To escape the cities (and the heat) for a while, we ventured out to St. Christina, Val Gardena in the Italian Alps. This is a small town located in the western Dolomites. We stayed at Kedul Lodge which was on top of a hill over looking at Langkofel and Plattkofel peaks. We didn't know our room had a balcony or a view, so it was a pleasant surprise when it had both! It was pretty relaxing to chill on our balcony and stare at the mountains in the mornings and evenings. The owners of the lodge, Ellis and Wolly were also really nice and welcoming, and they provided homemade local breakfast every morning which was a real treat (I think this was the first time we ate eggs since we left the U.S.- if you know Mel, this is a BIG deal).
The Dolomites were incredible and super unique. Very different from the snowy and forested Swiss Alps that we've visited before. The Dolomites are massive, barren, jagged, imposing, and all around awesome. The closest comparison we could think of were the Grand Tetons in Wyoming. On our first day we did a 10 mile hike from Dantercëpies to Forcella Cir to Puez to Vallunga Valley. We started the hike with a gondola ride from Dantercëpies then started hiking to Forcella Cir. At the start of the trail, we were surrounded by beautiful mountain vistas and colorful wildflowers. As we began to ascend higher, the trail and views got much more rocky. At Forcella Cir, we took a break and enjoyed the view at the top overlooking the valleys. We continued our climb to Puez were we got lunch at a rifugio. The refugio had a full restaurant operation going on, and we talked to one of the guys working there about how it all worked since the rifugio is very remote. He told us that everyone gets helicoptered in at the beginning of the summer and they stay and work there for about 6 weeks. What a crazy summer job that would be! From Puez we did our descent into the Vallunga Valley. The descent was difficult in areas due to the amount of loose scree on the trail. We missed our hiking boots and hiking poles for this bit, but our regular sneakers did alright. Once in the valley, it felt like we were in Zion National Park with the green forest around you and tall, flat rock walls encompassing you on either side.
The second day we hiked around Seceda. We were really excited to visit this mountain since it is one of the most dramatic views of the Dolomites we had seen pictures of. We took a (very expensive!! 40 euros each!!) gondola and then cable car up to the top. At the top, we hiked to the main view point of Seceda and sat there admiring the clouds forming on the north side on the mountain peaks. There were eventually breaks in the cloud cover for pictures, but sitting there watching the clouds was captivating. After some time we continued our hike walking in the southern valley of Seceda. There were even more wildflowers and butterflies on this trail system than the previous day. We continued hiking to Pieralongia where we stopped and had lunch on a hillside. There was a small farm nearby that had cows and donkeys which reminded us of Switzerland. We then hiked back near some farms and rifugios and up back to the Seceda viewpoint. Again we decided to relax and admire the view. Melissa read and Carson was looking at and taking pictures of the birds. We got to take the cable car back down and we stood in the front just like we did in Murren, Switzerland for the steep descent back down to the town of Ortisei. It was very steep, and even though we've ridden a lot of gondolas and cable cars in the mountains, it was pretty nerve-wracking!
Our third and final day, we decided to relax after doing such long hikes the previous two days. We took the day slow and caught up on things (like this blog!). We decided to do a short hike (this is what relaxing means to us, apparently) from the nearby town of Ortisei to the church of San Giacomo overlooking the mountains. It was a nice, but still surprisingly steep hike through mostly forest. Being in the woods was a nice change, since we'd really been hiking in mostly rocks for the last few days. To end the evening, we had apple strudel on our balcony one final time saying goodbye to the mountains.
Phenomenal photography - Sean
ReplyDelete"Melissa read and Carson was looking at and taking pictures of the birds." Very on brand.
ReplyDeleteAlso the rifugio work set up sounds like what they did at the tea houses on the mountains in Banff!