We woke to a brilliant blue sunny sky. The predicted high today in San Cassiano is in the mid-20s. A perfect day for another hike and to a famous area. We had looked at the weather forecasts when we arrived about a week ago and then thought we (well actually Lana) would need some conditioning hikes in advance.
Taela Apartments where we are staying in San Cassiano. We are staying in an apartment on the second floor in the rear of the yellow building. Quite a drive or walk up a steep incline to the Apartments.
Our plan is to drive to the Sexten/Sesto Dolomites east of our location and hike around Tre Cime di Lavaredo or in German Drei Zinnen. They are the "most famous" mountains in the Dolomites and "a must for every hiking enthusiast". It is located not too far from the village of Lake Misurina. The only way we can program our GPS is to input the GPS coordinates. There is no "address" for the area so that is our only option. It is another snaky, curvy, hairpin obsessed and slow road all the way to the nature park area. Fortunately, a beautiful day for a drive and not too many cars on the road going our way.
Map of the Drei Zinnen--located on the upper right of this image.
Geographical location. San Cassiano isn't too far from the big red S. Naturpark Drei Zinnen is the general area.
It takes us a little more than an hour to drive the distance. One cool thing is we drive through Cortina which is a famous winter ski destination. When we reach the Naturpark there is a gate and you need to pay a "parking" fee to enter the park. The fee is 25 Euro - a little steep. The benefit is you drive up one side of the mountain to find parking high on the mountain making your hike we think a little easier. Not many parking spots available even at 10:25 arrival time. Very steep driving and of course more winding hairpin turns. Lana is a little car sick from the drive :-(
On arrival, it is pretty cold given the wind chill factor. It is equally sunny in Tre Cime di Lavaredo. I put on my gloves although within about 15 minutes there are off as it is that warm. I am wearing my shorts which is perfect for the weather. Lana gets pretty warm as well early into the hike. Regrettably, where we park the only way to the hiking route #101 is down a very steep and slippery (snow) slope. She is very careful with her steps and seems like an eternity (for me anyway) before she is at the main trail. Lana is still suffering from a little car sickness which is giving her vertigo so she is finding it difficult to look down the trail or up at the peaks. The trail is absolutely packed with fellow hikers! We are not used to this! Plus, the majority of hikers have hiking poles. Get ready as there are a lot of photos in this blog!
Hike along the south face of Drei Zinnen. Check out the snow on the trail. The grey/salmon coloured rock face is the actual Dolomites.
Spectacular view from our trail down into a valley below. Not sure what town that is in the distance?
The only flowers we find along the trails are "always purple".
The south face of Drei Zinnen on a sharp uphill angle. The south side of the rock is interesting but not as spectacular as the north face.
More pics from the south face of Drei Zinnen.
Yup, another pic of the south face of Drei Zinnen.
Basically, from where we parked we start our hike on the south side of Drei Zinnen and then make our way around to the north side where the pictures are more representative of these three famous Dolomite mountains.
Excellent map of the hiking area that we need to ensure we find our refuge for lunch. It really is slippery in some spots and then trying to avoid other hikers clogging up the trail. The trail has some snow which is now melting and quite muddy/slick.
View of one side of Drei Zinnen as we are hiking to get to the north side for the iconic picture taking. If you see the diagonal trail above that is what we hiked to get towards the north face and eventually the Refuge for lunch.
This is a prime destination for fellow hikers given it is your first real photo op. It is really cold up here with the winds. Need to put my top on! Note the flat side of the north face which is what makes these peaks so dramatic.
Randy in his Häglofs shirt! Pretty stylish hiker and the shirt is great for hiking/exertion.
Lana here--so the story of the Häglofs shirt. A couple of years ago Randy started hiking with our good friend Stuart. Randy noticed that Stuart had a great hiking shirt that was blue. When he asked Stuart about it, Stuart indicated that the shirt was a Häglofs brand that is only available in Europe. Two years ago when we were on vacation in Portugal, Randy did some research and found a couple of stores that carry the brand. When we went to the stores to look however, we were told that they were only available online. Randy is disappointed he can't get a shirt. Earlier this year when we were in London, we again find several stores that were supposed to carry the brand. We tried to phone but couldn't get through. When we went to the stores, we were told, yet again, that they were only available online. At this point, Randy has completely given up on ever purchasing a Häglofs shirt for hiking. Never one to give up so easily, I go online and finds some shirts on Amazon. I order one back in March so it will arrive in time for Father's Day. It's coming from the UK but it shouldn't take longer than 4-6 weeks right? Well, months go by!! No shirt. Seriously. I finally contact the seller who tells me that they don't use tracking for their packages. By July we determine the shirt has been lost in the mail and I receive a refund. Ok, last try. Back to Amazon I go, this time I find a shirt, ON SALE EVEN, from another seller in the UK and not wanting to take any chances send it to my friend Tina who lives in London. The damn thing arrives and Tina is kind enough to bring it over with her when they return to Canada for a visit early September. The look on Randy's face when he opened the package was totally worth it. And he even liked the colour/pattern that I picked out for him!!!
