We continued up trail 609, staying all properly close together and now all paying very close attention to any hint, pole, sign, or hint of a track that might indicate the branching-off of the connector trail.
Much to our relief, a few minutes later, a lone signpost came into the beams of our headlamps, and on closer inspection, had exactly the information we had hoped to see: Rifugio Passo San Nicolo: 0h30m. Although it didn't explicitly say "connector trail to 608", this was obviously it. Our mood lifted substantially. The end wasn't all that far away now.
I knew from the map that there was one challenge that remained: a passage down through some cliffy terrain. I fervently hoped that the trail's tread and waymarks would be obvious and sufficient to get us through this section without difficulty. We started off down the connector trail, at first easily following the faint track, but after a couple of minutes, it appeared to fade away to nothing in the grass. This led to a few minutes of nervous searching and backtracking, until we finally found red/white trail paint a bit further down the slope. From there, indications of the very faint footpath were again visible. The path soon descended into an area of weakness in a cliff band, through which the trail descended on straightfoward ramps and with only a few minor scramble points here and there. Soon we were at the base of the cliff band, all gathered together, safe and uninjured.
The sense of stress and anxiousness (at least in my mind) had now completely disappeared. I knew (from the topo map) that we now had no difficult terrain between us and the rifugio, knew also that it was now less than a kilometre away. The primary difficulty, really, was minimizing the number of Evie's "I'm-exhausted" stops.
Ghost Horses of the Passo
The connector trail had again faded out in the thick grasses at the base of the cliffs - but I wasn't worried, since without technical obstacles, I could just take a direct heading to the rifugio and march. We passed huge dolomitic boulders that dotted the grassy field through which we were walking, each appearing out of and then receding into the dark as pale looming shapes. A final steep grassy ascent brought us up to the Passo San Nicolo, which itself was a large open grassy saddle. Immediately we noticed ghostly eyes peering back at us.... and then the shadowy forms of horses, grazing in the calm still of the night. They gave us a once-over and then went back to munching on the meadow.
Rifugio Passo San Nicolo
Although we could not yet see it, my GPS showed us that we were only 300 horizontal metres away from the rifugio - however, as we got nearer, we could see one faint light ahead of us, and as we drew nearer, a small bit of the corner of a structure: the Rifugio Passo San Nicolo.
What was clearly the rifugio's guard/alert dog started barking as we drew within a hundred metres of the rifugio. It was loud and insistent and ceaseless, and I felt bad for the rifugio's other hikers, who had probably gone to bed hours ago and who were now probably being woken up by the ruckus of our late arrival.
Immensely happy to have arrived, we walked around to the far side of the building and through the unlocked door. Immediately inside was a large dining room - the length of the entire structure. Two rows of varnished wooden tables and chairs were neatly arrayed. In the far corner, one table had been set with plates and napkins. Our table.
Safe in the Rifugio
Two of the rifugio's staff greeted us warmly upon entry, and I apologized profusely to them. They dismissed my apology, and immediately asked if we were ready for dinner. We were all famished and thirsty, and the answer was absolutely, yes.
We were quickly shown our upstairs bunk room as we waited for our dinner to be brought out. It was a long and low room, situated under a sloping section of the roof. Six or seven low bunks were situated in a long row, and there were no other occupants in this room - we had it all to ourselves.
The rifugio's staff soon served us heaping mounds of spaghetti and a marinara-style sauce, along with sliced bread and bottles of both fizzy and regular mineral water. It was a simple meal, and much less diverse than the meal we would have had had we arrived at the scheduled dinner time, but nevertheless it was prepared with care and quality, and so so, so good. We stuffed ourselves and enjoyed the satisfaction of a hard hike completed, a full belly, and the anticipation of nice soft beds. All in all, despite the mistakes and challenges of our day, it had all turned out remarkably well.
It was well after midnight by the time we finished dinner and retired up to our room. It didn't take long for us to get settled in and conk out.
Interactive trackmap with photo points - July 10 - click map to view
July 10 Dolomites - Hike Data
Start Time:
2:09p.m.
End Time:
11:12p.m.
Duration:
9h3m
Distance:
12.92 km
(8.03 mi)
Average Speed:
1.4 km/hr
(0.9 mph)
Start Elevation:
6104ft
(1860m)
*
Max Elevation:
8806ft
(2684m)
*
Min Elevation:
6095ft
(1858m)
*
End Elevation:
7709ft
(2350m)
*
* : +/- 75 feet
Total Elevation Gain:
4031ft
(1229m)
*
Total Elevation Loss:
2431ft
(741m)
*
* : +/- 75 feet
Elevation Graph
