I finally make it to Rifugio Biella and am suprised to discover that I did not die of exhaustion on the trail. Still questioning life choices

It was a beautiful afternoon in Italy. September 11, 2026 started with clouds and a threat of rain, but by afternoon the sun was out and the sky was a beautiful blue, and it started to get hot.

I started to get hot because I was in the process of climbing 3,000 feet and it felt like I was going straight up the steepest staircase you would ever want to meet.

When I was a grounder, one of my duties was to clean up the football stands after games. It was a great job as I found spare change and swag. I never had to actually buy school t-shirts or sweatshirts, I generally found them in the wild. 

Just to be cool in my own little mind, sometimes I would run up the bleachers with my leaf blower on the back.  (Later I found it had really amused the football players to see the old grounder dude running the bleachers with his leaf blower)

This was basically the same thing. Except I was three years older and no where near the shape I was in then.

The scenery was epic at first. As the pain increased my appreciation for bright white rocks began to diminish substantially as did my ability to see much beyond my next step.

To add insult to injury, just about the time I was thinking I would sit down and cry, a fat and jolly European dude would be happily descending past me. Sometimes they would exclaim (in heavily accented English) "there's beer at the top mate!"

What I could never figure out, is how they ever got to Rifugio Biella in the first place! 

Rifiguio Biella is tiny and it is at the top of a 3,000 ft climb. Tour busses do not go there. How could there be a fat dude with no back pack, and no climbing poles, be happily descending a mountain after quaffing steins of beer?  It did not seem right...

Here is the second issue... When they say the hike from Lago di Braies to rifugio Biella is 3,000ft up and 370 ft down, and four miles, they neglect the most important part. The first 2.5 miles are virtually flat. The higher you go the steeper the climb. 

The rifugio itself is beautiful and rustic. You have to climb down a couple hundred feet to where it is perched on the side of a rocky hillside. (mountain side) The view of the surrounding Dolomite Mountains was amazing. Up above us there were funny sheep with long straight horns silhouetted against the afternoon sun. 

In fact, the physically fit members of the group hiked up there and took pictures. Not all twenty of the more physically fit members. A few of them were drinking beer on the balcony and quite relaxed when I staggered in.

I was secretly pleased to hear that there was in fact, one guy behind me yet. After their invigorating climb, a couple of the more athletic guys went back and encouraged him in. I took a shower.

Dinner was pretty impressive. I forgot to write down everything because that is just me but...

There were three or four courses. I missed the first one as I was in the shower but the second was a simple spaghetti, followed by plates of Spec dumpling balls in a broth. These were good at first but later solidified in my gut and over the course of the trip I learned to avoid them. Spec is a cured ham and can be really good or it can also have a weird and disgusting after flavor.

Dinner was good, especially the chocolate desserts and Apple Strudel. 

I was tired and ready for bed. I didn't know how tired until I tried to climb the ladder to my bunk and honestly was worried I was not going to be able to do so.

But, now I must go make chicken feed as my customers are starting to get a little angry...

 

 

 

  

Lake Braies is truly a postcard sight. Of course, due to man made global climate change, it is a little low this year and probably will go dry completely due to that mean Orange man who is out to ruin the world. To echo a common theme of the privileged and correct thinking class...

 

The lake kept getting smaller and smaller...

 

Eventually the lake disappeared as did the trees and there was nothing but white rocks and blue sky and constant suffering.

 

The sunset from Rifugio Biella is amazing. You are on top of the world!

 

The sky went from pink to yellow in twenty seconds.

 

  

Rifugio Biella is one of the older rifugios we stayed at and was the most rustic. It is amazing that there were WWI battles fought in this area. Even more amazing that people have been living here for hundreds of years. It is barren.

 

You don't often visit a place where exploded WW1 ordnance are used for planters. The poor plant in this one is obviously the victim of Trump caused global climate change but was probably a vigorous native plant under a different administration.

 

This is my selfie just before my phone died. Note the rocks. I am a long way up from the lake. I got a long way to go... I am a long way from the farm...

