Sedona Day Trip

Following a chapter in Boots and Burgers, we headed out to Sedona for a day of hiking and burgers.  We drove out through Jerome and Cottonwood  with great desert views.  Our first stop was the Aerie trailhead.  From there we did the Ground Control and Outer Limits trails.  Lily got quite dirty with the famous Sedona red dirt.  On the way into town, many of the other trailheads were very crowded; we got lucky that our hike was almost empty.  In town, we ate at Nick's which had very good burgers and the people were super nice.  After eating we dropped Lily off at Kim's Puppy Palace since dogs are not allowed at our next stop: Red Rock State Park.  At the park, we toured the visitor center which had some nice displays and movies.  We then hiked up to the old Apache Fires house and around the park to Eagles Nest.  The hiking was very nice.  We then got smoothies in town, picked up Lily and headed home.

Weekend Activities

• Hiked Pioneer Park for the first time
• Range day with buddy to zero some optics
• Getting house ready for Christmas
• Cookie sale at church

Along the trails in Pioneer Park

Pioneer Park trail map

Weekend Activities

• Pistol day at the range
• Nice hike in Granite Basin - also saw the SAR folks rescuing a hiker
• Highland Pines pancake breakfast
• Dinner with friends

Rescuer dangling from roe

SAR event

US Hiking v. European Hiking

Over the past 12 year, I have hiked a fair amount, mostly in the Western US.  But my wife and I just completed our second long slackpack in the Alps.  Here are some of the things that are different between US and European hiking:

• The trails in the Alps tend to be steeper and much rockier.  Many are old roads and some are old goat paths but Europeans don't seem to build switchbacks like they do here.
• Bathrooms can be hard to find in the Alps.  Refugios have them but they require a purchase.  There are very few public toilets so take advantage when you encounter one.
• The Alps are covered with refugios so you are always within walking distance of a good meal, glass of wine or coffee.  There are very few comparable examples in the US but places like Muir Trail Ranch come close.
• Since much of the Alps are accesible by car, gondola or chairlift, the trails are usually much more crowded.

Italy 2025

As part of our 30th anniversary, we heading back to Italy for hiking and fun.

Day 1 - We flew into Venice with the usual international travel hassles.  After landing, we got on a bus to Cortina.  We stayed Ambra Hotel which is very nice and had great pizza for dinner.  Cortina is a nice little town.  They don't look to be ready for the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Spritzes at The Roof

Downtown Cortina

Day 2 - Much of the day was taking the cable car up to the Tofane.  The weather was overcast so we didn't get great views.  We also walked around the town.

Taking the cable car

View from the mountains

Day 3 - Took a bus up to Lago de Braies.  The lake is a pristine alpine lake that is overrun with visitors.  Many rent rowboats and it is fun to watch to see how few know how to row.  The hotel is a great old school hotel that was a great hiker package.  At dinner, some guy was watching soccer on his phone very loudly and another poor older gentleman had a heart attack; all this made for an interesting evening.

Lago de Braies

Hotel de Braies

Day 4 - First day on trail!  We packed our suitcase and sent it off to meet us in Venice, then we head out on trail.  We had a nice stroll around the to the other side of the lake and then hit a long uphill. As we approached the hit point, we saw some chamois scrambling around on the rocks.  As wildlife is quite rare in the Alps, we were excited.  We passed on the scramble up to Crodo del Becco and had a nice lunch at Refugio Biella.  The rest of the day was a nice stroll and down into Refugio Sennes.  Sennes had great views and an old airstrip that was populated by marmots.  We had a private room with bunk beds and a shared bathroom.

Refugio Sennes

View toward Refuio Bellio

Along the trail

Day 5 - The next day starting with a gentle downhill into some stunted forest.  We got a glimpse of some rare deer.  We then hit the most brutal downhill straight down a steep road into Pederu.  Jyoti re-injured her knee so we spent some time at the refugio getting ice on it.  We then had a long uphill into Refugio Fanes.  At Fanes, we walked around the lake and had a great dinner.  We had shared bath but a regular bed here.

Refugio Fanes

One of many beautiful valleys

A little village and refugio

Forest

Day 6 - Out of Fanes was a very nice hike through wonderful terrain.  We decided to take an alternate route that took us downhill to catch a bus to Passo Folzarego.  From the pass, we headed down a nice but muddy trail to the chairlift at Cinque Torre.  We starting exploring the WWI fortifactions but as the weather turned bad, we headed up to our next stay at Refugio Averau.  We got there just as the storm hit.  We had a private room and bath at Averau.

Refugio Averau

WWI trenches at Cinque Torri

Endless valleys

Great scenery

Day 7 - The hike started with a steep traverse down the ski slope road.  Then we started encountering crowds up for the weekend as we got to Passo Giao.  After coffee and water, we headed up to Forcella Giao.  The next few miles were a little up and lots of down.  After a break at Refugio Citta di Fiume, we make a long hike into Refugio Staulanza.  That night we decided to get off trail and head back to Venice.

Refugio Staulanza

Thumb Butt in the Dolomites

Day 8 - The plan for the day was to head up to Forcello Coldai and then reverse back down to take a chairlift down into a town.  However, when we got to the base of the hike up to Coldai, we decided to skip it since the downhill would have really been tough.  We then headed down into Palafavera.  From there we got a bus into Longerone.  We had some time in Lonerone so we had lunch then checked into our hotel.  We then walked around town and visited the Vajant Dam museum.  I had never heard of this disaster but it wiped out the entire town in 1963.  After some delicous pizza, we went to bed.

Longerone

Noisy cows

Day 9 - 12 - The next four where spent in Venice.  Some of sites we saw: St. Mark's Basilica and Campanile, San Giorgio Maggiore, Murano, Burano, Torcello, Cichetti tour, Arsenele.  We also did a side trip to Verona to see the Roman arena and other sites.

Wonderful dinner in the Canneregio

Castelvecchio in Verona

Roman arena in Verona

They still have events in the Verona arena after 2000 years

View towards St. Mark's square

Getting a bit of rain

On the vaporetta

Rain along the canals

St. Mark's Campanile

Just getting into Venice

Weekend Activities

• Jeep trip to PNF
• Dug a trench with the help of some great neighbors
• Caught Sir Harrison and full band at The Windsock
• Hiked Williams Peak - awesome views

View from Williams Peak

View from Williams Peak

It is good to have neighbors with stuff like this

Independence Day Weekend Activities

• Spent much of Friday helping the church clean the parking lot for sealing
• Lots of small projects around the house
• Jeep trip down Thumb Butte Loop to Copper Basin Road.
• We stopped to hike to Warden Cabin as marked on the map.  There wasn't a cabin at the map location but we saw a bunch of other stuff along the way.
• Another happy hour!
• Tried out the Type 24 at the range - it was keyholing badly so might need a trip to the gunsmith

Mining cabin along the hike

Mine shafts

Old windmill still standing

Perfect example of keyholing

Father's Day Activities

• Another great happy hour
• Rotated the tires on all the cars - it is very nice to have a large garage with enough room to work
• Range time with a good friend - tried out the newly acquired MAS-36
• Did a short hike along the Noodle trail - quite hot this weekend
• Saw a fun duet at Founding Fathers and got a tour of their member's only speakeasy

MAS-36 ready to go

Cactus flowers along the Noodle trail