the way for bare ground

the way to the bare ground

Italy | Friday, June 28, 2013 | 5 photos

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."

There are a lot of ways to reach the big top crater of Mountain Etna and some of this are realy easy.
I chose the less traveled : la valle del Bove

This valley starts near a little village called Zafferana. Some years ago it risked to be destroyed by a lava flow and I chose to follow this flow to arrive where it was born.

The first time that you meet the lava you discover the strange felling of the lightness and the hardness.

The lightness to travel alone without a road, without schedule, and all I need is on my shoulders.
The lightness of the lava stone, of the blue sky and of the smoke of the volcano driven by the wind.

The hardness of the immensity.
Everything is a dark sea and the big stones overturns under your feet,
you can walk for hours and the landscape doesn't change, you can understand the power of the nature.
The sky shines over your head and there is no shadow to breathe.
You are alone and the immensity crushes you,
the power of the wind strikes your body
the sun mirrored in the snow burns your face,
the sound of the smoke echoes in your heart,
only lava for kilometres fills your eyes.

3 days to fulfill almost 3000 meters in altitude and return in the society, this is the trip that I did this spring.