We met our Italian guide Mimo and took a short transfer by local bus to the hamlet of Valmontey. As we walked through the village, we made a stop at an overlook where we could see Cogne below. He pointed out that Grand Paradiso Mountain, in the distance, is the highest in Italy at 13,300 ft.
We continued on across Alpine pastures where the wildflowers formed a spectacular display against the permanently snow-covered Gran Paradiso Mountains.
Our hike took us up some steep old roads, along some pastures and into the forests, all part of a national park named after the mountain.
We knew we were on the right trail by the multiple directional signs.
Along the way we saw the ubiquitous cow, many who graze close to the trail with little regard.
There were constant views of the Alps.
Our guide stopped occasionally to discuss aspects of the Alps. One of the things that is foremost on his mind is global climate change. He said when the warming temperatures cause the ice to melt, it exposes loose rock that is far less stable than the ice. This makes it difficult for many outdoor sports as well as causing the rock to wash down in the valleys. Warming also contributes to more avalanches.
Ultimately, we descended back down to Valmonty and returned to the hotel for lunch.
Afterwards, we boarded another local bus and headed for a Lillaz Village.
From here we headed out on another forested trail where we crossed several streams fed by glacier waters.
Our goal was to see several waterfalls as we walked through the forest.
The big one is Cascate de Lillaz. Fed by the Urtier River, it is about 500 ft. high and we observed it from 3 levels: top, middle and bottom. Near the bottom was a rainbow.
Near the bottom was another waterfall.
Then we hiked back to the village. From the village was a wide 3-mile forested path used by walkers and cyclists to connect our village.
This made 9 miles of hiking for today.
As soon as we got back we went to a bread making demonstration in an old house that is unique for still having a wood fired oven in the basement. Our host was Nicola, whose real job is working with plants at the local botanical garden. However, he has an avocational interest in bread making and in distilling grappa, which he infused with herbs from his work at the garden.
He had already prepared the dough and then he cut it into individual loaves for each of us.
Our job was to knead it and then he baked each of our loaves. It only took 20 minutes and while he was doing that, we sampled his grappa. He had some interesting flavors, like pine, but my favorite was a mixture of herbs.
We watched the bread bake in the old brick oven and then we each got our own back.
It’s whole wheat and very heavy. Not sure what to do with it but would make a great door stop.
A word about bread making in this region: in former times, people in this region were very poor and wood was very expensive. It took a lot of wood to get an oven hot enough to make bread. So, they would bake bread as a family once a year in December. Then they would let it dry out so it would not mold. To eat it, they would break it apart and put it in soup or other hot liquid. This is a photo of a bread drying rack.
After the bread making it was time for dinner at the hotel and bed. This was quite a day!
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