 

 

I attempt to teach a subversive slogan to Italian H.O.G member and rant about things that probably won't make any sense to anyone else

I do not think of HOG owners when I think of European Bike culture. I think of cafe racers, athletic guys on impossibly huge dual-sport motorcyles, crazy guys on extreme sport bikes or maybe a scooter gang with lots of mirrors on their vintage Vespas, but not a Harley Owner's Group.

Alta Via one starts at Lake Lago di Braies. This is beautiful turquoise alpine lake at the north end of the Dolomites. The steep mountain sides come right down to the lake shore and the white limestone looks like snow against the trees.

Hotel Lago di Braies is right beside the lake and right at the start of a trail that runs around the lake. It is a popular tourist destination where you can have lunch, do a hike, and you can also rent a row boat and row across the lake. 

The tourists were interesting. I have never really seen the influencer tourist before. This easily identified by the boyfriend taking photos of the girl friend with the perfect scene in the background. There were plenty of Selfie sticks and even a drone or two. A lot of Asian tourists and a few Americans, and then the 24 of us.

I was half way around the lake and almost to the trail head when I spotted these folks. 

 

Meeting interesting people is really the point of traveling. I am not great at it. These bikers were so completely out of place on the trail I stopped and tried conversation. We showed each other pictures of our motorcycles on our phones. The lady had great helmet art. The guy had rebel flags. It was a good meeting.

 

I wish I would have taken a picture of the lady's helmet art. It was 1950's tattoo style line drawings and was pretty cool. But, I was distracted by her beefy boyfriend's dual rebel flags on his helmet and his numerous patches. 

I attempted conversation...

He showed me his patches. I tried to teach him to say, "The South Will Rise Again!" This was not very successful and I was getting left behind.

 

Rockabilly Rebel and the South Will Rise Again. Harley Owner Groups are a thing in Europe. Something I never really thought about. Not really a good place to ride a cruiser in my humble opinion. But what do I know? I was WALKING...

 

Other members of the group were shocked and amused by his racist symbols. I started to explain European "rebel" biking culture and vintage Rockabilly but decided that was a "lost cause." (See what I did with that...lost cause?) (NOTE: you need to click on this link... There is a absolute divide between social classes world wide.  The Huff Post types are everywhere now. People wear the rebel flag because it has been a symbol of countryfolk, working class, rock and roll, down and outers, sticking it to the Man. The Man being, as it has always been, the Yankee, Elitist, Smug, Pricks that are always telling you there is something you can't do. No one gives a rip about black people being enslaved 300 years ago. We got our own problems... The Yankee, clings to the Rebel Flag and cotton, and lynching, as their icon of white guilt and they have emotional melt downs when ever they see it.)

Which brings me to another observation. It was pretty interesting to see the difference in culture between people I work with/live with, and the kind smug liberalism that Ivy league educated, city educated, environmentally aware, pop culture involved people have. Super nice people on the trip. Nothing against any of them. I just understand why a certain social/economic/cultural group of us voted Donald Trump even though we kind of hate him. 

I just wish I could articulate it as well. I would be with the group and then I would find some person like me, couple kids, the receptionist at the hotel, I would start talking farming, or motorcycles, or thin crust pizza and all of a sudden our social class clicked, and we were friends. 

If you are interested in my crazy political commentary...

Another article about the rise of the Lost Cause Movement from the Yankee perspective. Yankees doing what Yankees do... Telling the world how to live their lives and at the same time, Owning slaves, flying on Epstein's Jet, telling the Hungarians to revolt and then hanging them out to dry, telling the Iranians to revolt and then hanging them out to dry, telling the Ukrainians to resist and then milking them for every red cent they have... 

