The great hiking adventure of 2026 is a wrap. Overall, 221 miles hiked/walked, 34,825' elevation gain, more than that descent, from St. Ulrich - Ortisei in the Dolomites to sea level in Trieste.
Today's photos begin with my annual plea: if you pee while hiking, pee off the trail, not in the middle of it, and for the love of all that is good, pack your TP out. Better yet, be an environmental steward and get yourself a re-usable, washable, sanitary Kula Cloth or other sanitary pee cloth so you can leave no trace, because ewww. (It should go without saying that if you poop in the woods, you should poop off trail and bury it, but apparently that needs saying too.)
Our off-road route after leaving Duino Aurisina was supposed to begin near a scenic overlook where a lot of folks had camped overnight in cars and vans. We gave the trail a valiant but brief effort, but the quantity of TP, used condoms, and human poop was so disgusting that we decided to stick to the road until we were further away from people.
We spent most of the day on roads and trails about 800 feet above the sea.
A blaze showed us where to cross the freeway so we could reach the trail up the hillside. Some indication for drivers would have been nice too--zebra stripes or a pedestrian crossing sign, for example. Oh well. Crossing was a little nerve-wracking.
Up we went, leaving the busy road, fast cars, and TP behind.
The rest of the route was a treat. In the morning, it was still clear enough to see the boot of Italy extending faintly across the horizon. The hills to the left included Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia. It was too hazy to see the Alps.
Pretty sure the faint white smudge in the distance is Venice.
In many ways, the cliff views reminded us of Highway 1 in California.
Occasionally the trail took us inland far enough to lose sight of the sea. We paused for acqua minerale con gas in Santa Croce.
Italy participates in the Stolperstein project. We saw several memorial stones in towns both large and small between St. Ulrich and Trieste.
Adolf Sedmak joined the resistance when he was 17. Captured, deported to Buchenwald, assassinated.
The village of Prosecco is on the Walk of Peace.
The castle below on the spit is Miramar. We decided we'd seen enough grand Habsburg castles and not enough sea views, so we didn't hike down.
We took this photo in the morning, near a lookout tower above Miramar, before we were hot, hungry, and dehydrated.
Looking for a shady spot with a view to eat an apple, we learned sometimes you could have either shady or a view but not both.
There were stone walls along many of the day's trails.
Thanks again to a culture that puts public fountains in the paths of hot and tired hikers!
This part of the cliff wall is a training spot for rock climbers.
We passed a photo shoot for a Maserati.
The road--which didn't have much traffic--turned into the pedestrian-only Napoleonica trail, built in 1821. (Despite its name, neither Napoleon nor his troops were ever there.) Straight, impeccably maintained with brilliant white gravel, and only slightly uphill in our direction, it offered 5km of panoramic views, of which apparently I took only one photo because every step looked like the next.
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| Approaching the end of the trail, nearing Trieste |
At the end of the trail, a cobblestone street took us down 1,050' all the way into Trieste.
Mission accomplished: here we are, about the enter Trieste city limits, looking hot, hungry, and dehydrated.
Down, down, down...
Once we were near sea level, we still had almost two miles to walk through town to our hotel. When the day began, we were thinking 13.5 miles sounded like a relatively short day. By the time we checked in and figured out how to turn on the AC, we were wiped out. We ditched our "bonus hike" to see the sites of Trieste and instead took showers and cooled off before heading out to find dinner.
The view from our room: Arco di Riccardo, the only remaining part of Trieste's Roman walls, built 33-32 BCE.
After dinner, we visited the harbor and, with a bazillion other tourists (not shown), watched the sun set.
Ta da! 14 out of the day's 15.7 hot miles, 1,750' up, 1,950' down.
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