r/hiking

A good electrolyte for hikes or treks

My wife and I have a Dolomites Trip planned in September. We will be taking a bus from Venice and using public transportation while in Cortina d'Ampezzo. I can't seem to put together a hike from Rifugio Lavarella back to Cortina. So I am looking for recommendations. Also for day 4 we are looking for a short day hike that we can get to from Cortina. We have accomodations in Cortina for Night 3 and Night 4 before taking a bus back to Venice on Day 5. Below is what our plan is. Both rifugios are already booked.

Day 1: Hike from Lago di Braies -> Rifugio Biella

Day 2: Rifugio Biella -> Rifugio Lavarella

Day 3: Rifugio Lavarella -> Cortina d'Ampezzo???

Day 4: Day hike from Cortina d'Ampezzo???

Day 5: Bus back to Venice

Hi hikers, so I had a hiking experience today that I have not ever dealt with before now. My boyfriend and I were just getting on the trail and ended up passing a small group of teenage boys. This led to about 20 or 30 minutes of them absolutely tailing us. They actually ran to catch up to us and seemed to be using us as a pacesetter. If we stopped to let them pass, we would end up just catching up to them because they would slow their pace. And then they would again stay glued to our behinds if we passed them again lol. At one point we had to go over some rocky chunks of trail with water over them and one of them was literally right behind me as if we were a group hiking together. There was no point to let him pass because he was so far ahead from his bros that we would've had to wait some time for them to also pass, and again they would slow their pace til we caught up. I should've told him to give me some space because the distance was too personal and unsafe over the wet rocks but I was too focused on my footing.

This really messed with our timing and pace for the first quarter or so of our hike lol. We ended up taking a super long break to get rid of them but I felt annoyed we had to do that and lose our momentum and time. We ended up getting a bit close to them again and I heard one of them say "guys how did they catch up to us" 🫩 I guess my question is how do you all deal with extremely poor passing etiquette or hikers using you to set their pace? I had never experienced this before and was really at a loss for words lol

I'm planning to do the Annapurna Circuit Trek in late October this year, and I wanted to get some honest opinions from people who've actually done it.

A bit about me:

• I'm 25 years old.
• I've never done a multi-day trek before. This would be my first real trek.
• I'm not an athlete, but I'm in decent health.
• I have around 3–4 months to prepare, and I'm fully committed to training.
• My plan is to gradually build up to walking around 10 km every day, along with stair climbing, strength training (especially legs and core), and carrying a loaded backpack on some walks.
• My goal is to take preparation seriously rather than just show up and hope for the best.

From what I've read, the Annapurna Circuit seems challenging mainly because of the altitude and the long consecutive days of hiking, rather than requiring technical climbing skills.

My questions are:

1. Is it realistic for someone with zero trekking experience to complete the Annapurna Circuit with 3–4 months of dedicated preparation?
2. Or am I being overly ambitious and should I first do a few easier multi-day treks?
3. If you were in my position, what would you focus on during training?
4. Are there any mistakes first-time trekkers commonly make that I should avoid?

I'd really appreciate honest feedback. If you think this is a bad idea, please tell me why. If you think it's achievable, I'd love to hear what made the biggest difference in your preparation.