We descend from the Monte Croce Carnico Pass, walk through the long tunnel and come out in Austria: here we find, waiting for us on the right, the parking lot of the Plöckenhaus (1225 m). We turn back along the paved road a few dozen meters and take the forest road on the left (trail marker 434). We travel the first two hairpin bends, ignoring any forks, and find the markers for trail 434 (1280 m), which comes off to the right, uphill through the vegetation. A long ascent against the slope begins at this point, making us gain altitude quickly. We then reach the first historic installations (1440 m); at the crossroads, signs direct us to Pal Piccolo, which is reached after a fairly strenuous ascent because of the slope, and on a narrow path. On 1800 m the first caves carved into the rock walls appear on our left; last hairpin bends and we are on a saddle, and soon after we are on Pal Piccolo (1811 m). The open-air museum should be explored slowly, which takes time but is highly recommended. Once past the so-called "entrenchment," we walk along some sections of the Italian front; the remnants become more and more rarefied and disappear. From the Pal Piccolo we follow trail 401 in the direction of Freikofel/Cuelat. We descend to the 1800 m junction, take a left downhill. A short ascent and we are on Freikofelsattle (1617 m) and at a fork: we take in the direction of Freikofel, heading east. This is the most "strenuous" point of the entire loop; it involves climbing the nearly 150 meters of elevation gain on a narrow path, with slippery rocks and the occasional high rock for which it is best to help yourself with your hands. This leads to the first emplacements of the Freikofel, and shortly to the summit of Cuelat (1757 m), another open-air museum to explore. From the summit you'd better descend on the Italian side (be careful) and reach the terraces on which some barracks have been rebuilt; you can follow the Italian flag that flies far below. A sign guides you to an "intact trench"-be careful of the walkway, it is narrow; at the end there are the remains of a post; you then return to the top-where the flags are-by the same route we followed down. Now the loop return: return to Freikofelsattle and take trail 436 down to the right, which connects to a forest road (1500 m), to be followed downhill. We skirt a small lake, and disembark at the parking lot.
