TRAVEL. HIKING TRIP.
Finding Water in the Dolomites
Another day up in the mountains of South Tyrol
It all started with an edelweiss hike. I call it that way because man there were a lot of these rare beauties. On the rocks, in the grass, under the bushes, and next to the cows. Everywhere to be seen, the alpine edelweiss.
What a joy.
In the beginning of September 2022, my husband and I went on holiday to South Tyrol, Italy. Together with my parents we hiked for several days through the mighty mountains of the Dolomites. If you didn’t read the first part of our journey, you can find the articles linked below.
This was day three of our hiking trip above the treeline. We didn’t have to go far for the day. We had struggled prior to booking this trip in finding another mountain cottage to stay in and had to book one only an hour’s walk away from the previous one.
Well better that one than going back down in the valley. That was my thought and so we booked it. But before loading our backpacks and moving on this day, we decided to hike to a small peak just next to the cottage we stayed in.
A relaxed morning hike with the reward of breathtaking views and countless rare alpine flowers.
I’d say we did everything right.
Look at those views.
Simply spectacular.
And so was the weather. Sunny from early on. Blue skies all around.
Not just I was taken by surprise. My husband was left speechless too. We both stood there for a while taking in all the beauty.
Then we slowly made our way down again listening to cowbells and smelling the fresh mountain air.
Back at our accommodation, we loaded the backpacks and made our way South.
We walked for a while on a broad gravel road. Too easy to walk so I could look up and marvel at the mountains while not needing to look at every step I took.
Since we had all day to cover this one-hour hike, we stopped halfway for a drone-flying and lunch-eating break.
Somewhere down below you can see us standing. The white in the picture is the hiking trail. Not a riverbed. We had seen many of them so far but never flowing water.
Yes, it has been a dry summer.
And another picture of those spectacular mountains. And yes, we were actually descending below the treeline for once. But not for long.
It was a lovely hike. Not much up, not much down. Just a gentle hike through the forest. A forest made of mountain pines.
I even took the time for a selfie.
And just there it was the settlement of houses where we’d be staying the next night.
The biggest house which can’t be called a mountain cottage anymore I guess is the one we stayed in. It’s a restaurant but has great rooms to stay in too.
We arrived for lunch. Oh, and what delicious food they made. I opted for the fried egg with bacon and potatoes. But that wasn’t just any bacon. That was expensive prosciutto crudo (Italian spiced and cured meat). Too yummy…
After lunch, we had to move again to walk off all the food we ate.
My parents had still big plans. Pointing at one of those high peaks they said that’s where we’ll go. My husband and I shook our heads knowing we had 9-hour hikes ahead of us the following two days. We wanted to take it easy.
Plus my husband wanted to play around with the drone in this valley just below the treeline. First, he tracked down my parents as they were making their way up the mountain.
I had my camera and the wide-angle lens with me and was walking around capturing everything.
This is our drone after takeoff. A Mavic Mini.
I also found some cranberries in the meadow. Hidden underneath a rock. And dandelions. I didn’t even know they grow that high up in the mountains.
And here is a picture my husband took while flying the drone. High.
I had still another spot in mind I wanted to explore and my husband and I ended up walking some unmarked trail in between the mountain pines.
It led us to an amazing lookout point. We heard the sound of water but quickly told ourselves it was an illusion. We hadn’t seen water since we left the lakes in the valley. It can’t be water.
But our ears were right. It was water. We found a small canyon with a mountain river flowing through it. What an unexpected surprise.
After flying the drone across the pine tree-covered mountains, we hiked back down and around to enter the riverbed. A small canyon, hidden from the rest.
And yes, we did find water.
And then we spotted the waterfall. I mean, you can’t call it such. It was more like a mountain trickle. Droplets of water trickled down the rocks. But for us, it was a waterfall.
The water was coming from the side of the mountain and we left the canyon to climb up to the said waterfall. To get a shower. The rocks were slippery and we didn’t make it behind the water but stood in front.
I tell you what. It was a cold shower. A really cold one. But what a refreshing one. And it was so much fun. We were filled with joy.
We then climbed back down again. Over boulders and across cliffs to get back into the valley. There we followed the stream a bit more up the mountain and found a few more small waterfalls. They were great for some photography experiments.
I was telling my husband my parents won’t believe us if I say we bathed in a waterfall. They told us there’s nowhere water in this area at the moment.
Almost.
We found the water. And look at it. How clear it is.
We made our back to the mountain cottage and waited in the sun for my parents to arrive from their summit hike. They did it, of course. I had no doubt about it. And they were in a great mood.
We sat out in the sun a bit more but once the sun disappeared behind the horizon, the temperatures quickly dropped. We went back inside for a 3-course dinner. What a treat it was.
(I’ll share images of the foods we ate on this trip in a separate post.)
And then the stars came up.
It was the first night since we ascended above the tree line where we had a clear sky. I packed myself in layers and headed out to look for the stars. I found them. In multitude. Including the owner of the house driving back to town. I caught the light of his car driving up the road during my long exposure shot.
And with these images in my mind, I went back to bed and fell asleep.
These pictures were taken with a range of cameras:
- Canon EOS 750D 20mm wide-angle lens
- Nikon Coolpix L330
- Drone: Mavic Mini
- Samsung Galaxy A51
- iPhone 10 XS
And watch here the full video of our hiking adventure through the Dolomites in South Tyrol, Italy:
More articles about the first days of our hiking adventure:
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