We battled the weather on and off for almost the whole time I was in Italy.
Coming from the boring desert I enjoyed it, but it was not good for the project.
Our target this day was the town of Moccone near the lake Lago Di Cecita o
Mucone. The weather was less than perfect in Cosenza which is at an elevation
of about 230 meters. Certainly it would clear up as we went up into the mountains.
As we looked up the slopes of the mountains things did not appear to get better, but it was probably just an optical illusion.
Highway 107 winds its way up the side of Monte Botte Donato and into La Sila. The Sila has been used for centuries for its natural wealth. Logging was a major industry as well as the production of maple syrup through the centuries. Beginning with the Normans, and their long tradition of keeping and caring for royal forests, the rulers of the land received profits from the territory, which remained in the hands of feudal landholders until the unity of Italy. Most of the forest was replanted after extensive logging through the late 19th century and is less than 100 years old. However, the small nature reserve, La Riserva Naturale Biogenetica Del Fallistro, which is near Moccone contained trees that were over 500 years old.
OK. Everybody stay calm. It is just a little snow. Yes, the road is a little icy, but the trees are really pretty, right?
The higher we went the...uhh...prettier the trees looked.
The Parco Nazionale Della Calábria is a 12,960 hectare park. It is split into two areas. The road we were trying to climb up passed through the northern portion of the park near the summit.
Finally we got to the point where people were pulling off to the side of the road to put chains on their tires. We did not have any chains, so, of course, we pressed onward anyway.
Traffic was moving along steadily until we got to one of the galleria (tunnels) near the summit which was at an elevation of about 1440 meters. At that point everything ground to a halt. We walked to the far end of the galleria, but could not determine why the traffic had stopped. Fearing that after the traffic got moving again someone else would do something stupid, like try to go up a snow and ice-covered road without any chains, thinking that things would get better, cause an accident, and tie up traffic for hours, we decided to turn back for Cosenza.
2018-03-05