Ted's Hiking World Monte Piana
WW1 Open Air Museum

September 9, 2014

David is such a great travel companion in many respects.  He knows the ropes, can make himself fairly well understood in Italian, has made all the necessary reservations, and has made printouts of the bus schedules.  About all that I have to do each day is to put on my boots.  Because I stupidly left my ATM card at home, Dave is handling all the money matters as well.  The machines here won't accept ordinary American credit cards, and a standard cash advance doesn't seem to be an option either.

Typically, I am awakened at 3 a.m. by a light emanating from the head of the bed across the way.  Am I rooming with Jesus?  No, it's just Dave researching upcoming activities on his smartphone — or at least, I hope that's what he's viewing.

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This is History Lesson Day.  A jeep shuttles us up a precarious winding road — as fast as conditions will allow, because the driver is paid by the trip, not by the hour.  We are deposited at the top of the hill at Rifugio Bosi, the starting point for a tour of the famous First World War Museum.

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This will save 1,100 feet of unexciting climbing

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At the trailhead *
The inevitable chapel

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Wood carvings in the chapel lobby

Oops!  My walking stick is missing.  Down beside the rifugio, it awaits me where I had paused to tie my boots.

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A picture is worth a thousand words

There are campers' tents all over the place.  Straddling the trail itself is an even bigger tent labeled, "WELCOME HIGHLINERS", where loud music is being played and certain foodstuffs can be purchased.  I don't know how the rifugio vendors could be happy with that scenario.

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A highliner festival is in progress

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An exciting optional route along the cliff

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Doing his thing

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This guy is not faring as well

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A group of soldiers passes by

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One of many battle trenches

This is, of course, just one of many places where Austrian and Italian soldiers duked it out; 14,000 of them did not return from this particular mountain plateau.

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We walked around the distant Tre Cime three days ago

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The tourists have arrived

This arguably is not the most appropriate place to be wearing one of my "Death Ride" T-shirts; but because they are the only quick-dry clothing I own and we need to do our own laundry on this trip, three Death Ride shirts are the only ones I packed.

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Storage areas

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How could a war be fought in such a beautiful place?

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The Croce Dobbiaco says it all

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The highway below

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At least one of these monuments dates back to 1753

I had not expected this to be a garden walk, but these next ten photos were shot inside a single eight-foot section of a trench:

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Purple Mountain Saxifrage *
Mountain Avens

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Common Groundsel *
Bankeraceae Fungi

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Thorny Thistle *
Sea Pincushion

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Lemon Thyme *
Autumn Hawkbit

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Netleaf Willow *
Seaside Daisy

Who would have expected a battle trench to be filled with flowers?

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It's easy to see why Tre Cime is the most frequently photographed formation in the Dolomites

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That's the trail we need.  It looks like fun

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Our bus stop is in that distant meadow

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Cobwebby Thistle *
Marsh Grass of Parnassus

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It's down, down, and more down

That group of teen-agers that we passed hiked up from the bottom, and a couple of them were struggling.  The more we clamber down, however, the more respect we have for their achievement.

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Getting there *
Almost there

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The hillside we came down

It starts to rain a little bit, so Dave and I don our ponchos.  From here, a dirt track leads more up than down to the highway, once again near the Tre Cime toll booth.  Our bus has just arrived there, and once again the same driver will not make an unscheduled stop; so we must walk the additional half-mile and wait for the next bus at Lago d'Antorno.

This time, Dave decides to continue down to Lago Misurina, knowing that he will not miss his ride.  I elect to wait here for another forty minutes.  While sitting on the restaurant's front steps, the proprietor chooses this moment to sweep them; so I have to move.  I nevertheless am able to capture a couple of nostalgic telephoto views:

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Rifugio Locatelli  (our 1st hike) *
Rifugio Fonda Savio  (our 2nd hike)


§: This incredible museum is a must-do for Dolomites visitors, hikers or not.  It has made me sad though, both because of what happened on the mountain and because I seem to have left my prescription glasses on the trail back where we stopped to deal with a bit of rain.

Scenery *
Difficulty *
Personality *
Solitude *

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