What I schlepped

We're back in Steinebach, and I'm catching up with the hiking log. In the meantime, here's a photo of what I schlepped from Sterzing to Feltre and beyond in my Deuter Speed Lite 28 SL backpack. This was a hut/hotel-to-hut/hotel trip, since it's (conveniently) illegal to "wild camp" in most of the Alps (although some people do it). And who am I kidding: it's super nice not to have to carry a sleeping bag or tent, and to have access to a shower most nights.

We try every time to pack lighter than the last time, and as always, I had more than I needed. Some of the extra weight, I'd carry again; some, I wouldn't. 

Here's the inventory, starting from top left and sorta spiraling clockwise and inward:

* 2 liter Source water bladder. Love it. Vital. We meant to bring water purification drops, but forgot. (We didn't need them, but still...)

* Clothes: spare underwear & sports bra, spare REI pants with zip-off legs, spare wick-away T-shirt, and 2 spare pairs socks. (Not shown are the clothes I would have been wearing: another T-shirt, another pair of hiking pants with zip-off legs, another pair of socks, underwear, sports bra.) The only thing I would drop next time is the third pair of socks--although they made a handy set of epaulettes while I was getting used to the not-so-comfortable straps of a new backpack.

* Compact umbrella. Surprisingly handy.

* First-aid kit, mylar blanket, bivy sack, baggie with ibuprofen and acetaminophen. Europe is a pretty population-dense place, even in the Alps, so we took the blanket and sack for short-term someone-needs-to-go-for-help emergencies (vs. days of being stranded). We need to take a wilderness first-aid course to learn more about what we absolutely need and what we could skip.

* Laundry detergent sheets, sunglasses. Yes to the detergent, no to the sunglasses. I hate wearing sunglasses, but S thought this pair would change my mind. Didn't wear them once. When the sun is bright enough that I have to squint, I wear a brimmed hat.

* Spare hiking pole tip cover, plus Things that Stuff into Little Sacks: waterproof backpack cover, Airlite microfiber towel, Cocoon Egyptian cotton hut sack, rain pants. Yes to everything.

* Face mask, sun hat, nut bars, spork, pen, lip balm, sunscreen, rubberband. Never used the mask, but seems smart to have one on hand for crowded trains or buses that frame the hike. We took waaaaay too many nut bars with us, and they weighed a lot. S ended up giving some away to fellow travelers at one of the huts we stayed at, and we still had too many. Next time, we'll take fewer, and restock if we need to. Didn't use the spork, but I've found myself in situations on other trips when I've wished I'd had a spork but didn't, so keep. Yes to pen, lip balm, and sunscreen.

* Carly the Clay Travel Chicken, and Carly's deflated bubble pack & rubber band. Yes, of course, always.

* Hiking poles, hiking pole tip covers. Vital.

* Hiking boots, sneakers, spare boot insoles. Keep, keep, drop.

* Down jacket, fleece jacket, rain jacket. Rain jacket is vital. If we had been hiking in the Alps later in the summer, I would have skipped the down jacket but still brought the fleece. I never wore the down, but the Alps had an unusually late snowy season this year, with fresh snow falling in quantity along parts of our route just a few days before we departed. Seemed smarter to have the jacket and not need it than to need it and not have it.

* Battery, charger & cables, cyclops hat, mittens. Used the charging cables daily, and the battery every other day or so. Never wore the hat or mittens. Despite its immense fashionableness, I'd drop the cyclops hat: the sun hat plus rain jacket hood sufficed. Keep the mittens because icy fingers are no fun.

* Cellphones, spare shoelaces, passport, toiletries, two long-sleeved wick-away T-shirts. I schlepped two cellphones: my US Samsung phone, which I use for photos, and a cheap Lidl phone that we use for cheap mobile data when we're in the EU. We ended up purchasing a cheap SIM card in Italy, with excessive mobile data. S plugged that into his US Samsung, and I used it as a mobile Hotspot, so my Lidl phone was unnecessary weight. Didn't break any shoelaces, but it's always good to have a piece of string on hand. Passport, yes, toiletries, yes. Keep one long-sleeved T, drop the other.

In sum: add water purification drops, and drop sunglasses, one pair of socks, European cellphone, cyclops hat, long-sleeve T, and possibly the down jacket.

S carried similar items, plus a pair of microspikes for each of us. Didn't use them, but better safe than sorry.

Sterzing to Feltre Day 5 - Resciesa to Plattkofel Hütte

Tuesday June 18, Resciesa to Plattkofel Hütte

I have Rules for certain life-defining things: Rules of Condiments, Rules of Walking, and the mostly unwritten Rules of Acrophobia. Sometimes the rules intersect. Thus the Rules of Walking state: 

1. No wheels allowed (no cars, no trains, no bicycles, etc.), except to return home at the end of the trip. 

2. No elevators. You just hiked 15 miles: you can take the stairs. 

3. The Acrophobe's Exception: means of transportation that might unnerve acrophobes are allowed, specifically ferries and ski lifts.

For Day 5 of the Sterzing-to-Feltre hike, I took advantage of this intersection and intentionally built in one funicular train and two gondola lifts, for a combination of sight-seeing and time/distance management. I felt a little sheepish about this, since I've made significant progress with ski lifts over the past 15 years or so, but I am pleased--or maybe not pleased--to report that they remain unnerving. (Chair lifts, it should go without saying, are ABSOLUTELY NOT ALLOWED EVER.)

On Tuesday morning, we left Rifugio Resciesa and walked a mile to the convenient funicular train that went straight down the side of the mountain, landing us in St. Ulrich Ortisei. We sat in the very front of the cabin, and I did not hyperventilate at all, but I did yammer most of the way down, and I mediated the view by watching through my cellphone camera screen. 

