short, paved path leads past park benches to a covered Madonna statue and a sign marking this as the P trail to Monte Amaro.
From the Madonna statue, it is steeply up through squat pine trees to the summit of Blockhaus - a distinctive, flat-topped peak containing the remains of a "block house" fort. Alternately, you can skip the summit by following another trail from the Madonna shrine that skirts the north edge of the summit and rejoins the trail down from the ruins on the opposite side.
Unlike the bright blue, cloudless skies that we'd been having all week, this hike saw fast moving clouds one minute and mostly sunny skies the next. As the trail followed a ridge line around 7,000 feet in elevation, any openings in the clouds meant amazing vistas all the way to the Adriatic Sea.
The alternating clouds and sun made for a pretty eerie experience. At times, we could only see a few feet ahead as we made our way along the ridge to Monte Cavallo. At first, we thought that this rocky point was the summit...
... and the outdated signs didn't help much with way finding either. But once I brought out the map, it was easy to determine that the summit actually sat a little further along the trail and off to the west. The trail that we were following didn't actually go there.
A short bush whack through small pines revealed a sizable cairn with a stick jammed into the top. Monte Cavallo at last! In this view to the north when the fog had lifted, Blockhaus can be seen in the background. We found a great lunch spot nearby and enjoyed a long, peaceful break at what seemed the top of the world.
Though a pretty cool hike, the highlight of the day came on our drive back down from La Maielletta when we spent a good 15 minutes trying to get through a shepherd's flock that had chosen the auto road as its means of travel. That's driving in the Abruzzo for you.
Peaks: Block Haus and Monte Cavallo
Elevation: 2140 meters (7,020 feet) and 2171 meters (7122 feet)
Distance: 8.5 km (5 miles) round trip, out and back
Route: S trail to Monte Amaro
Conditions: Fog, 60 degrees F
