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They say save the best for last. So in part 4 you will see the epic trail and photos from the Tre Cime hike. For this post I combined two days in one as one was cloudy and rainy, the other was the final day in the Dolomites.

The first half of this bog is about Lago di Braies (Pragser Wildsee) and the idea to take multiple photos from different viewpoints. However the weather and the crowds (it’s a very populair place) made me decide to go and explore the forest around Cascate di Fanes. This turned out to be an interesting hike and climb!

The second half is all about an extra hike in the surrounding areas at Passo di Giau. The idea was that this would be a short hike, well the opposite was true. Still fun and nice scenery, but not a piece of cake as we thought it would be.

I’ll spare you the maps as Lago di Braies and Passo di Giau both aren’t hard to find. However the forest around Cascate di Fanes is very nice, with waterfalls and multiple routes. Definitely worth checking out when you are in the Cortina d’Ampezzo area. See map below.

Lago di Braies

Starting with Lago di Braies or Pragser Wildsee. I arrived in the morning where the sun was nowhere to be seen and the clouds started to roll in. Was this another day with rain? Luckily the clouds kept on rolling and it started to clear up in the beginning of the afternoon. Still being at the lake in the morning the conditions weren’t that great. Couple that with the relatively popular location of the lake, made this experience somewhat underwhelming. The lake itself is beautiful, but I had the feeling there wasn’t any real good photos to be taken here. The plan was to walk around the lake, but I quickly dismissed this option as it was to busy with people and the light just was too dull. Still managed to get some photos though.

After Lago di Braies the sun made a short appearance as I travelled to the next location. I was hoping for some nice sun and shadow spots on the rolling green hills in the area, but the sun never really showed itself. However there were still some shots to be had in the surrounding forests and mountains before I ended up near the next location of Cascate di Fanes.

Cascate di Fanes

I noticed this sport when driving towards Lago di Braies. This seemingly uninteresting spot is actually a very nice “park” with some cool trails, waterfalls and river or more a gorge with a stream. There are multiple waterfalls there along different routes. The highest waterfall and trail that lead to it was the one that I took that day. The weather again was turning for the worse and in the end I would be completely soaking wet. Still worth it though.

The hike started through the forest, quite easy going and the first streams were crossed. Quickly arriving at a meadow or open area in the forest where a small (hunter) house was situated. The house was closed so nothing to be seen, but still nice. The trail continued deeper into the forest.

Eventually the waterfall was visible and you can explore the area pretty well over there. The one thing I did find was that you could actually climb down the forest hills and end up in the gorge where you can see the waterfall from down below. Quite epic to have done this climb downwards. However, you also need to go back up.

To make it more exciting it just started to rain and thunder was rolling in. Not an ideal place to be in for a longer periode of time. Time to go back, take the last photo and onwards to the car.

My friend Marnix wasn't as quite as amused as I was when the rain and thunder started to unfold above our heads. Well in the end we made it, soaking wet, but in one piece.

Passo di Giao

The last day, Passo di Giau, what should have been an easy hike turned out to be a hefty climb. It was in comparison with the day before nothing really special, but after a full day of Tre Cime the day before, this trail did its best to break us.

The trail does have beautiful vistas along the way and you will see an other side of Passo di Giau. This meant that we saw the valley and the forests where the trail to Croda da Lago starts. The hike we did a few days earlier. Wandering through the valley and following the trail to climb the mountain edge, onwards and upwards. This was truly the hardest part as the whole trail was more or less flat, but this part went straight up.

The trail ends at a plateau on the other side of the mountain that will bring you, if you persevere, to Croda da Lago. A very long hike. The nice thing on the plateau is that you can see two different valleys and the plateau itself that leads to the trail further up and around the mountains. The clouds started to roll in again (a theme this trip) and a thick mist was forming, however the sun was just strong enough that together with the wind the sky eventually cleared - a bit.

So a very cool hike indeed. You can also find ancient ruins of the Great Wall of Giau and the burial site of a Mesolithic hunter, known as the Mondeval Man, who lived there over 7,000 years ago. For more information and well preserved skeleton and accompanying artefacts go to the nearby Vittorino Cazzetta Museum in Selva di Cadore. See http://www.museoselvadicadore.it/sezione-archeologica/

On the way back I was treated to some birds, I do not know this species specifically and was too tired to get better shots. Further up the trail a family of marmots was relaxing in the gras and enjoying dinner.

All in all a nice hike and the end of a truly great outdoor trip! I will definitely come back here to hopefully get some better light and photos and do some more hiking along these wonderful trails! This marks the end of the trip, but the Tre Cime hike is still to come in part 4, so please read on!

As always all photos where shot with Fujifilm with the X-T3 and the Fujinon lenses; 10-24F4, 16-55F2.8 and the 50-140F2.8.

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