Rif Bolzano

back in Trento, we caught a train to Bolzano and carbo loaded for a spell hiking in the Dolomites proper. Yep that meant more gelato and tiramisu. Without much of a plan we caught a bus to the village Seis hearing it was a good base to start from. In a series of flukes we got off the bus a bit soon, tricked by a small sign but chanced to be right beside a cable car going up to Alpes de Suisi, the very place we wanted. Super fast it saved us about 2500m of 'up'. There were about 10 huge  outdoor restaurants all full of a mixture of day trippers, bikers and hikers. But once we set off the crowds soon thinned out.

View from the cable car

Our rifugio is at the top right hand end just left of the little peak. Luckily we hadn't rushed our morning as it was nice and cool by 3:30 when we started walking.

About half way up, a really pretty walk through winding trails through steep valleys and meadows, the less steep ones freshly cut for silage. The trees are mostly stone pines, dark blackish green, and some stately fir trees. It was like walking through a huge version of the miniature gardens we used to make for the flower show as kids, the trees all regular in size and placement and seeming a magical, over- scale for the terrain. Quite surreal and Lord of the Ringish.

We arrived just as dinner was served at 6:30, nice. this is about 8 pm at the top of the cone behind the refugio.

Looking back down at Rif Bolzano from the summit

A fascinating sunset effect, the sun was setting behind a distant range of mountains behind us, maybe the outline of these mountains is being cast on the sky? It was very beautiful. One of those magic moments.