Valle Verzasca hike

Today the school planned a hike for both the Upper and Lower schools. We took a bus from campus and it took about an hour to reach the trail. On the way we passed an area that is actually close to Lake Maggiore, which is actually in Italy. The roads ranged from narrow, steep streets to surprisingly three lane highways! Who knew... The best part of the drive was entering a long tunnel in a our huge bus, when the driver had to lay on the horn to alert any drivers coming through the opposite way. Totally normal in Europe. On the ride, it was best not to look out at certain points if you are at all afraid of heights. Once we arrived in the Valle Verzasca area, we had to take smaller vans up the hill to reach the start of the hike. The hike up only lasted about an hour, but we ended at a beautiful, secluded point in the stream/river where natural pools were formed from the melting glaciers and waterfalls toppled over the edge. This meant the water was VERY cold. Some brave souls decided to swim, while the rest of us had lunch and enjoyed the scenery. From there, we hiked back down to the more populated area where the bridge runs across a river and there are more swimming areas. The water was so clear, you could see all the way to the bottom of the river. On the way home, we stopped at what I heard is the tallest dam in all of Europe. It is also where the James Bond movie (Golden Eye) was filmed. There were bungee jumpers diving off the middle point of the dam. Looking pretty intimidating, especially so close to the side of the dam. In the pictures, if you look closely, you can see the person hanging from the bungee cord. This definitely sparked some interest and I'm sure some people will make it back soon. After enjoying all the sights, we headed back to Montagnola and had another great dinner at the dining hall...not my favorite part, but I have to remind myself I'm just saving money, for all the traveling I'll be doing on the weekends. Next weekend we're planning on hiking Mt.San Salvatore, which is a mountain I see everyday walking to school. I guess you can take a funiculare up one side and hike down the other. We're thinking we probably need to stay local since we'll be exhausted from starting school this week and will also need to prepare for next week. Then the next weekend we'll venture somewhere farther away.