Troi Dla Schirlates ...an inside chuckle

Through our hotel in Ortisei we could sign up for various activities throughout the region.  These  "active" tours were just that "active"!  Jim had already taken a private mountain bike tour in the morning and I went over to Castelrotto for a morning hike.  When we saw the "burning dolomite" tour Jim said "you just said yesterday how you'd like to do this - we should sign up"  It started at 4pm so it worked perfectly into our day  ....well evening actually.  

We gathered in Saint Cristina at the Tourist Office and were transported with our group up to the trail head.  As we got out of the van our guide, Patrick, showed up where we were heading.  Difficult to see on the photo - but if you look closely there is a cross on the top of that rock cliff.  

That's our destination! 

Jim has a love  "hate" relationship with squirrels - so our trail head gave us a chuckle as we began our ascent.

Our hike started from the Cristauta car park just above the village of Saint Cristini.   We hiked up through the forest to the Seurasas Hutte where we took a little breather along with the grazing sheep.

Then on towards the rocky spur Crujeta to enjoy the setting sun over the Dolomites.

The hike was challenging for late afternoon given the activity level of our day.  But it was splendid and certainly worth every bit of the "burn"!

Even the pup hiking with us got excited as the expanse of our view opened up!

The colors changed

the sun began to set

the view changing each moment 

as the light shifted from warm to cool to cold

 we all donned our head lamps as we watched the sun set behind the mountains.  The walk down began with dusk and ended in darkness.  Only the glow of our head lamps and the chatter of our experience came into play.

 An amazing experience.  Humbled by the beauty that surrounds us.  We tend to be the type of travelers that "pack everything in"
So glad that we put this evening into our bag.
 

enjoy,

k