"I just had an epiphany," Dan says when we catch up. "I don't remember exactly what it was, but I had it." Trying to keep up through the forest, I was feeling something closer to the opposite of epiphany. But, then, we pause where the trees open up and we can see the depth of the valley. Quiet, wild, with massive peaks and glaciers towering above. I suppose if there's a place likely to induce epiphanies, it might just be here. 

With a variety of trails, and ideal altitude for training, the Engadine is a runner's paradise. It's especially beautiful in the fall with golden larch and the mountains newly white with snow.

We decide to detour for torte at the Chamanna Coaz, but we meet the hut keepers hiking out for the season. The last of the torte riding along in their packs. Besides the hut keepers, we only meet another woman running the high traverse, and guy in heavy boots who decides to join our race back down to town through the final few hundred meters of snaking forest trail.  

While you're in the Engadine, be sure to also run the Piz Languard and Piz Lunghin.