Lago di Sorapis is a stunning glacial blue lake tucked away in the jagged peaks of the Dolomites. We spotted it on Instagram, as an savvy millennial would, and noticed it was a quick drive from the town we’d be staying in, Cortina d’Ampezzo. Hard to resist a good day hike to a bright glacial blue lake!
The trail to Lago di Sorapis begins in a meadow at Passo Tre Croci just up the hill to the west of the town. There’s no parking lot at the pass, only roadside parking. We got there around 8 am on a weekday and one of the first few cars.
It’s 3.3 miles to the lake, with a 1700 ft net elevation gain, though the lake is only about 600 feet above the trail head. The first 2 miles of the hike are fairly flat, with some ups and downs and a few views through the trees of the surrounding peaks.
Cory is fascinated by larches. They’re deciduous conifers, meaning: they change colors and lose their needles in the fall. In North America, larches are typically found above the tree line of evergreens, but in Italy they grow amongst them. We were a bit early for fall colors, but in just a couple weeks the larches would be in full fall color swing.
Once the trail crosses over a small creek it starts the long traverse on the north and east side of a steep mountain. While the first part of the trail had intermittent views, this section had sweeping views of the valley towards Tre Cime and Misurina.
The path was still quite wide with Krumholz on either side, but it quickly turned to a narrow rocky path. The mountain kept getting steeper and steeper, but just as it was getting sketchy, hand rails and ladders started to appear.
The other benefit of hiking early in the morning: there were fewer hikers coming down the trail which meant less passing on the narrow path.
The last little section of the trail leaves the side of the mountain and follows the outlet creek past a Rifugio and up to Lago di Sorapis, a strikingly milky turquoise lake. The first view of the towering spire above the glacially fed lake is impressive. It’s easy to see why this hike is so popular.
We arrived at the lake just as the sun was starting to hit the water. The water level was lower since it was later in the season.
We were happy to be one of first few groups at the lake. We took a few pictures and sat on the shore to soak up the view and enjoyed the resplendent fall day.
