nature – Reb's Walks!

Fié Allo Sciliar, 10.July.2025

Day 5 of hiking

Today was some serious up and downing and an exploration of the remnants of WW1. One of our team was a military guy and he’d been studying the area so was really pleased to get to explore.

So – again, Italy was fighting against the Austrians and Germany during this war. Even though a lot of the people in this area considered themselves Austrian. Hard, to say the least.

We walked all the routes laid out for the day and it was truly beautiful. For something different.

We took a shuttle to Bai des Dones for a chairlift to our trailhead. We met a local guide, Christina, who talked about WWI and the geological formations around us. Luca was very knowledgeable as well so could fill in those of us who were at the back, trying to read the signs and learn what was happening. I wasn’t very interested in the machinery of war, but more so in the lives of those in the midst.

We saw trenches, bunkers, and tunnels.

Where we were going to hike to see from the top seemed incredibly far, but it actually wasn’t the hardest hike of the week. Just long.

Martin presenting our day

I took a video of the surrounding mountains, incredible (word of the week) and on the next to last mountain in the video is our hiking destination after exploring WWI. Really?

These are the Cinque Torri, a group of 5 rocks where the weathering has left a distinctive grouping. Giant and people were rock climbing all over the place, but especially the one on the right.

But first – WWI. Again, remember that they were fighting, largely against their will, their neighbors. The second note made it clear:

In the trenches, these are obviously restructured on the original. But they looked out over steep mountain drop offs.

Getting paid and needing food

Cortina is the closest valley to this bunker and the trenches. The outdoor competitions of the Winter Olympics are going to be here in February 2026. A lot of infrastructure is being built, especially because of climate change and needing to be able to make enough snow.

This is what they were looking at from the bunkers. Impossible to defend or to really attack, though bombs were dropped. This territory was not fought over in WWII.

Headquarters – rough. And looking out from another bunker

Three dogs in this photo – in many of the photos, there are dogs. Comfort? Looks like it since two are being held here.

And now – I’ve skipped a whole lot of info re artillery. But this gives a snippet of the population’s attitudes and lives in the midst. And now we’re on our way to hike. Still a bit disconcerting for where we’re aiming – yes that little white speck on the top. But I’m psyched since I did a shorter hike yesterday.

Climbers

Hiking up to the top – there’s Cinque Torre – it looks so small!

Made it to that little white speck!

Someone at the very tip top of another mountain nearby.

We went down a bit to our last incredible rifugio. Then we started basically a full scramble, hardest hike of the week down to a little mountain lake. The knees had a lot to say on this one. But almost everyone did it!

This photo was the best I could do looking back up what we’d descended. It was a lot steeper than it looks. We were all very pleased to make our way down it!

This does the best (for me) at showing the gorgeous juxtaposition of the many colors of flowers and grasses against the bare mountains. I never stopped marveling and appreciating the colors.

The lake at the end of this beautiful trail that was our reward after the scramble.

Elizabeth recovering

Then back to our hotel via bus, except for maybe 5, including Rick, who did the last mile back on foot. I was psyched to do the – yep – steam rooms at The Wellness Hotel Fanes.

Rick booked it and made it in time and we did the round about sauna. It was seriously hot, but cool. Glad I got to do it with Rick. Everyone but one couple were circumspect and wore towels, so it wasn’t just the puritanical Americans…And the whole sauna really did do a very slow rotation. Good thing Rick had warned me because the first time he thought maybe the heat had gotten to him, not realizing that it rotated.

We had a final group dinner with the guides, very fun, favorite memories in a fingersnap and then we continued the ongoing conversations during dinner. Really, the best group I could imagine.

Elmau, 1.July.2025, Tuesday

Elmau. Today was a hiking day. Last night I actually slept again, a first for a second travel day. I like it. Rick’s sleep adjustment was going more slowly. We took time again for sitting, had breakfast and then we were off. Our walk took us from Elmau to Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Oh my goodness, the beauty just doesn’t stop and the drama of looking up from the woods to see these towering stark mountains never stopped catching our eye.

After walking a good while, in and out of forests, we came on this valley, all owned by the farm seen in the background. Very unassuming, but incredible. All the little wooden buildings, protecting wood, hay, machinery were small and well kept and spread throughout the valley. We never really understood why they weren’t all grouped, but clearly there was a reason since it was true on every farm.

