Italy / South Tyrol - Dolomites 03: Val Di Funes Pastures to Rifugio Genova

PLEASE READ MY DESCRIPTION BEFORE FOLLOWING THE TRAIL

Along Alpe Di Siusi, Val Di Funes is one of the best places in the Dolomites and whole South Tyrol. Our next destination was Puez-Odle Nature Park.
It was a cloudy day and the rain was forecasted for late afternoon.
I picked the hike and by mistake, I didn't share it with anyone else. So they were all counting on me for the directions.
We parked the car in Zan Car Park and started our hike by following trail 06.
The trail goes uphill with some huts along it. You will pass by a small river in the middle of a forest and amazing views over the mountain peaks around you (Geisler peaks, Puez and Fanes mountains).
The more you go up the better the view will be over the Val Di Funes.
In 4 km you will go up 700 m till you arrive at the highest point. Enjoy the panoramic view and from there follow trail 05.
This is where I made my first mistake. After trail 05 we should take trail 03 and start closing the loop.
I thought we will be walking a while on the 05 but in fact it is only for 300 m and then you take your left direction trail 03. What happened is that I forgot about the 03 and while on the 05 you will get a breathtaking view leading to the pastures below and couple of huts. I didn't realise we were going out of our scheduled trail and we stayed on the 05. Believe me, till now everything was great and the pics are simply amazing.
We stayed on the 05 for another 4.5 km enjoying the beautiful area till I realised my mistake and I was left with 3 options:
- Call a taxi from the village to take us back to the Car Park
- Stay on the 05 and close the loop but it will take us another 3 hours and it is getting late and it might rain at any time
- Try to close the loop from where we are and join trail 03.

I went with option 03 but soon enough I saw that it will be very hard and difficult to be done.
And here was my second mistake. I decided to continue knowing it is not only hard to do but very dangerous. I took this irresponsible and reckless decision and put all my friends in danger. At the end we managed to join trail 03 and at that moment it started to rain.
The way down was fast. We would have enjoyed it in a better way, stop at Rifugio Genova.
From Rifugio Genova you continue to Malga Gampen / Gampenalm and then back to the Car Park.
If you follow trail 06 then 05 then 03 the hike will be around 11 km with breathtaking views.

I would consider the original trail as moderately difficult but the trail (actually the part before rejoining the 03, is not a trail) we have followed is not only very hard but not feasible.

Enjoy and keep it clean !!!

PS: Respect Nature and stay on the trail. Cheers