Distance: 8KM
Total hours: 4hrs
Elevation: +270m -545m
Steps taken: 21,492
Rifugio Lavarella –> Malga Gran Fanes –> Trail 20b junction –> Ciasa Ai Pini
Due to poor weather, we decided to take the shorter route to Capanna Alpina (via Col de Locia) to meet with our driver from Taxi Vico for a 5-minute taxi transfer to Ciasa Ai Pini. The other option was to head to Capanna Alpina via Forcella de Lago, which would have been an 11 km hike (+623m -921m, 6 hours). We would have to hike back up parts of the second option the next day, up to Rifugio Scotoni, so we figured that’s another reason to stick with the shorter route.
The trail consisted of jeep roads, wide trails through high plateaus, little forest cover, and steep eroded trail on the descent. Malga Gran Fanes was closed – it took us 1 hour to get there.
Today was the day I was glad that I had a waterproof rain cover. Even though my bag is water resistant, with the amount of rain coming down, I felt better knowing the contents of my pack was protected from the elements.
The gloomy weather made the hike feel more adventurous – the way up to Col de Locia (2069m) was not very slippery but the way down is quite steep and eroded, so we took this part slow. It took us 1.5 hours to get there from Malga Gran Fanes.
It was a short day – we had a nice meal at Capanna Alpina before meeting with Taxi Vico for our 5-minute ride to our hotel.
Ciasa Ai Pini was such a pleasant place to stay.
Given that the next day was going to be long, we did not want to walk into town to eat at a restaurant. The ‘pizza bar’ in the lobby had enough variety of dishes for a meal for the team – the food was delicious.
I learned after the fact that there is a complimentary sauna available for guests to use. Check with the front desk for hours.
One thing to note: most rifugios and even hotels did not carry painkillers or flu medication so bring extra just in case. We learned the hard way as my assistant had bad migraines on this day and some painkillers would have been nice to reduce the level of sassiness we experienced during this part of the trip. We were happy to have stayed in this lovely hotel as it helped to have a nice rest before the upcoming longer days.
Looking back, since this was such a short day, if we had booked earlier, we would have been able to make this day longer, with a stay at Lagazuoi or Scotoni) instead of having a much longer day 4.
WELCOME TO UNPAVED HAVEN 
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