Alta Via 1, Day 10

When I woke up, I found that the overcast sky was long gone. Today was probably one of the sunniest days on the trail, which is a shame because today was my last day on the trail of Alta Via 1.

But alas! As much as I would have liked to stay in the comfortable rifugio, I was also quite eager to get going so I could enjoy the landscape once more, before eventually taking the bus back to Belluno.

It was all downhill from here, which means that the knee that I injured two days ago was clearly not having a good time. Walking on the soft, damp dirt. paths in the forest helped, but as soon as I started to descend, I really had to take my time to not put too much weight on my right knee.

The last 2 km of the trail was pretty much a flat rocky jeep track, up until I got to the point where there were stairs leading me to the big road. This is where the bus stop was located. You read that right, the official end point of Alta Via 1 is, anticlimactically, a bus stop by a busy road called La Pissa bus stop.

When I got there, several of the hikers that I saw in Pian de Fontana were there; some walked up to me when I showed up, and gave me a high five, and a "good job!". Phil, too, was there, sitting in the shades, and I congratulated him for making it despite him feeling under the weather most of the time. Not long after, Patricia also showed up, and everyone gave her a high five and congratulated her. It was a nice feeling to share this sense of accomplishment collectively, knowing that everyone in this bus stop knew what it took to hike this trail, and despite the sometimes treacherous journey, we all made it anyway.

Seeing I kept wincing from my pain on the knee, Lee gave me a heated pad to help ease the pain. We talked about how she would love to visit Indonesia one day, and do some hiking. We exchanged numbers so that she could reach out to me when that day finally comes. I popped up some more Advil, and waited for the bus with everyone else. It felt so strange, walking on the gravel again. It will take some time to get used to this again.

When the bus arrived, I hoisted up my backpack one last time, and folded back my hiking poles. There is no need for them anymore for now, but as I was sitting in the bus to Belluno, I knew that I'd pick up these poles again next year, for another adventure in the mountains.