The Dolomites continued to charm me. My family and I spent days in the mountains, and each day revealed more enchanting, tucked away places. After a few days in the mountains, I found what must be one of the most ethereally beautiful places in the entire range, the Lago di Sorapis.
August 2018, additional exposures for highlights, focal length 14 mm, aperture f/11, shutter speed 1/15, ISO 64, tripod.
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Getting to Sorapis requires a three- or four-hour hike from the parking lot all the way to the lake. It’s not particularly difficult, but there are places along the way where the drop is quite steep and the view — while beautiful — might be a bit too vertiginous for some. But these places are few and for most of the hike, I was too distracted by the incredible views to give much thought to falling.
It’s a spectacular place — I was surrounded by mountains for virtually the entire hike and the air was crisp with the scent of evergreen. I wouldn’t call it untraveled, but the hike to Lago di Sorapis is generally less populated than some of the other trails in the Dolomites. Surrounded by the region’s natural beauty and having the trail virtually to ourselves gave the hike a serene quality and I was in no hurry to leave.
At the end of the long hike, we reached our reward: the mystical blue waters of Lago di Sorapis. The lake is a milky, powdery blue, and its color, combined with its relatively remote location, makes you feel that you’ve wandered into a setting from a child’s storybook. I timed the hike to that I would arrive at the lake shortly before sunset, and the dimming sunlight gave the lake an even more magical quality. Though the hike had been long and I was tired, seeing the otherworldly beauty of the lake left me invigorated and I was grateful for the experience.
