Via Alpina (GTA) - Usseglio to Rifugio Vulpot

You follow the valley road through the village of Usseglio, past a museum in a parish complex, to Villaretto. At the end of the village (about 1 km from the start, but not uninteresting), turn left into a small road that runs parallel to the valley road for another 50 m and then crosses a bridge to the other riverbank. Here, turn immediately right and first follow the path along meadows by the river, then ascending slightly through a forest towards Perinera.

In Perinera, you go down the access road again to the first hairpin bend. Here the path leaves the road and leads to a bridge over the river. The path continues upwards along the valley and shortly before Margone meets the road.

In Margone, take the last path on the right, just before the road reaches the church. The path first leads 75 m east again, then turns within the village first upwards (left fork) and then east. After 75 m, you meet the hiking trail that steeply climbs the slope to the right towards Trapette (signpost Rifugio Cibrario). At 1580 m, you reach the ruined houses of Trapette. From here, continue upwards; the ruined houses lie to the left of the path. After ascending along beautiful meadows on the slope, the terrain flattens and the path leads over the pasture southeast towards the railway embankment. Here a sign warns that only experienced hikers should follow the path.

Now, it goes almost level along the slope. The old bridges of the railway embankment, built in the 1920s for the dam construction, are partially dilapidated. Therefore, crossing streams requires absolute sure-footedness (see photos!). A 250 m long tunnel requires a flashlight (a mobile phone lamp also works in a pinch).

Shortly before the reservoir, the path meets the road again, which you follow past the dam wall to Rifugio Vulpot.