Day 6 (Aug 2) Rif Cità di Fiume to rif Coldai
More good weather. We said goodbye to two German guys we came to know over the last few days. They were walking on a bit further for that night and ending their walk the next day. The majority of multi-day hikers on the AV1 are German and most refugio staff speak German. Some refugi feel German and others feel Italian; you never know what to expect in this part of Italy.
The day was was in a more developed area than the previous days. A short section along a road, some dirt farm roads, through a ski area, and then a long steep climb to rif Coldai. It is near a town and gets lots of day hikers. Very friendly refugio with great views. No rain.
Day 7 (Aug 3) Rif Coldai to rif Vazzoler
Cloudy but no rain. An average day of hiking, more alpine than yesterday. We said goodbye to two German women we have seen for a few days who finished their hike today.
We have changed our plans. The 11 day plan in our guidebook is too relaxed. For us an ideal day is about six hours of walking. A number of days on our 11 day plan are only four hours of walking which leaves too much time sitting at the rifugio. Tomorrow we will combine two days from the guidebook into one and the next day we will walk out to a town. That also cuts off a section which includes a high narrow ridge and a short but almost vertical unprotected climb, both a bit beyond our level of comfort. Instead we get a bit of “down time” in town to eat gelato, drink espresso and use a laundromat. Probably we will have WiFi in town and can post something on the blog.
