Day Hiking in Italy-Gran Paradiso-Valsavarenche-San Grato

<Japanese version is after English 日本語は英語の後にあります>

Hike in Gran Paradiso Area, Valgrisenche

Walk to Lago di San Grato/10 km out and back 540 m elevation gain

San Grato

The second day in the Gran Paradiso area, we again stopped by the same local coffee bar. The same bartender was there and she seemed to remember us weird foreigners. She kindly suggested that “marccino” instead of macchiato. It was layered concentrated coffee. I really liked it.

Then we thought that we arrived at the trailhead but we were not sure it was allowed to park along the road. Because there was no car, we got nervous, however, we believed that it was okay and started the hike. From the beginning, the view was very beautiful. I felt like I was in the real paradise. We had previewed this hike with a book that Mr.N had bought on Amazon with $1. The book said that the bridge on the Lago was collapsed and no idea when it would be fixed (even the decision went to Rome). We hoped that the bridge was fixed because the book was published in 1994.

We did find the bridge but it was over the big snow. We walked on the snow to the bridge then walked more on the snow. Then finally saw the attractive green lake, Lago di San Grato. This hike became one of my favorite hikes in my life. All the way to the Lago, there was only two of us. Absolutely no person. It was so peaceful and it was definitely a hidden gem. 

After lunch and nap, we looked at the pretty lake and mountain one more time and started heading back. Near the bridge, we saw an Italian guy with two dogs. He talked to us in Italian first but we asked him to speak English. He asked us to take pictures of him and his dogs. Then he asked if there was somebody else at the lake. He seemed to be worried if dogs were allowed or not. Mr.N said that there was no person and the Italian guy got excited. When the guy asked the question he used “ultimate” for it. Mr.N said that the word is used now differently. Then we went back to the trailhead and found more cars at the trailhead. That meant parking there was allowed. Maybe people did the same by seeing our car. Then we went back to the cottage and ate salmon, bread, Italian gelato, and fruits. We had another great hike in the Gran Paradiso. 

イタリアでのハイキング！

エリア：グランパラディーゾ・バルグリセンチェ

ハイキングはサングラト湖へ行くアウトアンドバック、１０キロ、高低差５４０メートル。

グランパラディーゾのエリアで２日目のハイク。 

まず朝にコーヒーバーでコーヒーを飲む。バーテンダーの女性が”マルチーノ”というコーヒーを勧めてくれたのでそれを頼む。濃厚で美味しい。小さな町では英語を喋れる人が少なくなるので、英語でコミュニケーションできるのはありがたい。

そしてトレイルヘッドへとドライブ。トレイルヘッドの道沿いに駐車してOKなのかがわからなかったのでしばし迷う。サインもないし車も一台も止まっていないのだ。しかし、禁止のサインもないので大丈夫だろうと思い駐車。

このハイキングはMrNがアマゾンで１ドルで買った中古のハイキングガイドブックに載っていたもの。きれいそうだったので私が選んだ。ガイドブックによるとサングラト湖へ行く最後の橋が壊れてまだ修復されていないとのこと。しかしその本は１９９４年に発行されたものなので、さすがに橋は修復されていると信じハイキング開始。

このハイキング、最初から最後まで素晴らしい。ため息が出るほどの美しさ。冗談ではなくずーっと綺麗な景色が続くのだ。そして橋が雪の中にあるのを発見！橋を越えると湖が。１枚目の写真が湖。氷河からできた魅惑的な緑。湖の向こうにそびえる美しい山。永遠にここで景色を見ていたいと思いながら湖に見とれた。

ランチを食べて寝転び湖のそばで昼寝タイム。そして名残惜しいが元来た道をトレイルヘッドまで戻る。今度は下り。２−４枚目の写真が下って行くときに撮った写真。いかに美しいか読者もわかって頂けると思う。

帰りにイタリア人の犬を連れた人に写真を撮ってくれと頼まれた。英語で少し意思疎通が困難な部分もあったがなんとかコミュニケーションできた。

グランパラディーゾ、最高。