Sunday 15th September : Weather: 10°C Fusio: 12°C Lago Mognola: 16°C in Fusio: Sunny, windy, blue skies
Fusio circuit to Lago Mognola: 10.3k walk to Lago Mognola
Ascent and Descent: Ascent 827m, Descent 830m,
Time: 9am to 3.30pm: Walk time 6hrs + 1 x 30 min stop at Lago Mognola
Accommodation: Ostello Cummunale Fusio
Coffee at Lago Mognola - find Ian
Us at Lago Mognola 2003 metres
ian at Lago Mognola 2003 metres
Aqua Canaa - ancient water duct
High View of Lago Sambuco
Snow up high near Cristallina
What a fantastic day. Our hiking circuit took us steeply uphill more than 800 metres above Fusio to Lago Mognola at 2,003 metres where we had coffee at this magnificent isolated lake with only 10 hikers and three fishermen. A far cry from the thousands of tourists at the Oeschenensee in Kandersteg last week. Then we walked down a different route for a panoramic view of Lago Sambuco, where we had walked yesterday, and then past the very ancient narrow aquaducts of Canaa built to feed water to the lower dry pastures.
Another good nights sleep curled up in two doonas. At 7am I crawl out of bed to see Urs, our Swiss friend, leaving. He’s going past Lago di Naret today. I make a cup of tea and turn on all the cast iron hot plates on the stove to warm the kitchen - it’s a cold 10°C in Fusio but colder inside our Ostello. I take the tea to Ian and crawl back into bed for another hour. At 8am we’re up having meusli and yoghurt then changing into our warmest gear.
Leaving at 9am, we follow the red and white signs to Lago Mognola out of Fusio. Even though we’re climbing, it’s still cold enough to leave on jumpers, vests, gloves and a Hagloffs rain coat for an hour before stopping to shed a layer. It’s such a beautiful walk with views back to Lago Sambuco where we walked yesterday. After and hour and a half, the track becomes steep, rocky and rough. It’s almot midday when we reach the picture post card Lago Mognola, a crystal clear deep blue mountain lake nestled below the alps.
It’s windy and a cold 12°C, so we look for a sheltered spot out of the wind in the sun for coffee. There’s a good flat rock near a stone hut around the edge of the lake where someone is fishing. A warm place for coffee. Lingering to enjoy the view and warmth of the sun, it’s 12.30pm when we set off to the other side of the lake, then uphill, taking a different return route to the ridge where a wonderful panorama opens up over the Lago del Sambuco dam. The path leads along a water channel, the “Acquedotto Canà”. This is an ingenious system from ancient times for collecting water from the overhanging natural amphitheatre of Alp Canà and transporting it to the dry pastures below. The aqueduct is 447 metres long and the difference in height is 27 m. The water rushed along the narrow stone channel as we hop step and jump from one side to the other on our way down.
The path becomes really steep as we follow the red and white markers down hill through the pine forrest for almost 3 hours before Fusio comes into view. The last 30 minutes is on a well graded track into Fusio where we stop to buy a wedge of Alpine cheese from the Dazio self serve fridge, putting 15.80 CHF in coins in the honesty box where there’s already a heap of money - wouldn’t last long in Australia!
Back to the Ostello at 3.30pm where the temperature is now a warm 16°C and we have a small slice of Alpine cheese for a very late lunch before a shower. The sun is warming so it’s a good time to wash a few clothes and put them on a chair in the sun to dry. A short time to blog before having a few nuts and a red wine. Then dinner of diced lettuce, tomato and onion swimming in Mayonnaise, with a few slices of ham and more alpine cheese with the last of the red wine. Soon we’re curled up in bed under the doonas to catch up on emails etc before making a hot chocolate drink then bed at 8pm. So far, again, we’re the only ones here in the Ostello.