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...