Sunrise Hiking Elopement in the Dolomites – Susan & Howard
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While many couples choose a helicopter to reach a remote location for their elopement, Susan and Howard were excited to do things more slowly and sustainably and hike to reach their chosen elopement spot.
Like many couples, they had also fallen in love with photos of Seceda, with it’s striking sharky peak. But as I made them aware, this location has its drawbacks. During the daytime, it’s easily accessible via a cable car, so crowds up here a pretty much a given. The only way to have any privacy is to come when the lifts are closed, which means either before 9am or after 5pm. And the best way to do that is to sleep in one of the mountain huts lower down. So that’s what they did.
The day we arrived, we did a test hike in the evening to time the hike, so that we’d know exactly how much time to allow for the hike in the morning, knowing that we’d be hiking in the dark and that they would need to change at the top. At 5:30 am the next morning, we set off on the 1.5-hour hike to the viewpoint. When we arrived, we found a tent where some hikers had camped overnight (which isn’t technically allowed), but thankfully they weren’t interested in taking photos at the same spot that we wanted to, so we were lucky to get the location all to ourselves for the first hour.
After some heartfelt vows and exchanging rings, Susan & Howard wrapped back up in their warm clothes, as the wind was particularly cold on that morning, and we continued to hike, along the ridgeline and away from Seceda.
During our hike, we stopped to enjoy the changing scenery and the rising clouds, and took many small breaks to identify wildflowers and have some snacks, with our main stop being at a nearby mountain hut for a late breakfast/lunch combined into one, with a cheeky Aperol Spritz to wash things down nicely.
Despite being a really chilled day, we still hiked for a good 7-8 hours. But day two was when the more serious hiking was planned.
Susan & Howard asked me to take them for a guided hike on day two of their elopement, and they wanted something more challenging. After sending them a few suggestions, they went with the Sassolungo loop. This route took us up and over the saddle, hiking down through a steep, rocky amphitheater and looping back around to the green alpine meadows to finish. We stopped at numerous mountain huts for tea, food, and hot chocolate, and enjoyed another day of wildflower spotting and searching for crystals and fossils in the rocks.
