Europe: Part 2

Dolomites

After the last race, we packed up the camper and headed into the Dolomites. I had a loose plan, but nothing was super set in stone, which did stress me out a bit, as I wanted to maximize all the opportunities in the mountains I had been wanting to visit for many years. I was concerned about the crowds and over-tourism, as many tourists flock to the same three different trails, and locals are becoming irritated with them. Our first day, we ended up summiting a mountain as part of an afternoon day hike, and it was jaw-dropping! We had the summit and most of the hike to ourselves, and the 360-degree views were so impressive—jagged, sharktooth peaks erupting out of the landscape in all directions. The geography seemed impossible. Perfectly green, manicured pastures flowed around the stunning peaks. And the golden beers flowed from the mountain hut at the bottom of the hike, rehydrating and rewarding the steep climb we had completed.

That was all just a warmup, though. The next day, I had a crazy hike planned. This was the last day of a good weather window, so I wanted to make the most of it. “Why do we have to get up at 5 AM again?!” My dad grumbled. Alarms went off and we downed a coffee and food before setting out on an all-day adventure as the first light of the day glowed above the famous spires of Tre Cime. We crushed miles like it was nothing, and soon reached our first steep ridge to get over. My dad spotted an ibex too!

At the top of the ridge, we hit our first mountain hut and had some more food and a coffee. The mountain hut system in Italy is the best. You can hike all day up a steep mountain, and at the top, there is fresh, delicious food and drinks waiting for you. We continued onward, higher up the rugged terrain to my main destination, a mountain hut deep in the mountains. The cheese and meat platter we ordered was delicious, and the ice-cold Forst beer hit the spot, though maybe having two wasn’t the smartest idea when trying to navigate back down the trails.

All in all, we spent approximately 18 miles on the trail and gained around 5,000 feet in elevation. Legs were toast! But it was all well worth it. We had just arrived at our next camp spot that night as the first bolt of lightning streaked across the sky…good timing to be out of the mountains as a couple of days of storms settled in. The light show went on for a couple of hours.

We spent almost a week exploring the Dolomites. One highlight of the entire trip was our 50km journey on the Sella Ronda mountain bike circuit through the mountains. Such beautiful trails, riding through impossibly green meadows as jagged peaks surrounded us, only stopping for a cold beer and burger at a mountain hut.