28th-29th August 2010

28th August 2010

Today the weather was lousy, so we went into Innsbruck for a couple of hours. The public transport here is great. There is a bus terminus a short walk from our apartment, so we decided it would be easier to take the bus to Innsbruck. The timetable said that we had 30 minutes to wait until it went next. But as soon as we got on, he departed. We ended up in Innsbruck 30 minutes later. Innsbruck and Salzburg are very much alike. Both have a river running through the city and have buildings that are very similar. Nothing out of the ordinary though but a nice break from the hiking. Came home to some yummy home baking. Maria had made a delicious apricot slice using fruit from her garden and came down with 2 huge slices for us. She has also been giving us other fruit from her garden. She and her husband have been great hosts.


29th August 2010

Today we decided to do a local hike instead of joining the guided hike. The guided hike was up to the same area as last Sunday, so we thought that we would do something different. We had already checked out the road up to Kemater Alm a couple of days before, so instead of driving all the way up for the start of the hike, we parked about 30 minutes before to give us a longer walk. Our goal was Adolf Pischler Hutte. When we reached Kemater Alm, there were sign posts pointing to the hut in 2 directions and the map showed the 2 different paths. One was a quicker path up and back the same way and the other was by a more varied path, up one way and down another.So we decided to tackle the longer one. The going from the car to Kemater Alm had been up-hill all the way and so was the trail from Kemater Alm to the turn-off to start the mountain trail to the hut. But what the map didn't tell us was that the route we were about to take was marked 'Black'. All the hiking trails are colour coded according to difficulty. I think the family routes are yellow, the medium ones are red and white, and the difficult are black. And this was marked black. Oh Well! Too late to turn back now. Onwards and upwards! And we did it!! Some steel ladders over steep sections, clambering over large boulders and at stages, the path only narrow enough to walk on with a sheer drop at the side.At one stage I went to put my walking pole into the path at the side of where I was walking and it just kept going down.When I looked, there was nothing at the side to hold the pole. Only air. Certainly gets you out of your comfort zone and gets the heart rate going.

The path from the car to Kemater Alm is along a gravel road which follows a small creek that flows through our village, Grinzens.This is a photo of the creek.

You will already have worked out that I like to look for Fungii. It gives me something to look for as we walk through the forests. Here are a couple more.

The walk up the valley before our turn-off to Adolf Pischler Hutte was magnificant. Stunning scenery. This is Kemater Alm where the hike starts.

This was the scenery as we walked up the valley and also looking back the way we had come.

And this is the hut and the surrounding mountains.

Aren't these guys cute!!

When we got back to the car, I decided to walk all the way back home. Armed with the camera and some water, off I took to look for some more of those fungii.

When I got back home, I had been walking for almost 6 hours. It was a long slog down-hill to get home. But I enjoyed the challenge.

Could be the last of the sunny weather for a while. Snow on the mountains tomorrow and expected to be falls quite low down.

27th August 2010

We again joined the guided hike and had some excitement on the bus with some cranky Italians. Our shoes are inspected each time we get on the bus and if you don't have proper hiking shoes you have to borrow them from the Hiking Club. One of the guides was Hilda and she lead one of the easier hikes on another day where we did the harder one. She was trying to tell these Italians that they had to get hiking shoes and they were telling her that they didn't. They even told her she didn't know what she was talking about. After about 15 minutes of arguing, Hilda just shrugged her shoulders and told the bus driver to get going. We didn't know what was being said because it was in Italian, but we got the gist of it. So off we went up into the Stubaital Valley. The bus stopped and she called for all those who were going to do the harder hike into the mountains. Of course the Italians stood up but she would not let them off the bus. Our guide and those going into the mountains got off and the doors closed and the bus drove away. Not sure what happened after that. But we did the hike without those Italians, thank God.

We met some Australians from Melbourne yesterday. 3 are doing a trip together, one of them from Austria but has Australian Citizenship. The other couple are just coincidentally staying at the same hotel. All very nice and we did a lot of the walk today with them. Nice to talk to someone who speaks good english. That is one of the things that we miss over here. Being able to talk to someone else. Some know a little english, but mostly, especially the older ones, speak only German. Even the guides speak mostly German. Can be a little worrying when you don't really know where you are going each hike or how difficult it is going to be. But there is usually someone on the bus that speaks enough english to let us know what is happening. And there have been quite a few couples that have done each hike with us.

And, I must say, what a fantastic hike! About the most enjoyable we have done so far this trip. Our guide's name was Heinz, but a different Heinz from our previous hikes. He was great. He did not push the pace, but took it steady with lots of stops where necessary, so time to enjoy the surroundings and take some piccies. The day started out cloudy with a storm forecast later in the day with possible snow in the mountains. So we were loaded up with warm jackets and our waterproofs. We started on a very steep uphill climb through the forest on a trail called 'Neustifter Besinnungsweg im Pinnistal'. The town nearby is Neustift and the end point of the hike was Pinnisalm and Besinnungsweg means 'a walk of the senses'. So that is the meaning of the title. There were lots of carved wooden features along the trail with poignant sayings. Hence the trail title.

After we came out of the forest, we were met with an incredible sight, and were left in no doubt that we were definetely in the mountains. We walked over many types of trail, water crossings, scree slopes, fixed cables, cow paddocks and forest road. The variety for me makes it more enjoyable. It took us 3.5 hours to reach our destination, the Pinnisalm, just as the rain started and the clouds came rolling in. Thank goodness we had the 3.5 hours in good light if not exactly full sunshine. While we had lunch at the Pinnisalm, it poured rain and we were all envisaging doing the return hike in the rain. But it stopped, and we had an enjoyable hike back to the start. Our total hiking time was 5.5 hours and we were pleased to get back to the bus. Our last half hour was discussing having to get back on the bus with the Italians. But when we got to the bus, it was empty. So it was just our group that went back together.

Now, you have to admit this free guided hiking is just brilliant. Yesterday, the bus trip took us 1.5 hours to get to the start of the hike, today it only took about 45 minutes. And the bus is waiting for us at the finish of each hike, even when we finish in different locations than where we started. Imagine what each hike would cost if you were paying. On the way home,someone usually brings around the hat and we put in some money for the guide.

Here are some photos that I hope you enjoy, but nothing can come close to experiencing the real thing.

Only another couple of days left here, but the weather is not looking good. But I hope to see a bit of snow before we go so fingers crossed.

26th August 2010

Today we decided to do another guided hike. Too good an opportunity to miss. It was off to a near-by ski-ing area called Kuhtai. The bus dropped us off at Marlstein at 1748m and we did a hike to the summt of Faltegartenkopfl at 2184m, down to Feldringalm at 1888m for lunch and then back to the bus.

I didn't enjoy today. Heinz sets quite a fast pace and does not stop often. I don't mind hiking the steep paths, but I also like to enjoy the scenery and take photos. He doesn't allow time for this. Although he does wait every so often to wait for everyone to catch up. The path was steeply up all the way and even though the elevation gain was not as great as the day before, it seemd to be twice that of yesterday. Or maybe my legs were just tired. However, we finally made the summit, and WOW, what a view!! The Inn Valley. The Inn River flows through Innsbruck, but Innsbruck is not seen in any of the photos here.