3.77 miDistance
1,768 ftElevation gain
2,470 ftElevation loss
4 h 0 mTime
The theme for today's hike was up-and-up-and-up. Today was an early start, but it would also be a short day as well. The trail was coming to an end, but it was too far to go all the way today, so we had booked some beds at a place called Rifugio Pian de Fontana, our last rifugio of the trip!
We desended for a short while, but then quickly started ascending towards some cols between peaks. The stone was very white in this area, punctuated by dark green bushes and vegetation. This wasn't an easy climb, lots of stopping to catch my breath. But it felt good to be high up once more, instead of going through thick forests.
Lots of ice fields up top as well, with views for days of the surrounding mountains that were wreathed in white clouds. It felt like standing on the edge of the world at some points. After about an hour and a half of straight ascent, we came to the top and took a much deserved break.
Our route now took us down between two mountain peaks that looked like they had been split down the middle by lightening, and then pushed open in order to make a way for us to get through. Another wall of rock though greeted us in the distance and flanked us on our left as we walked. We thought we also spotted some deer, or moose, at the top of the wall but they were too far away for us to see, or even be sure. But we did have a lot of marmots to keep us company as we walked through a grassy field full of dandelions.
Another drop-off loomed in the distance, and clouds were starting to roll into our area and obscure the path, but they pushed themselves off and into the distance as we approached. The trail at this drop-off was full of switchbacks, and it was a long way to go through them all, but eventually we came to the bottom and to our place for the night.
Someone said they spotted Edelweiss on the trail today at the switchbacks, but I didn't see any, nor did my friend Cerstin. She was very dissapointed as it's rare to spot it in the wild.
The rifugio we were staying at had a herd of sheep surrounding it for most of the afternoon, but they departed just before dinner-time. We enjoyed a lot of wine at dinner due to it being our last night on trail, and we shared lots of laughs and stories with our travelling companions.
Night fell and the sky turned all sorts of brilliant pinks and purples. Tomorrow we would be doing a lot of descent and trying to make it to a bus stop in time to catch our ride into town, and meet up with another friend from the Camino who lived nearby: Mauro!
