An unplanned hike on a misty day up in Resciesa – The Delightful Dolomites, Part 6

This post is a continuation of a series documenting our travels to a small part of the Dolomites in Northern Italy. We had spent 3 great days in Bolzano and seen the town ( Walking around Bolzano & Churches of Bolzano – The Delightful Dolomites, Part 5 ) as well as done hikes to Runkelstein Castle ( A walk to Runkelstein Castle on a beautiful evening in Bolzano – The Delightful Dolomites, Part 2) and up the hills in Soprabolzano ( A day spent hiking in Soprabolzano – The Delightful Dolomites, Part 3 ). We had even been to the beautiful lake Karersee and spent a beautiful morning there. ( A beautiful morning at Karersee and a great lunch at Colle – The Delightful Dolomites, Part 4 ). 

We had now shifted bases to the little village of Laion / Lajen which was close to the resort town of Ortisei / St Ulrich (These dual Italian / German names can get confusing!). Being peak season in the Dolomites the hotels in Ortisei were too exorbitant for our tastes. So we did the next best thing, booked a hotel in a village with a decent bus connection to Ortisei that wouldn’t bankrupt us. It would turn out to be a great decision as Laion was a pretty little village without any of the crowds of Ortisei ( More on that in a later post).

We checked into our hotel Andechserhof and freshened up. The hotel had surprised us by giving us our room way before the scheduled check in time. It was a grey overcast day after 3 days of sunshine. The weather gods had finally decided to test our resolve. It still wasn’t pouring so we decided to test our luck and take the next bus to Ortisei and take it from there depending on how bad the weather was. We wore our full rain gear just to prepare for the worst and set off with a prayer on our lips.

The bus ride to Ortisei was a short and pleasant one and I realised that this bus line was used mostly by locals with we being the only tourists on that particular bus. We reached Ortisei and it still wasn’t pouring so we decided to take the funicular up to Resciesa and see the High meadows (High Alps) and do a short hike there if it didn’t start pouring. We walked up to the funicular station and bought the Gardena card for 3 days which gave unlimited access to most of the cable cars , chair lifts and this funicular ( https://www.valgardena.it ). We hoped that the weather would improve enough in the coming 3 days to utilise the pass fully.

With the Gardena card in hand we took the funicular up from Ortisei and soon we were chugging up the hill leaving Ortisei behind.

Taking the funicular up to Resciesa 

We had planned to take the short hike to the Refugio Resciesa but some how managed to take the wrong trail inspite of the numerous signposts. The short walk we had planned to the restaurant turned out to be a long trail to Brogles hut. We had no intention of doing the complete trail since the skies were ominous and we didn’t want to be stuck up in the mountains in the pouring rain.

We walked past the Restaurant Cason and took photos of the beautiful dolomites with their jagged tops covered by a veil of grey clouds. There were cows grazing in the meadows below and even with the overcast skies it was still a beautiful sight.

The view across the meadows from the Malga Cason up in Resciesa

The path led down through a coniferous forest and we were encouraged by the number of people up on the trail. At least we won’t be stuck here alone! We walked through the long patch of forest for a good 15-20 minutes.

The trail leads through a patch of coniferous forests 

The trail then opened up into a wide open meadow with cows grazing away contently not at all bothered about the grey skies above. We continued walking on the path with continuous views of the peaks across the valley. 

Cows grazing on the high meadows on the trail to Brogles hut 

The beautiful view from the trail to Brogles 

Cows grazing with the majestic Sassolungo and its brothers in the background 

The better half takes a photo of me trying to do justice to the beauty of the Dolomites 

At this time we reached a fork on the road where a path on the map led back to the Funicular station via a different path cutting across the huge meadows. We stopped here and decided that this was a good stop to rest our legs and have the apples we had bought the previous evening in Bolzano.

Having an apple on the hike  with a great view 

Waiting for a while to rest our legs 

Resting our feet with the Sassolungo in our sight 

We finished our apples and kept the cores in our bags to discard later and were thinking whether we should continue on. Our decision on what to do next became easier by the faint drizzle that started falling. Having heard about the sudden thunderstorms in the Dolomites I didn’t want to risk it especially since the forecast was much better for the next 3 days. 

I put away my DSLR into my waterproof backpack just in case it started pouring heavily – mobile photos would have to do for now.  This was a shame since there were horses grazing on the meadows here which I had never seen. But looking at the bigger picture in mind I kept my SLR in the backpack and took photos of the majestic horses with the equally majestic mountains in the background.

Horses grazing up in Rasciesa – You can see the path we came by in the middle of the forest in the background 

The path across the meadows with horses grazing 

As we left the horses behind the weather became a bit better as the intensity of the drizzle reduced and we heaved a sigh of relief. We continued to walk across the meadows till we  came to short patch of forest that opened into a view point called the Flitzer Scharte.

Continuing our walk across the meadows leaving the horses behind in the distance 

Reaching Flitzer Scarte on the way back to the funicular station 

We came across two huge benches made from fallen tree trunks that looked straight out of a fantasy movie. We took a few photos on the bench before moving on. The short walk we had planned had turned into a full hike – not that we were complaining!

A huge bench that looks straight out of a fantasy movie 

More cows grazing up in Rasciesa

The final path down to the path near the restaurant Malga Cason where we had started was a steep and descent down a rocky path that tested my knees to their fullest. We slowly but steadily went down the path glad at having good hiking boots on our feet.  

Starting the steep path down to near the funicular station 

The path became really narrow and scarily steep near the end but we managed to get down to level ground and heaved a sigh of relief as we saw the restaurant come into view!

Happy at having a wide level path beneath my feet after the final stretch down 

We then found a spot to sit at the packed Malga Cason to have a very late lunch. We had hiked almost 7-8 km without any difficulty and that gave me confidence about the longer hikes I had planned in the days to come. We ordered drinks (the usual beer and hot chocolate ) and polenta with cheese for the better half and polenta with goulash for myself. The hot food and refreshing drinks were just what our tired legs needed.

Celebrating a good hike in the dolomites with a beer and hot chocolate 

Polenta with Cheese for the Better half

Polenta with Goulash – perfect meal post a long hike !

With our tummies full we headed back to the funicular station and took the next funicular down to Ortisei. We also saw the turn that we had missed for going to the Rifugio Resciesa and hoped that we would have the time to come back and do that hike too in the next 3 days we had here.

One last selfie before entering the funicular station 

Taking the funicular down to Ortisei 

Back in Ortisei after a unplanned long hike up in Rasciesa 

We returned to the bus station and took the next bus back to Laion. Our timing was perfect as it started drizzling again just as we reached the hotel. That was the end of the days sightseeing and we hoped that the next day which was the better half’s birthday would have better weather. We had dinner at our hotel which we had booked as a half board option including breakfast and dinner. The three course meal was excellent and we were happy that we had stumbled across this gem of a hotel in our research.

The plan for the better half’s birthday was taking the cable car up to the famous Seceda Ridgeline and spend the day hiking there. Whether the weather would cooperate and not spread a literal wet blanket on our planned birthday celebration is a topic for another post. 

Some other time, some other day.

Till then.

Ciao!