Hiking - I Laghi della Brignola
A large part of the hike takes place on the dirt roads that serve the area's numerous mountain pastures. The route finishes on an easy trail that, depending on the season, crosses some slightly boggy sections.
The initial, somewhat monotonous section is followed by a pleasant traverse through beautiful pasture basins, where the well-known Raschera d'alpeggio cheese is produced. The grassy shores of the largest of the Brignola Lakes are wonderfully relaxing, and the spring blooms are splendid.
From Rifugio Balma (1885 m), follow the dirt road for Laghi della Brignola for a few dozen metres to Colletto Balma. At the wide saddle, the road forks: ignore the right branch leading towards Sella Pogliola and Passo delle Scalette, and take the branch that continues straight ahead (south-west) towards Laghi della Brignola.
The road descends gently and cuts across the slopes of Monte Mondolè; leave a dirt track on your left for Sella Mierzè and continue through grassy slopes, crossed by numerous gullies.
Following a semicircular path, you reach a new junction on the right, with a dirt road that climbs towards Colletta Seirasso and Colla Rossa. Ignoring this turn-off, you reach the gully of the Rio di Seirasso, with its roaring little waterfall. Continuing the descent, you now enter a sparse larch wood and arrive near the Rio della Brignola.
Here, the road bends sharply to the south-southwest and climbs steeply along the orographic left side of the valley. Near two mountain huts with tin roofs, leave two consecutive turn-offs on your left (the second one for Colle Dente della Brignola) and stay on the main dirt road. After Sella della Brignola (1930 m, 1h 20m from Rifugio Balma, fountain), a couple of switchbacks and a long traverse through meadows and rhododendrons lead to the small clearing where the road ends.
Ignore the dilapidated dirt track that continues on the right and descend to the left on a path, crossing the small outlet of what was an old lake, now silted up. The path skirts the north-east shore of the old basin, then bends south-west and winds among roche moutonnée, meadows, and boggy ground. Leaving a second silted-up lake basin on your right, you reach the largest of the Laghi della Brignola (2134 m, 45 mins from Sella Brignola).