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Description:
20-03-2022: Length: 9 km Elevation gain: 440 m. Leaving the car, start the hike along the dirt road closed to cars continuing north through copses and clearings. Beautiful March bloom, almost entirely centered on the alternation between pale yellow primroses and violet periwinkle, trinity herb and columbines. Quickly reach a dry hairpin bend where a secondary dirt road branches left. For now continue right passing near the lower entrance to the Forte di Monte Ercole. The track continues right of the guard posts, close to the wall from which it was carved. This traverse is interrupted uphill by a small tunnel piercing a rocky spur beyond which the bottom becomes paved. From the military road, carved sheer into the rocky walls characterizing this slope, one willingly pauses to observe the splendid view opening over the Tagliamento valley between Venzone and Gemona and on the small Lago Minisini. At a sharp hairpin the paved bottom ends and the road continues in a sparse wood under whose shade vast carpets of crocuses mixed with primroses and hellebores extend. Quickly we arrive at the saddle just south of the summit, turn right following the dirt track that rises moderately towards elevation 501. After a few meters we find the entrance to two fortifications but it is better to continue to the platform where the track ends. From here, following the trace branching aside, we can reach the top of an airy ridge from which a splendid view of Gemona opens. Back on our steps take the marked trail originating right opposite, climbing diagonally among cornel bushes and large heather clumps. We join a slightly wider trail rising right and with a turn exits onto the meadows near the summit (571 m). Despite the modest altitude, from Monte Cumieli an extensive and unusual panorama opens on the mountains close to the Tagliamento. Northward the view is limited by vegetation but continuing in that direction one can widen the view to Monte Plauris and the tormented slopes of Monte di Ledis. From the summit return on our steps to the saddle from which we started, resuming the track that from here gently lowers diagonally towards the beautiful meadow clearing of Sant’Agnese (430 m). Passing next to some renovated huts we can thus visit the church of Sant’Agnese, dating back probably to the 12th century. The building, almost entirely destroyed by the 1976 earthquake, has been the subject of meticulous restoration seeking to faithfully reconstruct the original appearance. From the saddle descend the opposite slope along a track that soon forks. Keeping left, continue along a broken mule track crossing a meadow and soon re-entering a wooded patch meeting two successive junctions where it is necessary to persist in the same direction (faded red arrow on stones). Now traversing a wide mule track slightly gain altitude returning to the northern ridge. Before proceeding, with a short deviation right, one can look out over the gravel fan, furrowed by a tangle of tracks, descending from Forca di Ledis. To complete the circumnavigation traverse a bit more then the road begins to lose altitude diagonally, makes a hairpin and finally exits near the wide grassy clearing of casera Cum (358 m). Here at the beginning of spring numerous dog's tooth blooms, unmistakable plant characterized by a solitary pink flower and elliptical red-spotted leaves. With a couple of turns the track descends further reaching the upper part of the Forte di Monte Ercole dating back to the early 1900s and belonging to the Alto Tagliamento Defensive Line. Even a brief visit to the fortress reveals among the invasive vegetation the remains of a monumental work: caves, galleries and elevators connect the various rooms of the large fortified complex whose central block is protected by a covered and fully walkable trench line. For the return the same road traveled on the outward journey will be used.
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Video length: 16:48
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