… Authorities recovered the remains of two hikers in the hills near Palm Springs last week. They can tell that they’re hikers based on their clothing, but the bodies are so severely dehydrated that they can’t even pull fingerprints. …
These are the famed and disclaimed 3 Peaks. The most photographed mountains in the Dolomites, I reckon.
… The Drei Zinnen (German for “Three Peaks”), also called the Tre Cime di Lavaredo (Italian), are three distinctive battlement-like peaks, in the Sexten Dolomites of northeastern Italy. They are probably one of the best-known mountain groups in the Alps. …
People come to the Locatelli Refuge (IT Rif. Locatelli) to enjoy a fine meal at high altititude.
I’ve never seen so many hikers in one place at one time before, except on the Tongariro Crossing in New Zealand.
Why are they here?
It’s easy to take a bus right to 2300m (7545ft), the very base of the mountains.
But, for some reason, the crowds did not bother me. It was wonderful to see so many people exposed to hiking in such an easy and painless way.
If you hate crowds of enthralled visitors, go hike Alaska.
I adored everything about this hike.
I loved the wild flowers. Alpine meadows. The WW 1 history. The tunnels. Especially the Via ferrata (Iron Way) side trips. I think I’ve found a new life passion.
Hiking in Italy is far easier than I expected.
1) Travel to Cortina, Italy
2) Buy a bus ticket to TRAILHEAD at Rif. Auronzo
3) Wander where you like for as long as you like
4) Take a LOT of photos
I used Walking in the Dolomites: 28 Multi-Day Routes by Gillian Price. This Cicerone title is the best available in English for this region. This area is covered by hikes 1,2 and 3. Buy your guidebooks in advance of travelling to Italy. English books are not widely available here as there are so many other titles in German and Italian.
No need to carry a hiking pack. There are great mountain huts every hour or two. Hosts will feed you and give you a bed for 40-50 Euro a day.
hiking in the clouds
I left a Summit Stone on behalf of artist DSD. Look for it in the cairn atop the carved stone steps starting the Via ferrata closest to Refugio Pian de Cengia. (That’s a FUN Via ferrata by the way. Exhilarating, but safe.)
If looking for more inspiration to plan a trip to Italy, see all 134 of my photos. (I went crazy with the camera.)
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The greatest backcountry boozer I’ve hiked with is Kelly Mock, then living in Whitehorse, Yukon. It was Kelly that carried a “Bubba” (mini keg of beer) over the Golden Staircase to Happy Camp on the famed Chilkoot Trail in Alaska.
Arriving on the solstice, Kelly bought a round for the house at Happy.
He’s been one-upped.
Michael Popov carried 20lbs of beer up 4,000′ of Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the continental USA. He was doing some kind of loco carbo loading / altitude acclimatization for his record breaking unsupported John Muir Trail run. (4 days, 5 hours and 25 minutes from Mount Whitney to Yosemite Valley)
Incidentally, Aaron Sorensen will be starting June 28th an attempt on the Unsupported Record on the Lake Tahoe Rim Trail. No one has claimed this record yet. Aaron is looking at 55-60hrs for the 168 miles.
… I’ll be sure to pack some GU for the run and mtb leg, as well as some of GU’s new Chomps, which are like gummy bears, but with lots of calories as we’ll need. …
Despite the weight, I think I’ll stick with mine instead of buying an Ursack.
Here’s another happy camper:
… I found that the vault slipped in quite nicely to the top portion of my 60 liter pack. It was also great to have a waterproof container to put dry clothes in (in a zip-lock bag so they didn’t absorb food smell). Towards the end of longer trips its nice to have a waterproof place to put all of our garbage.
Around camp they are a godsend. I’ve used the vaults as stools, chairs, cutting boards, tables, water jugs, and hammers. Just having a flat surface in camp is a treat. Another handy feature is that they are transparent. You can see what you’re reaching in for. Other cannisters I’ve used are a solid plastic and you have to fish everything out/around to find what you’re looking for.
Now I know what you’re thinking. How can you do a good review of a bear cannister without having it attacked by bears? I’m way ahead of you.
While camping this summer by Lake Colden in the High Peaks region of the Adirondacks my BearVaults were put to the test. For those who don’t know, this area is notorious for its black bears. We placed our BearVaults a fair distance from our camp site. In the middle of the night I woke up to hear smashing sounds coming from the direction of our vaults. Thuds came from the vaults smashing into the soil. Loud bangs from the vaults hitting each other and hitting the fallen trees that we had placed them beside. For a good hour these sounds drifted over to our campsite. Then they stopped. In the morning I found the BearVaults 10-15 feet from where I had left them. They were dirty, one had a small scratch on it, but other wise they were intact and the food within in them untouched. …
Still … the entire system is dangerously unstable. (The centre of gravity too high for the small base of support.) I never use it without stabilizing the unit by burying the base in the sand, or bracing it with rocks.
1. When I pack my bear bag at home, I first divide all of my meals into 5 piles: breakfasts, lunches, dinners, snacks, and drinks.
2. I put each pile into it’s own plastic bag. I find that the best ones to use for this purpose are the plastic bags that I get from the dry cleaners that wrap my folded dress shirts.
3. I place my backpacking towel, bear bag line, and mesh sack at the bottom of my food bag.
4. Then I insert my O.P. Sack into my bear bag and place my long handled titanium spoon and toob tooth brush along the inside, propped up vertically for easy access.
5. Next, I put the 5 bags of food into my O.P. sack, one by one, so that the meal or snack that I want next, is positioned at the top of my food bag. After, I’ve eaten something, I reorder the bags as required, so that food breaks can be kept short if I want to get going again.
6. I always carry my food bag on top of the other gear in my backpack so that it’s easy to access during the day.
One thing I’ve tried to do over the years is to simplify my in-camp procedures by reducing the number of odds and ends I carry. Something that’s always bothered me is fumbling through my Ziplock of condiments to dig out that one specific spice I need for the meal at hand. Then, I had one of those “why didn’t I think of it before†moments last week.
Simply put, I figured I could tape meal-specific condiments to their respective packages with masking tape, thus eliminating one more storage bag from my pack. Now, I plan ahead so when mealtime comes, I have exactly what I need all in one place.
… Here you can see salt packets taped to the top of dehydrated eggs.
1) Travel to Cortina, Italy
Simply put, I figured I could tape meal-specific condiments to their respective packages with masking tape, thus eliminating one more storage bag from my pack. Now, I plan ahead so when mealtime comes, I have exactly what I need all in one place.
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