Up, up, and up

I started out the day by dropping a Nalgene water bottle on the middle toe of my (bare) left foot. Under normal circumstances anyone who is even half as manly as me would have waved this off as a mere trifle, but with the Austrian gravity the water bottle must have weighed at least ten pounds and it nailed the little guy square on. It was not a pleasant experience. I did a bit of hopping and strutting and after a quick massage (with no crepitus) I decided that I could probably make it through the day.

Our plan was to go to Bricciuskappelle -- a small chapel east of Heiligenblut that we didn't make it to on Thursday. Our route took us all the way down to the valley floor below town where we crossed the river and then started up the other side. The first thing we came to was Gossnitz Falls -- one of the largest water falls in the area. We hiked up a slippery trail to an overlook near the top of the falls.



We dropped back down to the river and then started up the side of the valley again, but this time on a road that was every bit as steep as the trail to the water fall viewpoint.



The road clawed its way up through several switchbacks, quickly leaving the top of the waterfall far below. We came to an open point in the trees that allowed us to look across the valley and see the chapel (not Bricciuskappelle) that we'd found on Thursday.



The road continued up the "Gentle Incline" and eventually reached an open meadow that was "Fairly Flat". The meadow contained several small cabins and looked like it was used as pasture for cattle some of the time. While Beth was bending over to look at some thistles (smaller than the ones we'd seen yesterday) a wild animal charged out at her from the brush. Fortunately it didn't press the attack, but it gave her quite a start.



When we reached the top of the meadow we looked back and saw a family walking their toddler up the road we'd just struggled to climb.



After climbing seemingly forever on the road we switched over to a trail that continued on in the same vein. Up, up, up. The map promised that at some point we'd fork off onto a trail on the right while the main trail continued on to the stars. When the air started getting thin I began to fear that we'd missed the trail junction, so we spent a lot of time looking at the map debating our location.



We did eventually find the trail junction and then started sliding down the hill. As rugged as the terrain is, it is still being used as pasture land for cattle. We'd often see cow manure along the trail and there were regular fences with gates or stiles for us to get through.



There was lots of water coming down the valley at this point, so we passed many waterfalls (large and small) and crossed several bridges. We also passed a snow cave over one of the creeks.



Finally, we came to a meadow containing Bricciuskapelle.



We stopped at the chapel and ate a snack while sitting on the benches out front. It was wonderful to be able to rest in the warm sun while munching on nuts with the meadow and waterfalls to look at.



For a while the trial out of Bricciuskapelle was "Fairly Flat" as it wound down through the meadows. There were many small creeks trickling through the meadows and they reminded Beth of hiking in California's Marble Mountains with her Aunt Binny as a teen. She also saw flowers similar to Blue Bells that reminded her of her Grandma Carpenter.

There's a bit of a cliff before the trail drops into the valley and it has an overlook cantilevered out over nothing. While I generally have a high regard for Austrian engineering and construction, I wasn't too keen to walk all the way out to the very end.



We'd enjoyed yesterday's lunch so much that we were hoping for a repeat performance today, but as we approached the trail-side restaurant at 15:02 we saw the proprietor scurrying down the path toward home (and the restaurant was locked up tight). Poor timing on our part -- maybe we shouldn't have spent quite so long eating nuts in front of the chapel.

On the way down to Heiligenblut we passed several barns with cables for gathering hay. The barn is situated at the top of the field and has one or more cables running from the hay mow down to the bottom of the field. They presumably run a hay hook on the cable and use it to pull the hay up into the mow. I wasn't able to see anyone actually using the cables, but it was a very common feature on the barns.



We stopped for an early dinner in Heiligenblut and then hobbled back to the pension when we were finished. It was a great hike, but we covered a little more distance (and elevation) then we'd planned. We spent the balance of the evening resting and reading in our room.

Below is a track of today's hike.


View 2009.09.26.track in a larger map