Day 9 – The Rifugio Croz dell’Altissimo

Oct 16, 2022

Today’s Adventure

As luck would have it the weather did break during our impromptu overnight stay at the Rifugio La Montanaro. We left directly from the rifugio on Trail 340B. 340B is a US federal government program that requires drug manufacturers to provide outpatient drugs to eligible health care organizations at significantly reduced prices – Cindy is a nationally-recognized expert on this program, so we were quite amused by the trail name.

This hike took us to the rather remote Rifugio Croz dell’Altissimo. While this rifugio was already closed for the season, but the trail to get there included some wonderful views both up and across a deep alpine valley highlighted with bursts of bold fall color. The views down the valley to the lake were blocked by fog for most of the day but that was a small price to pay for what was an excellent hike ending back at the mid-station of the Funivie Molveno-Pradel.

Our cable car ride down to Molveno gave us our only decent (but not great) look at the entirety of Lago di Molveno, but it was enough to confirm why this resort town is so popular – it’s a beautiful lake in a stunning setting that is largely unspoiled by development.

The regional bus took us back to Mezzocorona by a different route than we used the day prior. We rode through another mountain resort town called Fai della Paganella, home of the Paganella ski resort. On this particular day, however, the resort was playing host to a major mountain biking competition so there was quite a festive atmosphere as the bus passed through.

The road from Fai della Paganella to Mezzocorona ran along a wooded mountain ridge for a fair distance so it looked and felt very much like the Blue Ridge Parkway, at least to the two Virginians on board. The road then descended through a series of very steep switchbacks before passing through Mezzolombardo and finally Mezzocorona, where we were dropped at the Bahnhof. From there we boarded a Trenitalia regional train for a late afternoon arrival in Brixen.

Back in Brixen we dropped our backpacks at the apartment and went out to stroll the Old Town and have a nice dinner. We went back to the Kutscherhof (our favorite) but sat inside this time due to the cooler weather. Rather than each ordering their own pizza we tried a different approach – we ordered a ‘main course’ pizza and then a second ‘dessert course pizza, both to share. The main course pizza was fired with speck and tomato sauce and then finished with sun-dried tomatoes, basil, and fresh burrata after it came out of the oven. The dessert course pizza was made with pear and Gorgonzola cheese.

As we left the Kutscherhof we were greeted with a lovely nighttime view of Cathedral Square in Brixen and then went back to the apartment where we collapsed after a very long couple of days on the road (and on the trail).

To return to the main page for Brixen click here.

To return to the main page for the entire trip click here.