Edit: I had to come back because I realized I had started something sideways and I should either delete or explain. I resent seeing social manipulation and it not being called social manipulation, but rather being called "woke," or just the assumption that because I went to college and listened to a communist for the first time, I am undeniably right because I believe what I am saying.  In fact, Lenin explicitly taught and practiced the tactic of capturing and weaponizing political language and symbols. The technique is to take an opponents language and symbols, reframe their moral claims, turn the imagery against them. The rebel flag and the lost cause ideology was an easy thing to reframe because the Confederacy supported slavery. What really pissed off the Yankee was that the lost cause mythology empowered people they prefer to keep down. (not to mention the culture war between English and Scotts-Irish).  The mythology was not the noble North freeing the black man, it was becoming the Bully North kicking poor southerners to the curb. The educational elite really hate that narrative and they really hate people who question their authority. 

But I might have some bitterness... 

 

Back to the farm. The problems of readjusting to the drudgery and suffering of everyday life after jetsetting around the world (WARNING Contains selfies)

A week ago I was in Italy. Farming was just a vague dread in the back of my mind. Yesterday I was walking across a field to get my pickup because of a breakdown. 

 

Look at me on Saturday afternoon! Happy and optimistic and ready to get to work. 

 

Someone pulled the pull rope off the air compressor and the battery was dead and I had a flat.

So I hiked...

It wasn't at 10,000 feet, but the view wasn't the same either.

 

This is me yesterday afternoon. Super happy to be hiking across a field and absolutely ready to get work done! Farming is not so much a profession as a lifestyle and I am truly living the life!

I have a field of hay that got rained on, I have somewhere between one and six ton of feed to make depending on which customers have already ditched me, there is 200 acres of annual ryegrass to plant, and I only managed to plant 3 acres of Timothy seed. Apparently, I did not blow out the small seed tubes and while I can't get Teff to grow when I actually plant it in dirt, it will sprout and grow three inches in that little bend in my small seed tubes...

 

So it is only 7:30 pm and getting dark. The drill plugged up every 50 feet. The kitchen range failed Sunday and the part arrived Monday. My wife texted me to come fix it so I did take a wee break from cleaning seed tubes every 100 feet. Finally I checked the seed rate and decided just not to plant in the dark. Plus, after being exposed to COVID day one and never getting more than my usual allergetic sniffle on the trip. I come home and get sick... (not the WuFlu, just the usual summer cold, grumpy and tired and a constant headache...)

 

One of the arguments for the trip was, why worry? Your work will be here when you get home... Yes, and that was my argument against. My work is in fact still here, but my motivation is not... 

But, the trip was great and I don't remember wondering if I would make it up the hill. I just remember how happy I was to be at the top!

Have a nice day... I will probably post more about my trip tomorrow. I got distracted today.

 

 

Now here is something you don't see everyday on the farm!

We take a wild bus ride to Lago Di Braes and see a beautiful lake and then start climbing... Dolomite adventure, Sept 11, 2026

Summer Rain in the Dolomite mountians in summer is just like rain the rain we have been having in Oregon. There were downpours at night but light drizzle during the day.

September 11, we had the usual great breakfast at Hotel Villa Trieste, we packed our extra bags into their storage room, and we were off.

Took the bus from San Vito town bus stop to Cortina, then began a series of bus switches to get to Lago di Braies which was the starting point of our AltaVia one misadventure.

The bus ride is of course terrifying if you are sitting where you can see the road. At one point the bus driver actually pulled to the side and deftly maneuvered his right side mirror into the window of a building close to the road to miss a concrete ledge sticking out of the building.

We soon discovered that we were hiking on the last week of the season. Regular bus service had stopped that very day and there was a complicated online system for getting tickets.  

Of course I was completely mixed up. I soon discovered that I can't remember words I can't pronounce. I usually try to compensate by "taking a picture," in my head but that also failed me.

I fell back to my usual coping strategy of just being an idiot and sticking with someone who knew something.

This worked surprisingly well as the trip was made up of generally enthusiastic problem solvers who loved to help anyone who would say "thanks."

We found the bus which was packed to the gills. I was standing holding the rail when a younger fellow motioned me to set with him. We both had backpacks but he wedged his to the inside.

My one great regret is I didn't get his instagram. He was from Portugal and was going to backpack AltaVista One same as us. But, he couldn't afford Rifugio's and was going to camp out. There is a 250 Euro fine for doing so but he was pretty confident.

