Campo Carlo Magno

We finalized our packing this morning and our packs are heavy…we know we shouldn’t be bringing all of it, but can’t seem to narrow it down! The rain was really coming down while we ate breakfast. We met our guide, Davide at our hotel-he is a young father, incredibly fit and handsome. Walking out to his car we ran into our favorite thing….cows with bells on! The rain lightened up as we drove to the trailhead. We got out and had to add via Ferrata gear to our already heavy bags. We began the hike through the woods with just a gentle pattering of rain, but very quickly gaining elevation so began to sweat in our gore-Tex jackets. JD is in such incredible shape-he could have reached the top so quickly without me slowing things down! Then it began to rain so hard. Soon my pants were soaking wet and so were my shoes. The trail turned into a small river and then we reached a waterfall cascading over the trail. A group of five in front of us were stopped-Davide motioned to us, like it was no big deal. He jumped onto a rock in the middle and then to the other side. JD was next and I was last. Had I had even a moment to think about it I wouldn’t have done it. The rock was under a torrent of water. Thankfully, Davide grabbed my hand and pulled me over.
We got to the Refugio after 5 miles-it was packed with dripping hikers. I was soaked all the way through, every item of clothing. We changed out of our wet things and hung them up in a basement boiler room, and got our room. We have a small room with four bunked single beds-not sure if there will be others with us yet. The day is kind of stretching out in front of us as there is no WiFi and limited cell service. Really praying it clears up because we are surrounded by the most gorgeous mountains. JD spent the afternoon drawing, I’m listening to a downloaded podcast. We played Oh Heck, finished a fiction audio book we’ve been listening to, watched the clouds play peekaboo with the mountains, checked and re checked the forecast. Thankfully we had just enough service to FaceTime Burkey for his 3rd birthday! Dinner was unreal-choices of cannelloni, pasta and tomatoes for the first course, pork chop or frittata or bratwurst for the second then panna cotta or a blackberry tart. Wowza! Got to know our guide better-he’s an Italian version of my brother:) The rain is slowing and the mountains are more clear.Read more