Length: 9.00 mi
Elev. gain: 3038 ft
Time: 5:03:09
The hike:
Lago di Sorapis (Lake Sorapis), with its turquoise-blue water, is considered one of the most beautiful lakes in the Dolomites.
Due to the popularity of the hike. I wanted to start early to avoid the crowds. But I also didn’t want to miss free hotel breakfast that was open from 7 am to 10 am. If I waited for breakfast, I wouldn’t be able to start the hike until probably 7:30am.
After much debating, I decided to start the hike at 4:30 am (a few minutes before twilight so I wouldn’t hike in darkness for long) and try to make it back before breakfast ended at 10 am so I didn’t have to sacrifice either.
Luckily, the trail starts right at the end of the hotel parking lot so I didn’t have to waste time driving.
The first part of the hike was a steady incline. But it was relatively mild so I was able to hike at a relatively fast pace.
About two miles in, the trail started to get steeper.
As I got closer, the trail seemed to fade in the distance as if it was going nowhere. Since it was all gravel on a steep slope, it didn’t look very safe for me. As I’m afraid of heights, I debated if I wanted to continue or to turn back. But eventually the adventurous side of me decided to take the risk.
The higher I went, the more scary it became. I really struggled here because I kept slipping (or worried about slipping) and there was hardly anything for me to grab onto. The trail seemed to go on forever. I had to stop frequently to figure out what my next step would be. It took me a very long time to finish this part of the trail.
The trail I thought that led to nowhere earlier turned to another slope. This one was even steeper and required lots of scrambling but felt much safer. It was still slippery though so it also took a while before I was able to reach the top.
I kept looking back to enjoy the view.
Finished climbing at last! The rest would be easy, at least that was what I thought.
But it was still gravel and slippery so I couldn’t walk too fast.
Here the trail was fading and extremely slippery.
And it seemed the trail ended here. It wasn’t possible to keep going or I’d risk falling off the cliff. I checked the trail map and realized that I must have taken a wrong turn earlier and went off trail.
Fortunately I wasn’t too far off and was able to find my way back to the trail.
At approx. mile 3.7, I finally got a glimpse of the lake.
I thought it wouldn’t take too long to get to the lake then. But this was actually the steepest part of the hike and it was another mile of slippery descent before I finally reached the lake.
After leaving the lake, the rest of the trail (It was a loop trail) was mostly flat and easy. But I ran into a lot of hikers on their way to the lake. It made me glad I started early.
I made it back to the hotel at around 9:30 am and had plenty of time to enjoy my breakfast.