Distance: 12 ,20km
Difficulty: Easy
Max. Altitude: 2217m
This hike has been completed on 19th June 2020.
Finally, the first hike of 2020. I went to Italy to visit my family in Rome, taking advantage of the border reopening after the lockdown, and, since the weather was fine, I decided to go with my friends to hike Monte Terminillo, the highest mountain in the Lazio region.
We parked our car at Pian De' Valli, from which the several trails start to the peaks of the Monti Reatini chain. From the Hotel "Albergo Piccola Baita", we headed left in directions of the Rifugio La Fossa.
The first part of the trail is very easy, going through a beech forest with basically no ascent, till reaching the hut of the Rifugio La Fossa. From there, we continued left of the hut, in direction of Leonessa.
This is the point where the real hike begins, starting the ascent to the peak. The trail continues first into the forest for a couple of kilometres, to continue later above the tree line. Out of the forest, we reached a trough with some horses. Here we got the first view of the peaks, with amazing vista over the surrounding valley.
We continued upwards towards the Sella di Vall'Organo, where we turned right towards the Terminillo ridge. To reach it, there is first to climb a decent slope of about 300 m to the Cima di Vall'Organo. After that the trail is almost flat following the ridge up to the peak at 2217 m. The ridge is quite wide, with just few exposed parts.
Unfortunately, the peak was covered by a cloud, so the view wasn't great once we got there. Things went slightly better after our lunch break, allowing us to have a look at the surroundings.
After our lunch break, we started to climb down in direction of the Rifugio Rinaldi. The descent trail is quite easier than the ascent, going down sweetly. Passed the hut, we continued in direction of the Terminilluccio Sky lift station, where we turned right towards Pian de' Valli and our car.
