Day 3 – Lunch At The Jora Hütte

Feb 7, 2023

Today’s Adventure

On the third day the weather continued to bless us with cloudless skies and abundant sunshine but it was also very cold with highs only in the 20s. With that in mind Cindy and I decided on two smaller adventures today that would keep us closer to our base in Innichen.

We started out with a morning hike to the Jora Hütte. This rather upscale rifugio is located slopeside at a ski area that overlooks Innichen from the north side of Mount Baranci. We had lunch here during our visit in January of 2020 and knew that it was worth a return trip this time around. One of the nice things about this outing is that we could simply step out of our apartment, walk a few blocks, and then pick up the trail at the edge of town. We followed a winter hiking and cross country ski trail for a short distance before turning right and climbing a fairly steep trail into the woods on the southwest side of the valley leading to Sesto.

This trail took us past one of the highlights of the day, namely the Wildbad Innichen. This was a grand hotel built in the early 1900’s for the rich and famous of European society to enjoy the five thermal baths found on the site. Two World Wars and a Great Depression conspired to close the landmark permanently so for most of the last century the buildings have been falling into ruins. It’s a dramatic site but a dangerous one as well, so tall fences have been built to keep people a safe distance away from the collapsing structures.

As we headed uphill from the Wildbad Innichen we passed a picturesque chapel that was fortunately in much better shape than its neighbor. The trail then delivered us to the main slope at the Baranci ski area, just uphill from the Jora Hütte.

We arrived shortly after 12 Noon, rather early for lunch in this neck of the woods, so we had no trouble getting a nice table inside. The chef, a young man named Markus Holzer (https://www.markusholzer.com/), is something of a celebrity in Italian cooking circles having appeared for several years on a televised competition called ‘La Prova Del Cuoco’ or ‘The Cook’s Test’.

Cindy decided to try the shepherd-style macaroni, which featured homemade pasta with speck, tomatoes, mushrooms, peppers, cream, bolognesi, and fresh-grated parmigiano. Stuart had a charcuterie platter with locally-made speck, cheeses, and breads. There was a question about whether or not my first choice would be okay vs. my food allergy, so Markus himself came out to our table to make sure that I picked something safe.

When we left the Jora Hütte we decided to take a shorter, steeper route back into town. This trail looked like a service road used by the ski resort to move equipment and by the restaurant to move supplies, but it was well-covered with snow and nicely groomed. As we neared the bottom we passed a young lady trudging uphill on telemark skis – more power to her! After a long series of switchbacks we found ourselves back on the Via Sesto just a short distance outside of town.

At this point it was still only mid-afternoon, so Cindy suggested that we take advantage of our free rail pass for another local adventure. We walked to the Bahnhof and caught the next train heading west for the short five minute ride to Dobbiaco (‘Toblach’ in German). We had spent 12 days in this pleasant little town during our 2020 visit to the Dolomites so this was familiar territory for us.

After getting off the train we headed south on a series of roads and trails to Lago di Dobbiaco (‘Toblacher See’ in German). This scenic mountain lake offers a lovely view of the passage south through the mountains towards Cortina d’Ampezzo. We think that it compares quite well with its more famous neighbor to the west, the Lago di Braies, but is much more accessible by public transit and doesn’t get nearly as many visitors (both good things so far as we’re concerned).

While at Lago di Dobbiaco we stopped in the Ristorante Seeschupfe for a couple of decaf cappuccinos and a shared slice of their homemade apfelstrudel with vanilla ice cream. It was just what we needed to brace ourselves for the rather icy walk back to the Bahnhof in Dobbiaco and the train ride back to Innichen. The sun was starting to set and the already icy trail was getting even more slick, so we dug into our backpacks and put the cleats on our boots – they made an amazing difference on our navigation of what was rapidly turning into a long, narrow, and tree-lined skating rink!

All told we hiked 8.7 miles today with about 750 feet of elevation gain.

For Innichen’s main page click here.

For Castelrotto’s main page click here.

For the entire trip’s main page click here.