We started talking farming and motorcycles and WW2. Apparently WW2 is not forgotten between Portugal and Italy. It sounded like his grandfather was involved and did not like Italians and Germans and the feeling that came to be mutual at border crossings.

Then we started sharing phone photos of motorcycles and cars. Had a great conversation. His Grandfather grows carob trees. Carob is used in gum and as a sweetener, and I think also grows Esparto, which is used for rope.

After another bus switch, and a fair amount of  confusion, we reached Lago Di Braies. This was a nice hotel and is generally the starting point for the AltaVista One part of the Dolomite hiking trail.

I could ramble on but Jose' just pulled up to the shop for coffee and if I don't go out he will make endless jokes about me staying in the house and practicing self abuse....

 

I was admiring Lake Braies. It is a beautiful blue-green lake surrounded by mountains. I kept looking for a path through those aforementioned mountains... Yeah, you are looking at it...

 

There were a lot of tourists taking selfies. The selfie phenomenon has made tourism much more entertaining. Again, you have to realize, our path was over those mountains.That low spot may look like a pass but it actually turns and runs along the second lowest peak in the middle of the picture.

 

I return home from my Dolomite Adventure and describe the start of the trip in a rambling and incoherent manner

I am back from my life adventure...

Of course I caught something in New York City and am exhausted. I returned Thursday evening at 9 p.m. Friday I attempted to reintegrate myself into farm life. It has been raining. I drove around and looked at fields, cleaned out my pickup, tried to come up with a plan. Saturday I raked wet hay and attempted to make feed. Have found it a bit difficult to get focused.

 

 

Who says you can't go home again? But do you want to go home again... Here I am driving my Fiat tractor raking hay. I saw several of these Fiats in Italy. Lovely shade of Orange.

My previous post from the Dolomites was day three I think. Today is more of the set up for the main hike. I have to note that the pictures are loaded in reverse order so this post is confusing as usual.

There turned out to be something like 24 of us. We are all somehow connected to the trip organizer. By the end of the trip people called us the "Bretts," but said it with a charming Italian accent, accompanied with a chuckle.

There were five of us over 60. A couple college friends of Brett, a couple friends he met when he spent a season in Antarctica, four people from his block in NYC, and other random guys who have various connections. It was a determined lot, but everyone had a pretty good sense of humor.

We all met up in San Vito. It is a mountain town with a population of around 1900 residents. It is stretched out along the SS51 Alemagna road. We were doing the Alta Via One trail through the Dolomites so it is a pretty well established and famous route.

The plan was to say at a local hotel, (Hotel Villa Trieste) to get organized do the hike, then meet back up at the hotel and go off in our various directions. 

The first problem was actually finding a restaurant that would hold all 25 of us. Our wonderful receptionist at the Hotel Villa Trieste called around and found an event hall that would make us pizza. She said it used to be a disco and they had turned it into an even center.

"I was there for a wedding and I went in to the restroom and all of a sudden I remembered when I was young and it was a disco, (the restrooms are exactly the same), she exclaimed. (this is a paraphrase as she talked super fast)

So Brett and I hiked a mile and a half in the rain to find it. Great people. They were getting ready for a wedding but opened up our kitchen for us. Turned out it was the owners daughter getting married. We congratulated the groom. A great time was had by all. Pizza bill for 24 people was like $90...

 

Everything is scenic in San Vito. This the view out of our hotel room.

 

The day of the hike we woke up to rain. As an Oregonian I was not daunted, plus I had rain gear. Where would I rather be? Being rained on in Oregon worrying about if I was going to get the annual ryegrass planted and the Teff baled or in Italy wondering if I was going to die on a slippery Dolomite goat trail?

 

The local grocery store had a nice selection of Chocolate. Chocolate bars do not hold up well in a backpack when it is 80 degrees in the sun. We packed a lunch for our first day of hiking and used the local grocery store for supplies. It took a bit of communication but Italian grocery stores are set up pretty well for fresh vegetables and bread. 

