4. PASSO DEL CERRETO - PASSO PRADARENA

Passo del Cerreto (1261 m)
Passo Pradarena (1579 m)
GRADIENT: +940 m / -620 m
HIKING TIME: 5 hours
Tuscan-Aemilian Apennine National Park

Even though the path goes uphill for nearly one kilometre, the stage is restful compared to the previous ones.
Valle dell’Inferno (on the background Mount Alto and Alpe di Succiso).
From the road to Cerreto Laghi one goes up towards Mount La Nuda, bristling with rocks and towers among which is the mighty shoulder of the Gendarme.
By hiking at first through the wood, strewn with morainal blocks, then along the rough stony ground of the Valle dell’Inferno (in a majestic mountain habitat populated by a colony of marmots) one reaches he small Rosario bivouac, near a spring.
Going up what is clearly a glacial cirque one arrives at the ridge in the saddle at the foot of Mount La Nuda (1895 m), which is topped by buildings of an old radio station.
The ridge offers sweeping views towards the Garfagnana and the Apuan Alps, by now near, while on the Po Valley side, the unmistakable outline of the Bismantova Stone stands out beyond he forests of the valley of the Riarbero stream, and dominates the mamelons of Triassic evaporates, where fluvial erosion cut he characteristic glistening slopes.
After the stony grounds of the Borra Grande he path becomes less rough, and it descends to Belfiore Pass through low blueberry heaths dotted with rhododendrons, an alpine plant which grows only in a few locations in the Apennines. The first wisted beeches are he spearhead of the forest that envelopes the trail shortly afterwards. At Cavorsella Pass, not far away, one meets a comfortable forest path that leads to Pradarena Pass, the highest vehicular pass in the northern Apennines.
From here you can reach the stage location, the stage service Rifugio Rio del Re in about 1 hour by following CAI 639 and 639b trails.
 

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Stage Locations and Services 

• Stage service Rifugio Rio Re: Info | Public transport 
• Stage Albergo Carpe Diem: Info | Collegamenti mezzi pubblici

Bivouac with tent: in some areas it is possible to spend the night in a tent, setting it up at sunset and dismantling it at dawn.

 Interactive cartography

• Visualize the route of this stage on the website "Rete escursionistica Emilia-Romagna"
• Download the stage track for your GPS

 Map

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