Monte Generoso

Gene on the trail


Parking lot below BellaVista


1 hour to the top


The path up


The view


Train station at BellaVista


Wildflowers


A lonely bloom


Back at BellaVista: The end of the hike


On the way down

The road home

WE DID IT!!!

All last summer Joan and I talked about walking to the top of Monte Generoso, a mountain that is half in Switzerland and half in Italy. The summit is 1704 meters, around 5400 feet, but until last Thursday we took the easy way, namely, the cog wheel train! It is a beautiful ride but obviously not very strenuous. The train starts in Mendrisio, Switzerland, passes a beautiful overlook called “Bellavista” and then continues to the top. It is very important to pick a crystal clear day to make this excursion because at the top of the summit you have a 360 degree view of the cities of Maroggia, Melide and Lugano in Switzerland and all the way to Milano in Italy. However the truly beautiful lakes of Lugano and Como are the best views of all. Now it seems so far this year the clear days have come on the weekends when the traffic can be very heavy and since weekends or week days make no difference to us we decided it would be best to avoid congestion and proceed on a weekday. We finally decided that last Thursday was THE day for our Monte Generoso walking excursion.

Now remember this was going to a walking experience! The logical spot to start the walk was at the Bellavista overview. There are many, many trails surrounding the mountain and obviously they all intersect at the summit. After a lot of research and map studying this was the logical spot for us. From Mezzegra, our home base, to Mendrisio, Switzerland is a drive of about 25 miles. From there we started our accent to the trail head. The 10 km drive to Bellavista from Mendrisio was rather breathtaking and a little nerve racking. Generoso is a very steep mountain, nothing gradual about it. The road, of course, is two way except that it is only a car and a half wide. One must be very careful going around turns and curves to avoid a collision with oncoming traffic , another reason to pick a weekday for the trip. We proceeded at a clip of about 20-25 miles an hour which was probably too fast. Joan helped a lot with the braking as she kept on pushing the nonexistent brake pedal on the right side of the car. I told her I didn’t think it helped much but she kept on trying. When we did encounter a car both vehicles stopped and you decided who had to back up and nestle against the side and let the other car creep by. I don’t know if my nerves could have handled it if I didn’t have that bottle of Jack Daniels under the front seat!!

OK, we are now safely at the parking lot of Bellavista and ready to start our hike. We packed our lunch, had plenty of drinking water and some of our favorite cookies so we were on our way. It was cool and sunny but unfortunately too hazy for our liking and my photos show it but what the heck, let’s go. As I mentioned we were heading to about 5500 feet in elevation and we started at 3800 feet. The signage for the trail system is very good and the sign said one hour to the summit. Damn liars!!!

We started off in a heavily wooded area and eventually got above the tree line out in the brilliant sun. The scenery was gorgeous but too hazy for quality pictures. The scary part was that if you misstepped and left the trail there were many places where you would slide down at least 500 feet without being able to stop yourself. It looked harmless because the mountain was absolutely covered by a vibrant green fern. It looked “soft” but I think the fern would hasten the speed of the fall and if you looked closely you could see plenty of rocks lurking under the ferns. It would be a very nasty fall to say the least. We were very, very careful. The hike was long but the worst thing was the hordes of flies that bombarded us as we trekked. They seemed to keep up with us no matter how much we tried to swat them away. Luckily they didn't bite. As we approached the top of the mountain Joan found herself really struggling for breath. I was very concerned for her and we stopped a lot for rests. She was really feeling lousy as we got close to the summit. It must have been the altitude and her lessened lung capacity that was making it so hard for her to breathe. I asked her if she wanted to turn back? “No way!” Why didn’t that surprise me? We finally made it and were quite relieved. Oh, and yes, it took us almost two hours to summit rather than one. There is large building at the top with a restaurant and lots of comfortable seating, inside and outside. I got Joan a diet Coke and, of course, a beer for me and we had a delightful lunch. It’s always good not to die on the trail!

About an hour later we both felt fine and started back down. Of course respiratorily it was very easy but it was somewhat tough on the legs and the toes. I told Joan I was getting blisters on my toes but I would just keep walking and not check them out. I felt like someone was holding a flame to my feet. We did not lollygag at all, made very few rest stops and it took us an hour to return to Bellavista. So the sadist who put up the sign that said one hour to the top really meant to say it took one hour to walk down hill to the bottom. I checked my feet and found no blisters at all but the temperature of my toes was 175 degrees or so. It was so nice to get back in the car and drive down the one way- two way 10 km road.

That night we had a quick dinner and went to bed. The good news was that no one died, we got some decent pictures and enjoyed another adventure in Italy!