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 had showers, though this one was ‘token’ operated – a token giving 4 minutes of water. Be quick!

We were again blessed with good weather. Day broke and the skies were mainly clear – another solid day for hiking!

Saying our final goodbyes to Rifugio Croda da Lago and the high summits, we were off, enjoying some easy meadow-walking.

We were following route 457 for nearly 5 miles – bringing us further below treeline, into pine forests. While on this section, the route turned into a (steep!) gravel roadway, which pretty clearly, was used for logging activities – with periodic clear cuts into the woods. And we were once again reminded of how popular the area is with mountain/gravel bikes – lots of great opportunities!

Continuing the descent, route 459 – also a gravel roadway – joined the path, and shortly crossed a stream at our minimum elevation. Beautiful glacial, turquoise water, offering a stunning view of a summit in the distance.

And it was shortly afterward, we were back at the Hotel Fiori – our home base for this Dolomites adventure! This room was a bit more spacious than our last, very luxurious, offering us a wonderful shower and another beautiful view of San Vito in the Dolomites!