Just as last evening ended with a colorful alpenglow, the morning at Rifugio Sennes began with some very nice colors in the eastern and southern sky.

 

Here is another version of the image above where the mountain peaks seen from Sennes are labeled.

I got a few photos before breakfast and before we departed down the runway at around 8:30.

 

This was the scene that greeted us at the end of the runway.

From here it was a very long downhill to Rifugio Pederu.

 Below are two photos I took as we approached Rifugio Pederu. What you are seeing is the Val dai Tamersc also known as Valley Rautal.

Jim, Stephen, and I were walking with several others at this point. All but Stephen and I decided to go into the rifugio.  After a while we decided to head up the trail alone. We figured that at least Jim would catch up with us quickly.

As we climbed the trail to the south I made a number of panoramas that included the sun. Here is a slideshow of images I made as we worked our way up the mountain. All but one of the images are multi-shot panoramas composed of between four and five individual photos.

 

Off to the east was a road which climbed at a steep angle. The road was lined with gabions and was being used by bicycle riders.

 

Some parts of Alta Via 1 were well marked, while others were somewhat left to the imagination. Here is one of the sign posts.

We climbed higher and higher and met Carmen along the way. He was also photographing the scene back to Pederu.

The trail gradually turned west. We now began to see the Rio San Virgilio valley below us to the south.

Jim caught up with us about this time, and we walked together for a while.  

Shortly before noon I got a dramatic photo of the foreground, valley, sun, and clouds.

The river valley below was quite dry.

I got a photo looking back at Croda del Becco with a few people in the lower left-hand corner for scale.

 The sun and patterns down in the valley and on the hillsides were at times dramatic.

We met Violetta and Tim.  Jim helped adjust the fit of her backpack during our lunch break at the spot.

Stephen and I continued on toward Fanes together. I believe at this point Jim was well ahead of us.

Here are a couple of photos of us heading west towards Fanes. 

 

Shortly before the trail turned south again, we got a beautiful view toward Castel de Fanes. At the far left side of the photo below you can see a very interesting plateau.

This plateau is called Marmot’s Parliament and is seen better in the photo below.  This constellation of uniquely-formed mountains, according to the legend, is where the people of Fanes had marmots as their allies.

We turned south. We were quickly approaching Fanes.

 

Just before we reached the rifugio, I got this photo of one of only two streams I can recall seeing on the trip. The other was earlier this morning. I love photographing moving water, but you don’t go to the Dolomites to do that. 

We arrived at Rifugio Fanes around 1:30 PM.

We checked in and I quickly grabbed a bottom bunk. There were 10 bunks in our dormitory room here.

Outside the rifugio I made some photos of the valley, the other rifugio in the area, and the Marmot Parliament.

 

I also photographed some of the carvings on the wall.

 

Dinner that evening was at an assigned table – the norm in the huts – in a smaller dining room than you see below. My choices for dinner were a green salad, tagliatelle with deer ragout, and bratwurst with sauerkraut. The deer ragout was excellent. The bratwurst was mostly sauerkraut. The waitress was charming.

It was a great way to start our hike — two days of warm and sunny weather.  The preceding three days in Cortina, Tre Cime, and Dobbiaco were similar.