On an already hot day Shannon and I decided to hike Cava Grande in the Syracuse province. Cava Grande is a limestone canyon carved out of the Monti Iblei Plain by the Cassabile river.
Cava Grande actually translates to Grand Canyon but the name is the only thing the two gorges really share- You could fit many many Cava Grandes in the Grand Canyon of Arizona. Perhaps only the temperatures compare. We hiked all the way down to the river enjoying the views as we went.
The hiking is precarious in only a few places, but like the Grand Canyon there is also a possibility of heat exhaustion. The park service is watchful of hikers, you have to sign in before you take the trail down and get a pass. Along the trail you see a number of marked helipads that are used to evacuate hikers and they have park rangers along the way in case of emergencies.
At the bottom we followed the Cassabile river for about a half-hour and chose a pool of water to take a dip in and cool down. The majority of the hike was spent going down and back up.