A day pass got us rides on all of St. Ulrich's lifts.

Once we arrived in St. Ulrich, we walked to the lift station and took a gondola up to Seceda for a quick view-admiring side-trip hike.

Atop Seceda, we were greeted with an ad to experience  e m o t i o n s  by booking a hang-gliding trip. The sign did not specify what emotions came with the deal, but fear, terror, anxiety, and panic weren't my idea of a good time, so we passed.   

S took a moment to take some photos of the panorama. Note the smile on his face: he's in his element. 

To summarize our emotional response up to that point: 

Still, the views were stunning enough to have made the gondola ride worthwhile.

Seceda itself looked pretty much like the Microsoft Windows 10/11 welcome screen photo: 

Pretty sure this is my favorite photo from the entire hike:

After tromping around for a bit with a zillion other tourists (not shown), we rode the gondola back down to St. Ulrich Ortisei. Whew.

I was still in chatty yammer mode, so after popping into the gold-leaf sparkly neo-classical parish church of St. Ulrich...

...we paused for a cuppa decaf and a piece of Erdbeerschnitte at a cafe near a statue of an armored bark beetle retuning victorious from infesting the forests of the Dolomites. Aptly, the sculpture is made from burnt wood.

Beetle on a Horse (2024) by Julius von Bismark

Our final gondola of the day was a lift that cut about 2,360 feet elevation gain off our main hike of the day, from the Schlern plateau to the Plattkofel Huette.

This ride wasn't as unnerving as the others.

The green meadows across which we hiked were part of the Seiser Alm, Europe's largest high-elevation alpine meadow (52 km²). 

Our goal was the Plattkofel hut, located at the base of the rightmost mountain in the photo below:

En route we encountered horses, who were not particularly interested in us...

...and cows, who were. A half dozen cows moved in, seeking salt, apples, or anything else they could lick off of us. Too close for comfort, we climbed over a conveniently located viewing bench and continued up the hill. 

It should go without saying that as we approached Plattkofel, our views of the mountain changed--yet we didn't anticipate how different the mountain would look from different angles. 

The final stretch was quite steep. I appreciated an opportunity to pause and record the sound of what is basically a water-powered didjeridoo made from drainage hosing. Not sure why it was there, but there's no end to surprises in the Dolomites. 

At last: Plattkofel Huette!

Here's the view from the hut's back yard:

Inside, art adorned the stairwell wall. Kudos to the young artist for this depiction of methane-induced global warming. 

We dropped off our backpacks, and after some refreshment...

...we went for a short hike before dinner.

Our second critter sighting of the day confirmed that we had entered The Land of the Marmots.

Dolomite!

Note the double-pronged waterfall. The next morning when we left Plattkofel Huette, it was no longer flowing. Snow melts faster under a hot sun than under a cool moon.  

Most of the rocks were white, but some had a pinkish tinge.

Room with a view:

Ta da! 10.2 miles, 2,675 ft elevation gain, bulk of which was during the hike to Plattkofel Huette.

Sterzing to Feltre Day 4: St. Georg to Rifugio Resciesa

Monday June 17, St. Georg to Rifugio Resciesa

Our most varied day so far.

It's grass mowing time on the hills of Südtirol. Zoom in to see the angle of the mowing machine:

It's also prime season for stinging nettle, Europe's genteel menace.

We descended from St. Georg to a creek, crossed the creek, then headed up the next hill. Our first 1,000 ft ascent today was ~28% grade.

Bark beetles--now thriving in places they've previously never thrived in before, thanks to warming temperatures--have been killing swaths of spruce trees. To control beetle spread, the infested trees are usually clear cut and removed. We passed through a few stands that had been cut but not completely cleared from the hillside. 

Oozy shroom

Here's a view looking back across the valley at St. Georg.

The trees were occasionally problematic. We had to crawl under these logs to continue on the trail. I crawled through first; then S passed me the backpacks and hiking poles over the logs; and then he crawled through. It was a tight fit.

Still steep. But what's that red and white tape up ahead?

Ah! "Don't use this trail without permission." Well dang.

Glad that section of trail was done, we met up with a road and descended into the next valley. The mountain to the right in the photo below is Resciesa, our destination for the day.

We passed through the pretty village St. Magdalena and ran into an enthusiastic group of tourists from Taiwan exploring the panorama trail. We encountered them again atop Resciesa: we hiked, while they got there by funicular.

From St. Magdalena, we hiked up, up, up toward the Brogles Hütte, following a creek with waterfalls almost the entire way. The promise of food at the hut was great motivation.

In theory, 2 hrs away, but we took breaks

Round about here, we thought we were getting close--but we were only halfway up. After this meadow, the trail became quite steep, maxing out at about 33% grade.

At last--the Brogles hut! But it was shuttered, so no cake for us.

Half a mile past the hut, the trail leveled out, and we enjoyed stunning views of the Geisler group. Also views of stunning horses.

The mountain to the right is Seceda. If you use Windows 10 or 11, you've probably seen a photo of Seceda on your welcome screen, although from a different angle than shown here. We're planning a side trip up to Seceda tomorrow via gondola lift, weather permitting.

Langkofel and Platkofel to the right, Sella massif to the left:

Carly came out of the backpack for the view

Four miles later, we finally arrived at Rifugio Resciesa. Most huts require that you leave your boots and hiking poles in a room specific to that purpose, but you can borrow "house shoes" during your stay.

Our room with a view

After dinner, we took a short backpackless walk.

Der Wanderer unter dem Nebelmeer 

Rifugio Resciesa

Ta da! 13.5 miles, 4,850 ft elevation gain, bulk of which is shown below. We're wiped out.