Hello friends, well we found ourselves caught in another torrential downpour today. We went to the store about 3 p.m. to collect food for dinner and to look for another pair of hiking pants for me. I only packed one pair thinking I would be in shorts mostly. Since we won’t have a washing machine in Grindelwald I thought having an extra pair would be helpful. I was able to find a pair that I liked that fit rather quickly and then we gathered all our groceries. When we got to the doors we looked outside to see the rain just pouring down. The wind blowing it in waves. Water was streaming down the cobblestone streets. Everyone was either tucked inside or under the cover of buildings.

We then turned around and decided to see more of the store. I found some umbrellas but they were expensive and would be a pain to pack home. Plus they wouldn’t do much against the sideways rain. We tried to wait out the storm but decided to go for it. When it got a little lighter we would hop from one building to the next for cover under the overhangs. For a bit we hid inside a small room with an ATM. When the rain let up a bit more we made a break for it and sprinted to our apartment. We only got moderately drenched. Jacob’s shoes that had just dried are soaking again. I was glad I wore my rubber sandals.

Anyway! Yesterday we completed the Lake Sorapis hike. Though it was supposed to be about 6 miles round-trip, our watches tracked almost 10 miles. We don’t know if we are just bad at following the correct trail or if the smaller steps we took climbing over rocks and wadding through mud counted as further distance.

When we were looking at the forecast last night it wasn’t looking great for today, but we decided we’d still plan for our hike in hopes we’d wake up to clear skies. We woke up at 6 a.m. and looked outside to see glorious blue sky and a few clouds. So we gathered our things, put on our hiking boots (now caked in dry mud) and headed out the door!

We arrived to Tre Cime di Lavaredo (Three Peaks) just about 7:15 a.m. We had to pay $30 to get into the park and the staff member helping us was a young man who was having difficulty with the computer. He used some colorful language and then said not to worry, it was not us, it was him. Finally he told us we could go, but the gate was still down. He gave us our receipt/ticket and we were on our way.

The sign at the gates said 530 open parking spaces. A few reviews we’d read had said the parking lots fill up by 7:30 or 8 a.m., which is why we wanted to get out early. Once we got to the parking lot there were attendants guiding us where to park. We ended up very close to the start of the trail!

The first section of the trail is pretty wide and flat, but starts at about 7,000 feet elevation. Hiking at this height made us feel a little out of breath at times but for the most part it was fine.

The is one of the most popular hikes in the Dolomites and it is easy to see why!

I took over 200 pictures so I created an album of our photos if you’d like to see more!

The trail was not too busy. The weather was perfect. The sun was shining but we were shaded and there was some cloud cover. It was nice and cool.

Our first destination was the Drei Zinnen Hutte. This is a lodge similar to the one yesterday that has food and toilets. There was ample outdoor seating too. We stopped inside the lodge and picked up two slices of apple strudel and took them outside to enjoy. We had a spectacular view of the Three Peaks from here.

We enjoyed our snacks in the sunshine. The strudel was delicious. We also ate a few snacks we brought and took in the sights. While we were relaxing, a farmer was trying to move his cows from one place to the other. They were coming down the trails with hikers all around them. It was delightful chaos for a little bit. Luckily, we didn’t need to get going so we just sat and watched as the cows mooed their way along.

Once we were done eating, we applied sunscreen, drank some water and then headed on our way to complete our hike. This hike is about a 6 mile loop back to the parking lot. The elevation gain for this hike is three times what we did yesterday (200 meters yesterday, 600 today) but it was in much more manageable chunks over easier terrain.

We slowly meandered along the trail taking in the sights all around us. You can see these in the album I created.

Toward the end of our hike there was a hillside full of cows. We walked right through the middle of them. They were happily chomping on the grass. The sound of their bells filled the air. It was beautiful and a great way to end the hike!

Once we were done, we had to find our car among the now many hundreds of cars that were parked for the hike. Then we had about a 40 minute drive back to the apartment. I did my best to stay awake. Jacob turned to me at one point and said he was waiting to hear my snores start.

Back at the apartment we cleaned up and rested.

We are going to eat hamburgers tonight (in honor of all the cows) and relax. Tomorrow is our last full day in Cortina. We are planning to ride on the cable cars and check out the sights around us if the weather permits. Saturday we have a long drive to Grindelwald, Switzerland.

Until then!