On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
BigJimSlade will be here all week as we hike in the Italian Dolomites! Get ready for some great photos, and there are even some flowers in the mountains to brighten up our January days.
BigJimSlade
Hello everybody!
I posted pictures from our 2018 trip to the Dolomites a year and a half ago. We were lucky to make it back there last summer, just before the Delta variant got all popular. I thought I would spend my birthday going over pictures from the trip – it won’t be my birthday when this gets posted, but that’s fine – I’m going to try and thrive at 55 :-)
OK, I’ve split this up into 5 days worth of posts, so let’s get started!
We flew into Milan (it was the cheapest option) and rented a car from an eco-rental place. That meant we could only buy metano gas – we had to download an app and find gas stations that carried this stuff (I think it’s just methane, or natural gas). Good thing we had giffgaff cards in our phones so we had some cheap data to use! Driving in zombie mode after an overnight flight and dealing with finding metano was an extra challenge.
We stayed in Ortisei, the first main town in Val Gardena, the other two being Santa Cristina and Selva. Val Gardena is a popular area with ski lifts/gondolas everywhere. If you are looking up valley from Ortisei, starting on the left and going clockwise, you have Resciesa ridge, Seceda, Puez-Odle Nature Park, the Sella group, Sassolungo and Sassopiatto, and then the Alpe di Siusi (where Rick Steves recorded a segment for his show). So, there’s a lot to see and do!
Day 1. Resciesa Ridge – we took a funicular from Ortisei most of the way up the ridge, then walked to the west end and up to the top, then all the way along the ridge to the east to our lunch spot at Refugio Bregles, then we walked back down the mountain into town (no funicular).
The top arrow points to our lunch spot. As you can see from the clouds, the weather was quite changeable. It would rain on us for about the last 45 minutes of the day – not too bad.
This is looking across the valley to Sassolungo and Sassopiatto (Sassolungo is the bulkier part on the left). I have several pictures like this with completely different cloud cover – it was changing all the time.
Halfway across the ridge we could look up to where we would be in 2 days, Seceda, lost in the clouds (it would be clear when we were there).
It’s always a delight to see cows in the alps, and to hear their bells, but to see horses was unexpected! These were kind enough to pose by the top of the ridge.
Walking down to the refugio for lunch, the hillside was covered with grass and flowers. After feeling a bit weak early on (jet lag, altitude), these really perked me up and I got busy with my camera :-)
Lunch spot! (Refugio Bregles) I had eggs on speck, and I think some potatoes.
Tiny little pretty things.
Hm, I think this may be from the next day – the sun is out! I had it in this day’s folder, so that’s that.
OzarkHillbilly
Alpine wildflowers light up the world.
Van Buren
I’m very jealous. Looks and sounds wonderful.
raven
Awesome!
Wag
Photo looking down the trail ending at the Refugio where you had lunch is spectacular. Looks like a fantastic trip.
Obvious Russian Troll
Beautiful!
Argiope
I’m so excited to see these! If any planning can be done for travel these days, Italy is the destination for this summer and the Dolomites may get into the itinerary. Do you think a car is needed to get around in the area? Great photos!
Bodacious
Keep it coming!!!! A trip we had planned, but never executed. Waiting for submission #2 Love it!!!!
KSinMA
Neat photos!
Grumpy Old Railroader
Wow. The places I never been. Thanks for the eye popping photos
Anyway
Wonderful! (Trip and photos)
Elma
I noticed that on the sign post both German and Italian names are given; but they seem to alternate which language is in the primary position.
MelissaM
Just lovely!
JanieM
The pictures are so varied and evocative, I want to pack my bags today. Beautiful mountains and wildflowers — can’t tell if I like the horse picture the best, or the lunch spot, with the way it combines the massive mountain shapes in the distance with the nearby flowers.
Looking forward to more.
mvr
Nice!
HinTN
Inquiring minds want to know under how much snow is Refugio Bregles in the winter. Also, how did you plan this trip to arrive there and elsewhere for respite? Fabulous photographs!!!
UncleEbeneezer
Gorgeous! Been watching more hiking videos from the Alps recently and it’s really amazing just how spectacular the alpine regions of Europe are.
BigJimSlade
Thanks everyone for the nice comments!
BigJimSlade
@Argiope: For us a car was best to get to/from the Dolomites quickly. The previous trip we stayed in Cortina, which is relatively accessible by bus, but we drove everyday to our hiking destinations. This trip we drove to Ortisei, but took the bus everyday to get around up and down the valley.
After an overnight flight, we didn’t want to deal with extra hours of figuring out and waiting for trains and buses – it was 4 hours of driving as it was. For 2 people it’s not much more expensive to rent a car for a week. If vacation time is limited, a car can be great.
BigJimSlade
@Elma: Yeah, the names are all in German and Italian. I never tried to notice if one was always listed first. I just went with one name for each place and didn’t try to remember 2 names for every place. I generally used the Italian names, but it’s good to be a little familiar with each in case you come across a sign or a map that only uses one.
way2blue
Love your photo of Refugio Bregles. My husband wants to head back to northern Italy in May—hiking to Alms is his favorite pastime. (I’m pushing for Sweden / Finland [land of his Mormor / my ancestors]… ) Thanks for sharing. And for the tip about giffgaff!
joel hanes
@OzarkHillbilly:
A native tallgrass prairie in the midwest is a panoply of flowers from June to September. Worth traveling to see if you’ve never seen it.
Neal Smith NWR just south of Prairie City IA, not far east of Des Moines, is a good place.
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/4b/c4/1e/4bc41ebe46353f700ebb3d10350973ab.jpg
BigJimSlade
@way2blue: Thanks, and either trip sounds great!
BigJimSlade
For late-comers, here are links to larger versions of each image:
https://balloon-juice.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/P7040027.jpg
https://balloon-juice.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/P7040043.jpg
https://balloon-juice.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/P7040045.jpg
https://balloon-juice.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/P7040052.jpg
https://balloon-juice.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/P7040081.jpg
https://balloon-juice.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/P7040099.jpg
https://balloon-juice.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/P7040112.jpg
https://balloon-juice.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/P7050139.jpg
J R in WV
Just WOW~!!~ Those mountains are straight up, even compared to basin and range mtns and the Rockies out west in the US. Which amazed us after growing up in the eastern Appalachians. Spent a week in Chianti district just south of Firenza/Florence with friends, loved the steep ridges there, but nothing like Alpine mountains.
Thanks, looking forward to the week of photos!
Argiope
@BigJimSlade: thanks so much for the info! What months(s) did you visit? Perhaps that will be covered later this week so apologies if I’m asking for spoilers!
BigJimSlade
@Argiope: Glad you like the pictures :-)
We got there on July 3, and stayed just over a week (one extra night to get back to Milan). In these alpine towns in can be good to stay 1 week as rental apartments are plentiful if you are not just staying a couple nights. We stayed in a 1-bedroom vacation apartment and did a lot of our own cooking. (We did miss the breakfast spreads you can get at the hotels, though. But we did get going in the morning a bit quicker this way. Our previous trip was under a week in Cortina and the hotel was fine, though the room was really small – makes you get out and enjoy the surroundings!)
Argiope
@BigJimSlade: Thanks again for all of the practical info as well as the beauty. I will sit on my hands and quit asking you to be a trip planner now :) But wow is it nice to think of these lovely places in warm weather while I’m stuck inside with 11 degrees outdoors and nary a mountain in sight.