The Vagabond Hiker

Hiking, trekking, and climbing the world

Lago di Garda hikes and flowers

Once again I had not planned on posting from my time spent at Lago di Garda in Trentino. But not surprisingly I found aspects of some of my favorite hikes as well as new hikes that I have not covered here before. And of course, since it was May, there were many wildflowers in bloom…

I arrived at my Airbnb in Gavazzo – the same one I stayed at in 2023 – to impending rain. Nonetheless, the balcony view south to northern Lago di Garda was stupendous.

I repeated the Monte Colt & Croce di Ceniga loop from nearby Arco as it is one of my favorites in the area.

Here is the paved approach to Santuaurio della Madonna di Laghel.
Monte Colt summit view to Monte Biaina. It is the only summit in Italy I know with its name etched into the rock.

I have mentioned Massone – Bosco Caproni hikes in the past, but never showed many photos as wooded hikes are difficult to capture. With many trails, though, one could spend weeks and never repeat the exact same hike.

Here is a pano towards Lago di Garda from above the village of Massone.
A path through Bosco Caproni, likely in former times used to move marble from the nearby quarry down to Arco.

A new hike for me from nearby Torbole (just east of Riva del Garda) is the popular Busatte – Tempesta Panoramic Trail loop. I started early mid-week, so only encountered hordes of hikers on the last section of the return.

The lake with Riva del Garda and the Cima Valdez massif. There were spectacular views at every turn and numerous sets of metal stairs on this highly-maintained route.
Crimean iris (Iris lutescens), a new wildflower for this blog.
Poppies, Lago di Garda, and the Cima Della Nara massif
Meadow Clary (Salvia pratensis), a more detailed photo of one previously shown. Native to Europe, it is considered a weed in areas of the US.

Many of my hikes were done simply walking out of my Gavazzo (Tenno) apartment. I extended my 2023 forays farther up into the mountains (as well as to the village of Vigne where the local grocery store now has Amazon lockers!)

Monte San Pietro from the road above Volta di No, less than a 1/2 hour walk from Gavazzo. Many local roads had little or no traffic, and often were gravel or packed dirt.
Balm-leaved Arachangel (Lamium orvala), a better photo of one I have shown before.
Rio Bordellino cascade. I rarely encountered anyone in the forest above my apartment. (In Italian, unlike Spanish, Rio refers to a seasonal stream).
Everlasting Pea (Lathyrus latifolius). Common they may well be, but I liked this photo.
Peach-leaved bellflower (Campanula persicifolia), a species of Campanula I don’t recall having included in my posts before.

Unlike last year when I stayed in Arco with the popular Sarca River walk as my go-to early morning exercise, I did a variant of this hike only once last month.

Multi-use path and valley view with grapevines on my loop walk to Ceniga from Arco along the Fiume Sarca, seen peeking out to the left here.
Gavazzo balcony view at sunrise. I never tired of the views from my Airbnb and would love to return in the future. Critically for the summers is has AC!
  • A note on the photos: this spring I bought a new Samsung Galaxy S25 phone which has a highly capable camera. All photos from this post were taken with that phone rather than my Olympus Tough camera, which will most likely also be the case for future posts.

After a week at an Agriturismo in Tuscany doing a series of group hikes, I have now moved even farther south, to Abruzzo, where I will remain until the first week of July. Some Tuscan hike photos will be posted in two weeks or so.

Enjoy the longer and warmer days outdoors,

The Vagabond Hiker

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Categories

Subscribe for Updates