 

 

 Most hotels and Rifugio's we stayed at provided breakfast. Bread, ham, Spec (which I don't really understand), boiled egg, coffee, plus yoghurt and cereal. We stayed at Hotel Villa Trieste which would also cook you eggs to order. 

 

 

This is Clift... He proved to be a bit of a character. An old friend of my friend Brett. We were part of the small group of past 60 adventurers. He tended to stop often and exclaim about the view and then take a picture. At this point he is exclaiming, "well will you look at that! We gotta take a picture! Isn't this something else!" He maintained that enthusiasm though out the trip...

 

Sad to say my pictures loaded in reverse order and I was too lazy to fix them. This is the location of the hotel we stayed at in San Vito. Hotel Villa Trieste is about a half mile or so from the bus stop. Simple, and not real expensive, but with an awesome breakfast. The nice girl in the kitchen (her mom runs the hotel) will fix you eggs to order and speaks English very well. It is quiet and friendly and the staff was happy to help, finding restaurants when everything is closed, finding transportation, info on local attractions, AND they were willing to store our extra bags while we were hiking. (Trying to keep packs under 20lbs.) I had planned on checking the weather and if we had a good 10 day forecast I was going to store my rain gear. Since it was raining that very day, I opted for the weight at the convenience of staying dry. I used my rain c 

This is the view from the bus stop in San Vito di Cadore. We arrived in comfortable Oregon conditions. Too warm for a rain coat, and wet enough to get a shiver. 

This is the bus trip to San Vito. Imagine the narrowest mountain roads in Colorado and Oregon, but paved and with steady high speed traffic, busses, cars, motorbikes, bicycles all driving at breakneck speed. The horn is almost as important as brakes!

 

My friend Brett and I arrived in Venice, Italy September 9. We found Brett's friend Clift sitting on a cement block waiting for the bus. Clift is a nice guy. He is a dentist in real life. We all took a bus to San Vito di Cadore. San Vito is a small town in the Dolomites at over 3,000 feet. It started as a lumber and agricultural town but has become more tourist focused. There is skiing in the winter and hiking in the summer with nearby lakes, and WWI sites. We found our hotel, which was a bit of a walk from the bus stop, met up with some fellow travelers and looked for food. 

There was one little pizza place open. I wish I would have gotten a photo of the lady who ran it. She was older and wiry and a certified "firecracker." Very little English and we have very little Italian, and she tended to yell at people. But, we had some very excellent pizza. This is all thin and crispy crust pizza. Hawaiian pizza is greatly frowned on. Clift kept very politely asking for napkins and more water. Our proprietress completely ignored him. 

"How do you get a water around here?" said Clift...

And every completely ignored him... 

There was a cooler and the locals just took whatever drinks they wanted out of the cooler and it all seemed to work.

I believe it was called the Ristorante Pizzeria Paradiso 

 

Dolomites adventure quick report

Italy third hike 

Blogging in Italy is hard to do. I didn’t get the T-Mobile international plan so no data.

I  doing everything on WiFi.

Hiking is boring and exhausting.

We did 3,000 ft in 4 miles day one. That was tough.

The Refugio had good food. It was dormitory style.

Beautiful sunset.

Day 2 was 4,000 ft in 8 miles. Today was 3,000ft in 8 miles I think.

Should have trained more.

Met interesting people.

The Lazy Farmer Arrives in NYC

 I made it to NYC. My friend has COVID and I ended up navigating to his apartment in Brooklyn via subway. 

I was a little worried but I had directions from my friend and CoPilot.

I was befriended by a very tall and determined Chinese lady on the flight. She wanted to take me to the address in her company’s town car. 

She did not think I should take the subway.

I helped her find her driver. After a heated discussion in Chinese it was determined that it was too far out of the way, but his friend had a Taxi! 

Apparently they were headed to New Jersey.

I opted for the Subway, but thanked them for their kindness.

I still have my kidneys.

It was only a couple subway changes and a half mile walk. NYC blocks are huge. Google Maps sent me the long way around the block which was weird. Was not helpful with the subway either.

Just hanging out and smoking a blunt… just like Oregon