Before dawn, we hiked 30 minutes southeast from Auronzo to a viewpoint of the sharp peaks of Cadini di Misurina. We could also look down onto the town of Misurina too. (We wondered if it was smart to do this hike on top of the big hike coming up, but it turned out OK.)
After breakfast, we began our longest hike of the trip, from Rif. Auronzo to Rif. Locatelli. First we made sure we put everything we didn’t need into the vans. Then we headed out with all the people who were making the Tre Cime circuit dayhike. We stopped at the Lavaredo rifugio for a juice drink, covering the same ground as yesterday’s sunset hike. There were cows to photograph too.
On every uphill, we paused frequently to catch our breath. We made a longer rest stop on the Forcella Lavaredo where we photographed the night before. The final climb to Locatelli was clambering up a really steep path with steps and switchbacks.
We were very glad to have our hiking poles, which compensated some for the weight of our packs. There were no steep downhills, and Pam’s knees did fine. The packs still felt heavy and the air was thin, but we seemed to feel stronger.
We took a bit more than an hour longer than everybody else. At Locatelli, everyone had ordered lunch. We waved at them on the terrace as we managed the last switchbacks and ordered lunch ourselves when we arrived. Locatelli had a pretty efficient system for lunches.
We were all assigned to a bunkroom in a half-underground bunker beside the main lodge. You could barely fit between the bunkbeds to climb up and down.
We’ve had great weather, but finally there was a moderate rain storm. Afternoon and sunset light were beautiful despite, or because of, the storm. There was a little chapel just above the lodge, two lakes below in the valley behind, a flat area beside the lodge with ridged white rock and wildflowers. There was also a marking for a helicopter landing spot.
Some in the group photographed through blue hour from a ridge above the chapel, sheltering in a cave. We joined Ace, Nicole, and Darcy in the restaurant where beef goulash was popular.