Italiian Dolomites - Panoramas - July 2016
This should give you an idea of the amazing views one gets in the Italian Dolomites - green meadows and distant snow-covered mountain ranges seen almost continually on the various hikes. It was the most crowded area that I have ever hiked in – a far cry from the wilderness of the American west! But the advantage of that is that there is lots of public transportation (you don’t really need a car) and there are lots of places (“refugios”) that you can stop for coffee/tea/apple strudel/lunch/etc. along the way and enjoy an amazing view while you have your snack. And since there are so many refugios (and hotels in the small towns), it’s also easy to hike “hut-to-hut” with just a small backpack for “overnight” items. There are hardly any lakes or streams, so the hiking is not as “intimate” as it was in the Spanish Pyrenees (where you almost felt that you were part of the landscape). |