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2023-04-14
Hiking/Trekking
Zero Day in the Dolomites
While planning the Alta Via 1 trek, it was tempting to do as much distance as possible – every night a different Rifugio – as if driven by the goal of getting to the end. Yet, we’re often reminded it’s not the goal, it’s the journey and so, with that in mind, we planned a zero day in the Dolomites – spending 2 nights at Rifugio Lagazuoi. Having a zero day meant we could sleep in a bit (hah!), enjoy
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Lagazuoi to Averau – Day 5
Next morning, we were off, back on our Alta Via 1 trek, to Rifugio Averau, a relatively short distance on the AV1. We’d decided to shorten even more by taking the gondola to Passo Falzarego. It’s the journey, not the destination. But not to get ahead of ourselves, we first enjoyed an amazing sunrise and morning at Rifugio Lagazuoi – the clouds offering far more color and richness to the sky – than a cloudless sky. Soon enough, we were
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Averau to Croda da Lago – Day 6
Sunrise in the mountains, is almost always a special treat – more so when the weather reports were wrong – with a prediction of rain. Blessed with another special morning, I couldn’t help but snap a few pix before breakfast. But before saying goodbye to Rifugio Averau, we decided to take advantage of the beautiful morning and try again to get to Rifugio Nuvolau. And we were not disappointed. The skies were continuing to clear, offering some unusual backdrop, especially
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Returning to San Vito – Day 7
This was our last day of trekking – saying goodbye to the Dolomites and the Alta Via 1 and returning to our home base in San Vito. Today’s trek, while not especially long, a bit over 8.5 miles, had nearly 4,200 ft elevation loss – LOTs of downhill. We had been in a shared bunk room at the Rifugio, fortunately, just us and one other trekker – so overnight noise wasn’t an issue. As with all the others, the Rifugio
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Slovenia and beyond
As is our custom, our travel plans included some time in “the front country” – away from the trails and the woods – though we might not quite call what we’d enjoyed anything like the back country of New Hampshire. Spending time in civilizations and exploring other areas of the world are always enjoyable. Since we were already in Northern Italy, we had heard great things about the Istrian Peninsula – part of Croatia on the Adriatic. Our time off
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Manchester, VT – 4000 footers
In our continuing quest for the 4000 footer lists – this time for the New England Highest Hundred – we wanted to check off a few of the summits near Manchester, Vermont – including: Dorset Mountain, Equinox Mountain, and Stratton Mountain – part of the ski resort. This area of Vermont holds a special place for us – we traditionally spend the holiday season at the Colonial House in Weston. It’s not the first time we’ve visited the Colonial House
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Boundary Peak
It was still the era of COVID and we’d cancelled our Canadian Rockies trip – so it was somewhat ironic that part of our New England Highest Hundred would take us into Canada. Boundary Peak lies about 20′ inside the American border, but the easiest access and the one we chose, was via an ATV trail and a stroll on the border itself. Ok, a bit different, but each hike has its own character – this one is no exception.
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Mt Morgan and Mt Percival
When they say 52 with a view, sometimes there’s no view. It was mid-October, year of the COVID, we thought we’d add a few more peaks to our 52WAV list. The day was supposed to gradually clear – it didn’t. On the way northward, the skies were overcast, though no rain in sight. We were at the Mt. Morgan trailhead shortly before 9am. The two lots on either side of Rt113 just outside Holderness and near Swann Lake were already
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Street and Nye
The first day of our week-long peak-bagging in the Adirondacks summits had really kicked our butts!  As a one-day hike, the 3-summits of Iroquois, Algonquin, and Wright were massive and we were feeling it on our second day. We decided on a “zero-day” and took on a bit of relaxation in Lake Placid, walking around town a bit and exploring the area.  In our COVID-19 era, the town was thankfully not hugely crowded, and some folks were taking precautions, as
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Iroquois, Algonquin, and Wright Peaks
We’d planned our trip to bag our first peaks in Adirondacks in the fall 2019.  We found an awesome BnB in Keene, NY – on the northern fringe of the High Peaks wilderness area, and near Lake Placid.   All seemed in good order until COVID-19.    Early on, we all learned about social distancing and what it meant. Fortunately for us, as the COVID spring gave way to summer, businesses and trailheads in the high peaks area began to gradually re-open as
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