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.
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| 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.
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| 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:
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| 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.
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| Our room with a view |
After dinner, we took a short backpackless walk.
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| Der Wanderer unter dem Nebelmeer |
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| Rifugio Resciesa |
Ta da! 13.5 miles, 4,850 ft elevation gain, bulk of which is shown below. We're wiped out.
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