Refuge Quarzina – Refuge Mongioie

Rifugio Quarzina  1339 m – Frazione Biranco 1463 m –Merea  1227 m – Borgata Fasce 1242 m – Pornassino 1232 m – Case Pian del Fò 1310 m . Rifugio Mongioie 1550 m

The route is 13.50 km long and here too it passes through hamlets and villages that are sparsely inhabited even in the summer period but history teaches that the mountain was used for agriculture and sheep-rearing, some settlements are still there, when you come out of the woods the first glimpses of the white walls of the Rocca del Garbo. Once you reach Pian Rosso, Monte Mongioie appears, the second highest mountain in the Marguareis Group

From Refuge Quarzina 1339 m take the road to the Church of the Madonna del Carmine (1332 m) go up an asphalt road in the direction of Biranco and Rifugio Valcaira until the first hairpin bend to the right, where you take a dirt road that branches off to the left. At an obvious fork in the road, ignore the right branch to the Valcaira Refuge and continue left until the few houses of Biranco 1463 m, 0.30 hours. At the entrance to the village, shortly after a pylon, turn left onto a downhill mule track. With a slow descent, cut across terraced slopes until you reach a dirt road, cross it and after a short descent and crossing a stream, enter between the houses, now reduced to ruins, of Merea 1227 m, 1.00 hours. take a grassy dirt track, you arrive at Borgata Fasce 1242 m, 0.15 hours. After passing Fasce and crossing the Rio Borgosozzo on two concrete bridges, you pass among the few ruins of Case Pollaio and reach a crossroads. Proceed left, into the beech forest, slightly downhill. Ignoring the various branches (including those for Caccino and Logne), the dirt road enters a small asphalted road just above the houses of Pornassino 1232 m, 0.45 hours. Going up to the right you reach the houses of Pian del Fò 1310 m, 0.20 hours, taking care to ignore, a few meters before the houses, the dirt track that branches off to the right. Just after the houses, leave a slightly obvious path on the left towards Pian del Fo and continue on the dirt track heading west. The track turns into a mule track, turns north and, slightly downhill into the woods, reaches a crossroads. Ignore the mule track on the right and take the path on the left. The path descends and passes a tributary of the Rio Bianco on a concrete bridle, then, after a short marshy stretch, you ignore the not very obvious path that branches off to the left towards Toria. You now enter a thick beech copse where, especially in autumn, leaves on the ground hide the path. Let yourself be guided by the sufficient trail signs on the tree trunks, climbing up to a further crossroads: follow the left branch of the path which, with a long ups and downs on the coast, leads to fording the Rio Bianco (or Rio Re Bianco, some small problem with abundant water). You exit the narrow impluvium and, beyond a marshy stretch, you find yourself on a mule track, still within a dense forest. A very long hillside, essentially flat, leads to a change of slope and a ridge: in addition to the change of vegetation between beech and Scots pines, you reach two close crossroads, only a few meters apart: at the first you ignore a not very obvious path to the left and keep to the mule track, at the second you leave the mule track which continues straight and take the grassy one on the right. You reach a few ruins among terraced meadows, then you come across another fork: once again you ignore the left branch, which descends to Toria and keep to the mule track which continues to the right, turning north along less steep slopes which take the name of Pian dell’Arma. The mule track begins to climb, becomes a path and joins another path (pay attention to the crossroads for those coming in the opposite direction): turn left, slowly gaining altitude, despite the numerous ups and downs; after a long time spent in the woods, the first glimpses of the white walls of the Rocca del Garbo finally appear. Just after crossing a stream, leave the path that leads to Boromino and Viozene on the left, keeping to the right for Martinelle and Pian Rosso. The path now becomes narrower, climbs up and then crosses again very steep slopes along the coast, passes a resurgence (water on the path), descends to cross the dry bed of a stream between stacked boulders and finally fords a nearby stream (again water on the route). With ups and downs you arrive at a last stream (reservoir and water intake), after which you pass just downstream of a recent mountain pasture and enter Pian Rosso. Soon you enter the popular path (signposted A06) that goes up from Viozene (and which, to the right, points to the Bocchino dell’Aseo), although the trail is not so obvious among the meadows in which you find yourself. You bend slightly to the right, you cross a dirt track (also not very obvious) and, having found the wide path to the left of a watering hole, you arrive at Refuge Mongioie 1550 m, –2.10 hours from Pian del Fo).