I got up early, because I wanted to get to Airolo the long way before the storm hit. When I looked out of the window the lake was covered in a cloud but by the time I left at 6.30, the cloud had dissolved.
The first climb took me up to Lago di Lucendro, or rather a path somewhat above it. I saw 5 murmeltiere running away some 50m ahead of me.
I passed the path over the pass I wanted to have yesterday, that would have been so much better than the route I had. I wanted to go up and down it just to see it, but I couldn't because I was in a hurry because of the thunderstorm. Argh!
Up to the pass I went. The higher I climbed, the more beautiful the view, and the more impassable the path.
Now this is what I call a pass. Totally unreachable for cars, bikes, motorcycles and touringcars,or even cable cars. If you want to be here, you'll have to be on foot. I think that even if you were on donkey back you'd have to dismount. Those passes I had so far, Grimselpass, Furkapass, Gotthardpass, didn't feel like real passes to me, with all their cars and tourists and stuff. Yes, I know I'm a tourist too but there are definitely different kinds of tourists.
I took a short break at a beautiful place, the Gotthard-Reuss river source.
Going in to the actual pass, I passed some streams, and then some snow patches. It's funny how the water feels colder on my feet than the snow.
After the pass at 2532m I went down, down, down. When I got to a road at 2044 I felt like I'd gone a long way down and I was nearly there, but I still had 2 hours and 878m to go down.
It's funny to see the vegetation change while you're descending (ascending too but then I'm usually too busy catching my breath and watching where I'm going to notice). Highest up, there's almost only grass and other green plants. Coming down, first the blooming flowers are added, then some small brush, then the shrubs get higher. Next you see a few stunted, low trees, sometimes growing kind of horizontal. Slowly the trees get higher, and all the while the lower vegetation gets taller too, which is where I sometimes have to fight my way through the plants.

The road at 2044 stayed level for long enough that I got impatient with it. Now I just wanted to get down to Airolo and be done with it. Steep paths, a tourist kiosk where I bought ice cream, just mown paths where the dry grass was slippery, a snake that was making its way through the grass (literally, 10cm above the ground) and then again a path with more effing cows! I just don't dare to pass close by them anymore, even desperately not making eye contact (which is really harder than it sounds when you're also trying to see if one of them is moving towards you). So I just went down the slope as soon as that was possible. I really don't want to see a single cow anymore until I'm on a train back home.
The way down to Airolo took way longer than I expected, and I was tired and wanted to get it over with. Finally I reached the town, which actually looks pretty Italian, and has a lot of height differences and stairs. And when I got to the train station, I was suddenly completely done with all of it. I needed a break, a day that wasn't complicated, where I could find a supermarket where not every single thing is horribly overpriced, and most of all, I wanted to not be running against possibly dangerous weather for a bit. So, I took a train to Lugano. I wanted to see that city and lake anyway, was planning on doing that later, so I figured I'd just combine two plans and get the Lugano part done now. So now I'm in a hostel in Lugano ( not a campsite because here, too, there is thunderstorm and rain expected and I'm too tired to deal with that in a tent right now), going to take the day off from hiking tomorrow, and look at the weather forecast and plan some more.

Geschreven door Jewaontheroad