<img_4719.jpeg> Note: still need to track down some of these photos…

I’m sorry I didn’t get a better photo, but a beautiful wooden cross caught my eye just past this incredible farm. I belatedly realized that there was a lot of writing for the plaque and did get the translation. Amazing bravery.

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Then after in and out again, we suddenly came on this small ski hamlet. So pretty and there was a lift that came up from Garmesch.

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I thought, a cool long walk past the town, happily a fair amount in the forest so not horribly hot, but then we went down a path to the Partnach Gorge.

Oh my goodness, I had no idea what we were walking into. First – to get there we had to cross a see-through grid bridge hanging by swaying cables. Oh so not my favorite. It wasn’t a choice from the map Rick was following (my phone’s battery was NOT holding up, so just using his) since we had to cross a gorge to get to where we were going. I held onto his backpack, kept my eye way up on the mountains and calmly hyperventilated only once letting a whimper escape and we got to the other side. Exposure therapy? I’d be happy to not ever repeat. It looks like there’s land right under it, but nope, big drop off.

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But the reward!!! Wow, wow, so cool. We really didn’t know what we were getting into. We just knew we had to keep going in this direction. Turns out it meant that we were going to go through the Partnach Gorge. We paid 20 euro and went through the gate. I didn’t know if it was to a lift that would take us back up to the top of the ravine? What? Turned out it was a 700meter long gorge with tunnels and caves carved into the rock and skirting the side of the gorge, straight drops down into the water. Incredible, the feat of engineering that made this possible. The water everywhere in the creeks is beautiful and so clear – the color is from the limestone that it passes through.

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We walked into Garmisch and the first thing we saw was the ski jump from the 1936 Olympics that Hitler presided over. Such a weird feeling to see this remnant, to know what was coming so soon to the world. They still use the jump, but like many other places, the snow is decreasing and the heat rising, so summer sports are gradually becoming more of a tourist attraction than winter sports.

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There was an information office there and we asked about things to do. I really wanted to take the cable car up – goes to the top of the highest mountain in Germany. But when the woman pulled up the live map of weather at the top, it looked like “weather coming in from Austria, quickly could be hail, cold, sleet”. Hmmm. So we just felt lucky we’d been able to do it yesterday.

We continued walking into the town and again, so appealing with the cleanliness, the paintings, cafes. I took a few photos with a few translations.

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We stopped and had lunch and then caught a taxi back to Elmau. Per usual when you’ve walked for miles and think you’ve covered so much terrain, the ride back went really quickly.

Again, a leisurely dinner, time to read, watch a video (Clarkson’s Farm 4th season!) and slept again, wow, great sleeping transition this trip.

Australia, 25.Feb-5.Mar.2025, Tuesday

Today I flew from Singapore to Brisbane. Great because it was a direct flight, still ok over 10 hours. The great thing is that it was off by only a couple of hours, so no jet leg! A first in the years I’ve been coming here to visit my sister, Summer.

I love Brisbane. A medium city, with a river running through it and Summer only 10 or so minutes from the bay and great walking along the water. I also really love being at Summer’s. It feels like home, growing up in Houston and a lot of time in Galveston. Warm, humid, house up on stilts. She has a huge backyard with crazy birds who come and sometimes get to finish off her dog’s food. They have a lot to say about breakfast options!

That bush in the corner of the porch was a tiny little plant only 5 years ago. Grew out of a pot. Plants and birds are very happy here!

We also went to Wynnum Mangrove Boardwalk, a great park with a big dog park and a boardwalk that goes alongside the mangroves. It is Australia, so the spiders are here – though this was well off from the boardwalk.

Then Summer and I got to go for a few days to the Whitsunday Islands in the Great Barrier Reef. This place was cool, we took a boat straight from the airport. That was cool to roll our bags out the airport to the dock. And then we’re off!

It threatened weather, but only rained at night. I loved being out far enough that land looked distant.

Tons of Cockatoos serenading us at meals at the restaurant (and hoping for food, I saw one take a half a sandwich off a plate).

The place we stayed was great, The Hayman. It had the whole tiny island and kept it pretty wild except for the resort itself. The place did a really nice management of having a lot of people and yet creating so many spots of serenity.

It was quite hot, but the mornings were gorgeous and you could always come back from a hike up Mount Rooper, the hill that took up the interior of the island, and jump in the pool. Which I did!

Starting off my hike I kept hearing giant thumps like the sounds in one of the chapters from the Dawn Treader in the Narnian Chronicles. Turned out to be one footed cheerful funny creatures. Wallabies sounded the same, but looked differently!