Day 06 - Collalbo to Bolzano

We left our agriturismo around 9:00, and hiked down to the Freud Promenade. In 1911, the founder of psychoanalysis stayed in Collalbo, and evidently he enjoyed a good stroll. Today, there is a dedicated trail that connects Collalbo to Soprabolzano. A person can stroll from one town to the other, and then ride a small train back to the starting point. To reinforce the connection with Freud, placards line the route, with excerpts from some of the letters he wrote while staying here. We are offered gems like: “The Oedipus complex is the nuclear complex of the neuroses, and constitutes the essential part of their content.”

Gives one something to ponder as they stroll along.

The Freud Promenade

While walking in Freud’s footsteps, we passed a significant milestone: 100 km. 100 behind us, at least 900 more to go.

Soprabolzano (literally “above Bolzano”) sits on the edge of the Altopiano. The actual city of Bolzano lays roughly 1,000 meters lower. To arrive at today’s destination (Bolzano), it was necessary to cover this distance.

Now there was a perfectly practical and viable way of doing this, and I notice that some of my predecessors in the Via Romea blogging business have employed it: there is a cable car that whisks a person down the mountainside in twelve minutes. Moreover, as a parting gift, the owner of our agriturismo had given us a card that would have made the trip free. A free ride on a cable car, viewing the sights flying beneath us, or a long, foot-cracking, knee-busting 1,000 meter descent.

Quick and Easy, Twelve Minutes to Bolzano

Which do you think we chose? Exactly right. It doesn’t feel like a complete day unless we’ve cracked some knees.

I would like to preface my discussion with the observation that going down hills is nearly as hard on your body as going up. Uphill you are lifting the combined weight of pack and body with each step. It adds up and becomes exhausting. Downhill, however, you are checking the momentum that is generated by every step. Your feet, ankles, and knees must catch your weight thousands of times, and that is exhausting. Couple that with the steep slopes and uncertain footing that characterize these mountains, and it becomes clear that this is no stroll to the grocery store. I would not recommend this hike if it was wet, or, even worse, snowing.

(Take the cable car; twelve minutes end to end).

We began our descent on another segment of the Kaiserweg (see yesterday’s entry for details of this path). As was true yesterday, these rocks are fairly hazardous, an ankle waiting to be turned with every step.

The Hard Stones of the Kaiserweg

The star attraction of today’s stage was the Earth Pyramids. I alluded to these yesterday. The Earth Pyramids are one of the oddest geological formations I have ever seen. What has happened is that a bed of clay has been eroded over the centuries by the rain. However, in the places where rocks were embedded in the clay, the clay made a pillar. The rock served as an umbrella for the clay beneath it, and consequently, erosion carved a spike beneath each rock. The stones sit like pillar saints, perched atop their clay columns. They are much taller than one would think possible, with some dwarfing the nearby trees. This particular area, around Collalbo, has some of the best Earth Pyramids in the world.

Earth Pyramids

They are utterly fantastic in appearance, like something from a science fiction movie set. One can see the Earth Pyramids while walking into Collalbo, but they are far away, across a valley. The groups below Soprabolzano are harder to get to, but they are closer to the vantage point and well worth the trip.

When we reached the first viewing point, we noted a large collection of llamas tied to the fence. A group of people were having a picnic, and it became evident that they had ridden the llamas down. That’s one way to get down the hill (and back up again).

Treking Llamas

Further down the hill, we were treated to an example of a Sud Tirol roofing job. The workmen had surrounded a large house with scaffolding and set up a yellow construction crane behind the house. As we rounded the corner, the crane simply lifted a large quarter section of the roof right off the house and set it to one side. Quick and efficient.

A Sud Tirol Roofing Job

The last stage of the trip was a sharp three kilometer plunge downhill. And here I must note that I have a bone to pick with some of these trail signs. I find them rather unhelpful. To begin with, the signs measure the distance in hours/minutes to the destination. But what is the standard? If the sign claims that Bolzano is an hour away, is that an hour for an Olympic trail runner, fast moving teenagers, or an old, overly cautious hiker like me? I think distance, rather than time, would be more helpful.

Bolzano (Far Below)

But it gets worse. We passed a sign for Bolzano that claimed the city was one hour away. Fine. We crept our way down the steep rock- and root-strewn trails for twenty minutes and reached another sign which stated, rather improbably, that Bolzano was still one hour away. Twenty minutes of walking and not a minute closer? Something was definitely wrong.

As we lurched over the rocks and roots, a woman came running past us, flying on fleet feet down the trail. Incredible! One missed step and she would break an ankle, leg, or worse. Of course she probably reached Bolzano an hour before us.

One Hour Later: Bolzano Still Far Below

Slowly we crept toward Bolzano. After about a week, we passed a sign that noted Bolzano was only twenty minutes further. Hooray!

Bolzano, Looking a Little Closer

Fifteen minutes later, we passed a sign that said Bolzano was still twenty minutes away. Desperate and disinclined to trust the signs, we continued to make our way down the never-ending hill. Finally, the path turned to brick, and a few minutes later we reached the first houses of the city. Another leg of the trip in the books.

Today’s Distance: 15.76 KM

Total Distance: 113.76 KM