Hotel Koflerhof Rasun Anterselva

Krimml is home to the highest waterfalls in Europe. I took a quick day trip out there, and took a gander at them. This is another example of how fit the people of teh Alps are. I was told it was an easy trail that anyone can hike - only 4 km. In Canada, an easy trail is really something that anyone, regardless of level of fitness or hiking experience, can do. So I was wearing a dress and sandals. Ya, this was not ...

Today was a slow day. We drove out to Auronzo, which is a small lakeside town that we passed on the way to Cortina from Uldine on Sunday. We hiked around the lake and walked around town some, grabbing ice cream and window shopping at the craft and souvenir stores.

Cortina D'Ampezzo, Veneto, Italy brian796

... were gone, Cindy and Alycia walked around town some and went to a market next to the hotel. They grabbed pizza at a new restaurant, which all of us returned to that night for a nice dinner. Trey and I ate several meals apiece in a single sitting to make up for the energy expended during the day. We have a newfound appreciation for the bikers competing daily in the Tour de France this month.

... views of the river, surrounding mountains, and the forest.

Alycia was feeling ill about 2 miles into the hike and rested at a picnic area while Cindy and I continued into a very rugged section of the hike. Later, we would discover that we had missed the unmarked turnoff for the falls. I made it out almost all the way to Paso di Limo before realizing the mistake. I backtracked to Cindy and we explored the wilderness some, finding some ...

... at the very start we had a very enjoyable and satisfying 300m vertical ascent and then a leisurely stroll back to the Lagazuio hut for a little celebration...

Day 4 saw us rounding Col de Bos and crossing the Lagazuoi Pass to Rifugio Averau. The day before we'd seen a Chamois mountain goat march straight past a whole army garrison and have a relaxed dump right in front of our noses as good omen for our first climb. Today we saw a family of Marmots ...

... which took us up to around 3000 Meters. The visibility was endless which meant for good pictures. We were a little cold as we walked on the crusty snow but it was well worth it. After the ride we decided to take advantage of the good weather to drive a circuit through Arabba to Corvara then west to Passo Gardena and back to Penia via Canazai. If you've been here before you will know how beautiful the area is. If you have never ...

... cant mistake when you cross the border from Austria into Italy!!! the perfect roads and maintained properties stop abruptly!! I found what turned out to be a fantastic free camp spot well back off the road, next to a creek,hidden from the highway, bordering a national park because I was getting tired and it was late, but I wasnt very popular! we were going to get murdered in our beds, you dont know what sort of people they are ...

Here there is a map in Google Maps where you will see the cities that we plan to visit this year. All of them are new for us, although we are old Spain travelers. The planned route is the blue one. The red one is called "Plan B" in case of bad weather or other reasons of changing our plans.

... visiting of the cities. I'm not sure if I am able to do it the way I would like and I'm not even sure if I am able to do it till the end. Maybe some comments of some places will fail. So, the first step is already made. I hope that there will be many steps following this one. Let's take a try.

... and were presented with a reasonably steep climb, and it got harder from there! We climbed about 600 mtrs today over about 7km of hilly terrain; quite slippery in areas, rocky in others. We certainly have a greater appreciation of the use of the poles in Nordic walking to provide stability; as well as keeping the upper body in shape in preparation for cross-country skiing which Nordic walking is closely related. Well, the exercise of the last two days should result in us sleeping well !