The plan was to drive about 30 mins to a trail Josh had picked out that had great views of the Dolomites while we hiked down and around a lake. Something we hadn’t considered was that this area was the main ski area of the Italian Alps and the roads were not able to handle the amount of traffic it was experiencing! Narrow roads made more narrow by cars parked on the side, winding through city centers, dodging hapless skiers who just walk out with no care, all combined to make a stressful driving experience! We made our way to the trailhead and then realized that the trail was only open to cross country skiers during the winter. Crap! New plan was to find a place to get some skis, which meant a back track to the town and then a drive back up. Ugh. A search on their website though solved our issue! As they also rent snowshoes, they had trail recommendations for hiking snowshoeing. The trail wasn’t as long as the original but is did take us through the woods and to a lake, then up to see some views!

We had our sack lunch at the lake, a nice selection of meat sticks, cheese, breadsticks, and fruit for me! I’m sure the lodge offered a nice repast but being budget travelers we played it cheap! Steve did a photo shoot with his new favorite travel knife from Deejo. It is the lightest one on the market that meets the blade length requirement for most of the races we do!

The hiking up to this point was on well groomed and packed trails, making the snowshoes not necessary but Steve and I hiked in them anyway. Leaving the lake we took a less travelled route back to the cabin with the cross were we enjoyed our trail beverages.

Leaving the cabin clearing we made our way up to the peak that shared the same name as the lake we had visited earlier. The hope was an open clearing to see the vistas of the far away mountains. We went up and up and up some more but we did find a nice view! Josh and Tserka went up a bit farther to check around the next bend while Steve and I stayed and played around with balancing on a log with snowshoes.

While Steve and I were standing there just enjoying the peace, we heard a clatter up the mountain. Not sure what was coming, I missed the first shots, but a chamois was coming down right towards us! It must have been scared up by Josh and Tserka hiking farther uphill and descended down to us. So cool to see!

After hiking about 5.5 miles in a leisurely 4 hr 15 mins, we loaded up the car once again and started our 4 hour drive north to Munich. The drive took us up and over the pass, offering some majestic views for those not driving! The road was a twisty snake both up and down. We had hoped that our timing would let us make one last stop. The options were a stop at the Swarovski Crystal Museum or the water park at Aqua Dome Hotel. Unfortunately, the timing didn’t work out for either of these and we just drove straight back to Munich. Josh did get to try out the autobahn for real, pushing our rental car to its limits! Arriving in Munich, we had one last meal, which turned out to be pizza because that was all we could find! At least it was quality wood fired pizza!