The second day of Brian and my hike through the Dolomites was long (about 25.5 km) from start to finish (map) and featured so many different incredible landscapes throughout the day. Knowing we had a long day ahead of us, we set out from Rifugio Sennes on the earlier side of the morning and hit the dusty trail.

 

We had great views from the get go.

  

Shortly after our start, we hiked through a little village of huts that seemed to be inhabited.

  

For the first hour or so, we descended 5 km on this dirt road, past a little village of smaller huts, down into a long, deep canyon that was home to another rifugio, Pederü Berggasthaus. Knowing that we had nowhere to go but up from this point, we took a quick break at the lovely little picnic area outside and loaded up on snacks and water. 

  

The steep descent to Pederü Berggasthaus offered some inspiring views.

 

The view of the canyon we were soon to be hiking up into from our break spot at Pederü Berggasthaus.

  

Hiking up into the canyon with Pederü Berggasthaus behind us.

 

As we hiked further up into the canyon, flanked by huge dramatic peaks on either side, we made our way through a similar rocky terrain that we saw the day before. This gradually gave way to dense brush and forest. 

 

Brian likes his peaks huge and dramatic.

 

As we continued on, our hike brought us by a little quaint little farm home that had a river running by it and we took some time reward our barking dogs and dipped our toes in the cold af water.

 

The little farm house.

 

About 6km from Pederü Berggasthaus and maybe an hour and half hiking later, we made it to our next break spot: Rifugio Fanes. The rifugio had a fantastic outdoor patio which made it an optimal lunch spot. We setup camp at a table took our shoes off once more and relaxed under the sun. I had an amazing pasta dish that absolutely hit the spot.

 

Rifugio Fanes and its wonderful outdoor patio.

 

My delicious pasta dish.

 

During lunch, we met another American who was taking a long break from med school to tour through Italy and naturally we invited him to sit with us as we ate and studied our map and prepared ourselves for the rest of the day. We shot the shit for a brief while and then bid our adieus because we had a bit more of adventuring to accomplish for the day. Almost immediately we started another climb that offered no shortage of great views.

 

Pole Pose.

 

The incline lasted maybe half an hour until flattening out. As we hiked, we passed people of all ages. Some even had dogs. Then about fifteen minutes later, we hit another rifugio, Malga di Gran Fanes. 

  

Jaw dropping beauty everywhere.

This portion of the hike was something out of a fairy tale. Bursting with life and covered with wildflowers, snowcapped mountains and incredible views in every direction. 

   

 

We passed little ponds, crossed babbling brooks and marveled at the snow capped peaks we joked about coming back and bagging at a later date.

 

A babbling brook.

  

The trail stayed true for what felt like miles. As it wore on, the mountains on either side of us drew closer and then all of a sudden we found ourselves in a field that was basically yellow. The color palette for almost the entire day had consisted of gray and light brown rock and dense green foliage up so when the yellow flowers showed up, they absolutely popped. 

 

Wildflower season in full effect.

 

Shortly after this field, we encountered our next challenge. The trail veered left and led us up towards some of the snowcapped mountains we had just moments before been joking about bagging. 

  

 

The green field of wildflowers quickly and gradually gave way to rocky scree as we quickly gained elevation and found ourselves on a crash course for snow. Mind you it was late June. 

  

The grass had given way to an extremely rocky landscape.

 

As we continued to climb, the trail would play hide and go seek which naturally caused us to play the guess where we're hiking to game. At this point, we had been hiking for quite some time and early afternoon had become mid afternoon. We were sure we were getting close to Rifugio Lagazuoi and that we would be rewarded with a nice cool drink at the top of this climb.

   

Views on views on views.

 

First contact with snow.

 

We continued up a slushy patch of late season snow. This made us giddy, as again, it was almost July. As we made it to the pass we had spent the last hour or so climbing up to, we were quickly dealt a hard dose of reality that our rifugio was still a ways away. As we peered through the other side and then confirmed with our map, we were able to trace a pace all the way back down and then all the way back up another mountain in the distance. Slight disappointment at the realization of how much more hiking was left was quickly overrun by the excitement of the environment and the experience of hiking in the Dolomites.

    

The view from the top of the pass and the trail that led us all the way back up that mountain in the distance.

   

Brian leads the way down the pass via a series of switchbacks. You can see the entirety of the trail we were about to hike.

  

Getting down from the pass was easy and I cannot express how much the hiking poles helped descend the quick drop in elevation. As we exited we found ourselves in a bowl with sheer walls on three of four sides, thousands of feet high, with the wallless side of the canyon opening up to a vista akin to one you'd see in The Sound Of Music.

  

Back onto snow. The pass we had just emerged from to Brian's left.

 

At this point we did not have far to go, maybe a couple of miles at most, but the trail was heavily covered by dense, wet snow, which added a slight degree of difficulty.

   

Brian led most of the way up, motivated by the taste of the Aperol Spritz he would reward himself with at the finish line.

 

For most of the climb the grade was relatively gentle and with the aid of the poles was pretty easy work. But of course, the last quarter mile or so really made us work to earn our bed. Maybe it was fatigue setting in, maybe it was the altitude, maybe it was the snow, but the last push was definitely the hardest part of the day's hike. It became foggy, which made it hard to see where we were going and the steeper grade made it harder to keep our footing, even with our micro spikes. It felt like we were trying to infiltrate a fortress atop a hill.

    

The last push.

  

As we neared the summit, the fog cleared and the views we were welcomed with were nothing less than jaw dropping.  

  

The view from near the top. 

   

Reaching the summit and realizing there was no more hiking for the day, realizing that drinks and relaxation was in our near future and that the false summit experience we had dealt with just hours before was squarely in the rearview was an amazing feeling. When I went about booking this trip and organizing this hike with Brian, the place we were now at was the one place I wanted to get to. It's billed as the highest elevation rifugio in the Dolomites and boasts views in every direction one could only dream of. All of the research I had done did not prepare me for the real life experience. If you ever plan to hike in the Dolomites, a stop at Rifugio Lagazuoi is highly suggested.

 

Snow capped mountains peak through the surrounding clouds.

   

Well deserved celebratory Aperol spritzes.

 

Brian and I celebrated with some drinks and walked about out the mountaintop the rifugio sat on top of, but at this point clouds had fully enveloped us and our view had disappeared. At the point sunset rolled around, we were completely socked in, so we regrouped, talked about our day's experience, had some dinner and called it a day.

 

Interested in seeing what kind of views you can experience here? Turns out we woke up in time for sunrise and I took some pictures. See them here.