Aug 30 - plan B

Last day on the Alta Via 1. Our plan was to use a route we downloaded from a trail website to walk directly to Bellino. But the guardian at the lunch stop refuge said that the only trail is a high Via Ferrara (iron path). We don't have the equipment, and I (Amy) have no interest whatsoever in a Via Ferrata. I don't like being scared, for one thing. And, even if we wanted to do it, the unsettled weather did not allow a smart person to be clipped into iron infrastructure on top of a high pass during a thunderstorm. The Dolomites are famous for the plethora of these iron ways, built by the military over 100 years ago to allow soldiers to cross passes where no reasonable person would want to go.

So we decided to finish via the standard Alta Via routing, but instead of catching the bus tomorrow morning we found a path that will let us walk one additional day down out of the mountains.

Camped here, less than an hour from the bus stop, at 2900'. Our high point today was about 8000'. And the final two hours felt like descending into the Grand Canyon. Steep walled dramatic beautiful gorge.
46.23120, 12.12264

We left the final refuge at about 4:00, and the arriving hikers were all celebrating that they are nearly finished with a tough beautiful hike. They will spend the night at that refuge and do the final descent tomorrow morning.

We're happy and healthy, and yet again laying in the tent while it rains steadily. If we remember correctly it has rained every evening or night on this journey, but only after we were snugly tucked into our little nest.

Aug 29 - campsite with water!

Our first campsite in Italy with water! Washed hair and body and laundered our hiking clothes!!

Another great day. Lunch at one refuge. Dessert at the next. Good weather. Good trail. Good scenery. And still celebrating the Black Woodpecker!

Two more days, plus or minus some change, on the Alta Via. The Alta Via ends at a bus stop in the middle of nowhere, but we plan to walk down into Bullona instead. A town with a train station, and the first town since we started this hike six days ago.

After that we don't have a plan, but we might just keep walking south on a trail called the Dreamway (Munich to Venice).

We're happy and healthy and we'll fed, now that we have both fully recovered our appetites.

Aug 28 - Black Woodpecker

Great late lunch of a meat dish we can no longer name at Refugio Vazzoler. The way forward looked unlikely to offer campsites for the foreseeable future, so instead of continuing we found a nearby campsite au stopped early. This refuge is privately run, unlike the Alpine Club refuges, and therefore does not allow tents. The guests at the private refuges don't necessarily want a tent outside the window.

Camping here 46.35721, 12.02968
Use google street view to see if there are any photos in the area!

It took an hour to find the proper campsite; master campsite finder James practiced his craft. We got the tent set up by 4 o'clock, just before the start of a steady medium-light rain. So we are now laying in the tent writing our post hoping the sun comes out so we can enjoy the unbelievably dramatic rock formations surrounding us.

Fine hiking all day with good trail and great scenery and no hordes of people. We are enjoying this route. Around every bend is a new and unexpected highly dramatic cliff or tower or series of spires. The overall layout of this range of mountains is very chaotic and seems unpredictable, making every day a big surprise.

We found a Black Woodpecker near camp. These are really difficult birds to see and this is only the third time we have encountered this species. Yes!!

We're happy and healthy and hoping it stops racing soon or we will spend 14 Ours in the tent which will make us stir-crazy.

Aug 27 - great day, not enough birds

Several miles of Five star forest this morning. Rare anywhere in Europe to have a mixed species, mixed-age, ungrazed forest with a complete understory and ground cover. That was a treat.

No crowds anywhere today! And great mountain scenery.

Brunch in a refuge while there was an hour of heavy rain. We never got wet. We learned that in Italy an omelette is sort of hybrid between a crepe and a pancake.

And then a late lunch in another refuge, shown in photo. Both were alpine club refuges, which are more earthy and more fun than the hotel type refuges earlier in the trip.
First Red Crossbill of the trip and a Golden Eagle busy hunting Marmots. No Wallcreepers yet, which is appalling given the abundance of rock walls.

We're happy and healthy and looking forward to more fine walking tomorrow.