Check out the trail and its gradual uphill climb. At this elevation (around 2400 metres) getting the oxygen into your lungs is much harder.
Great pic and note the Italian and German languages.
Another beautiful peak in the Dolomites.
Lana carefully managing her way down a very slippery and in some places icy trail path. Pretty much everybody needed to go sideways to avoid falling.
The Drei Zinnen or Tre Cime di Lavaredo
This is a very slippery slope.
Guess which peaks? :-)
Another angle.
This is our destination for lunch. Dreizinnenhütte Refugio A. Locatelli S. Innerkofler. Elevation of 2450 metres.
Picture from online source. This is taken from the north side with Drei Zinnen in the background. Wow!
We arrive at the Refuge at 12:15. Perfect timing for lunch as we are hungry after our 7,000+ steps and 4.40 kms. Doesn't seem like much, but a good part of our hike was uphill at a good elevation. It is so warm in the absence of the wine/breeze. There is seating with fantastic views outside, but you need to go inside and get your food/drinks and then take outside. We found a table and a couple of menus. No menus in English though. Very comfy on the inside and it was pretty busy.
Lana's lunch of Frankfurter Würstel mit Halbmondkartoffein. Basically two wieners with fries. The fries were really tasty and different from our Canadian style fries.
Randy's lunch order of Spiegeleir mit Speck und Röstkartoffeln. Pretty much yesterday's lunch order (breakfast?). Yup, pretty yummy and filling. Perfect halfway through our hike. Plus, I ordered a 1/4 litre of Südtirol Weißburgunder (white wine) for 3.90 Euros. Dry style and a little sweet with some small bubbles. Lunch cost us 30 Euros inclusive of our two bottles of carbonated water. We note the many languages being spoken around us. No English though.
Lana in front of Drei Zinnen.
Panoramic shot of Drei Zinnen and surrounding peaks.
More signage, although this gives you a great idea of the park and its location relative to other landmarks. I really needed my shades today!
Another panoramic view of surrounding mountains to the east.
I thought this was a pretty cool angle. Lana says it looks like the Muppet Sam the American Eagle LOL (for those of you old enough to remember the Muppets).
On the hiking route on the south side of the mountains this is a great shot of the jagged peaks of fellow Dolomite peaks and more distant Alp peaks.
We are back to our car around 14:45. A number of hikers brought their dogs. Some on leashes and some not. First time we have encountered this. Also, for the entire hike we were above the tree line. So many incredible jagged mountain peaks in this area. On the way back, we see a helicopter fly in and someone being airlifted out. Not sure what happened but must have been some kind of medical emergency? Some birds gliding around on the thermal updrafts.
It has been a fantastic day of hiking, scenery, weather, people and relaxation. Now driving back to San Cassiano. Lana is pretty excited about having done this big hike after taking the past hiking days to build up some stamina to do it.
Ever been slowed down on a main road by a horse and buggy?
The Dolomites
Just to emphasize the incredible twists, turns, hairpin curves on the roads in the Alta Badia area. They are all like this hence Lana's car sickness.
Lana decides this is her favourite Dolomite peak.
If you look closely, you can see a small structure on top of this Dolomite--we think is going to be some kind of chair lift?
We arrive back at our apartment around 16:00. Stats for the entire hike: 14, 125 steps and 9.25 kms. Super warm and sunny here. So warm that while driving we had our windows open! More traffic on the way back due to the time of the day. Into the bathtub for both of us to warm up. Great way to end an enjoyable hike. Lana has a full body massage at 18:00 to reward herself. I pick her up at 19:15 and we are off to dinner at L'Fana Pizzeria in La Villa.
Fairly casual place located pretty close to where we are staying. We order a pizza and a Gemischter Salat. Plus, the usual large bottle of carbonated water. I order a glass of St. Magdalena Steinbauer wine. The food comes quickly as usual. The crust especially is the best we have had in Alta Badia--nice char, still soft on the inside and great flavour. Average meal, but we were looking for something casual and quick.
L'Fana Pizzeria Dolomiti Pizza - cooked ham, onions, hot salami and mushrooms. Half a pizza as we asked for only 1/2 with the mushrooms for Lana. My half is without.
After dinner we met up with Egon our Airbnb host as we were hoping he could assist us in purchasing online tickets for the Hellas Verona vs Lazio Serie A Football match Sunday afternoon at 15:00 in Verona at the Marcantonio Bentegodi stadium. Of course, nothing is ever simple. Eventually, we made the purchase from an online ticket reseller. We needed Egon to print the PDF of the tickets, but although he received confirmation of the ticket purchase no PDF was received. Apparently it may take some time before they send a link to the PDF for the tickets. Yikes! He then changed the email address to my address as he was leaving tomorrow morning to Venice to deal with his wife's father's illness and wouldn't be back until Sunday night. We really appreciated his help and time involved. We'll keep our fingers crossed that we get the email PDF in the next day. We might have to use the local tourist office to print the two tickets.
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