Aug 26 - the crowds are abated

Perhaps the finest piece of constructed trail we have ever walked down a long steep col, descending the pass. Made with timbers, possibly during WW1 as a military trail. Lots of fighting in this region, including no shortage of large metal artillery shell fragments scattered hither and yonder.

We had 4 hours of spectacular walking this morning, with only 4 other hikers. The rest of the day there were minor crowds near a road, a teleferique, a restaurant, and a refuge. But all in all a much more satisfying experience since we weren't dodging bikes and hikers.

Scenery is grand. Particularly grand from the our 18x20 foot old wooden weatherproof shelter. Placed exactly where we needed it when the rain started at about 5:00. We're just a few hundred yards from the refuge/restaurant at the top of the ski lift, but it is out of view. So we're happily dining and watching the cloud show on the dramatic mountains. And a dry quiet night sleeping indoors.

46.50668, 12.04663 camp

Last night the damn cows kept coming by the tent, and we got up in the rain to chase them away. They were coming right to the tent, and we were worried they would bite it or walk right through it.

We're happy and healthy and enjoying our view.

Aug 24-25

Two days on the Alta Via 1, in the famous Dolomites mountain range, and here are our impressions.

Dramatic limestone mountains with convoluted twisted layers. Very little surface water, typical of limestone.

Campsites are hard to come by due to rocky, uneven, often steep, terrain. Everybody except us and one father/son pair is either day hiking or staying in "refuges". Master campsite finder James spent well over an hour yesterday searching for a place to put our tent.

The "refuges" so far are not slightly funky places run by alpine clubs, which is the norm on all our other trips. The are quite high end buildings with private rooms instead of 10-30 person bunk rooms. The food is good though.

The crowds are overwhelming. We get some quiet time until about 8:30, and then it's just a stream of people. There are many paved roads penetrating the range, with huge parking lots full of cars disgorging the hordes!

And e-bikes are a menace on crowded single track hiking paths.

Good weather yesterday. Good today until afternoon mountain thunderstorms started at about 5:00, after we were snug in our storm worthy tent.

We're happy and healthy, but a bit disappointed by the number of people - I'd guess about 500 people today!

At 23 - culture shock

We took 3 trains from Milan to our gateway town in the Italian alps. It looks like Austria (over-the-top tidy), they speak German, and we're eating in a Mexican restaurant. We have definitely left France.

We're happy and healthy and starting a new hike after dinner.

Alta Via 1 - route map

https://caltopo.com/m/15N9N

Aug 23 - heading to the Alta Via 1

We are in Milan on Tuesday morning. Today we take the train and bus to the northern terminus of the Alta Via 1 in the Italian Dolomites. 

Here's the overview:

https://www.thehikinglife.com/2020/01/a-quick-dirty-guide-to-italys-alta-via-1/

It's a very popular trail, served by mountain huts run by the Italian mountain club. Scenery will be very different, and it should be grand. 

Aug 22 - and for something completely different

We planned a down day in order to recover from the runs. And during that down time we looked ahead. 

Photo is the ski village where we spent last night. 

We were just a few miles past Modane, our half-way point. We recently finished crossing Vanoise National Park, reputed to be the best scenery of the trip. 

Looking ahead, we independently reached decisions that we were not enthusiastic about the next two weeks on the GR5. The passes and valleys are getting repetitive, and the magic is missing. This hike is roughly the same distance and structure as three other European alpine hikes we have completed. Our hikes in the Italian Alps and the French/Spanish Pyrenees we're both more varied and more satisfying than this hike has been.

The French Alps have been in a drought, and we learned from northbound GR5 hikers that the southern section is particularly dry, where the only available water is in towns. Some refuges have already closed for the season due to lack of water supply.

Modane has a train station, and Italy is not very far away. Torino is only an hour and Milan is four hours. So we booked seats on the evening train to Milan and booked a hotel near the train station in Milan. Tomorrow we will identify some hiking areas in the Alps north of Milan and go to someplace completely different. We are pretty hopeful and looking forward to a change of scenery.

We are also regaining strength and feeling much better today.

We're happy and healthier and waiting for the train.