22nd August 2010

Well today we joined our first guided hike. We got to the tourist office early and sat on a seat outside awaiting the arrival of the guide. And the people just kept rolling in. Must have been 50 people at least. And 1 guide. We walked about 20minutes up the street to the base station of the Muttereralmbahn (mountain lift) and free of charge, caught the lift to the top and the start of the hike. The guide gave us all some information about the surrounding area, took us for a walk around a lake and then, with our return ticket in our pockets, we set off on our own and hiked further than most of the others. It was a nice hike, through forestry roads, undulating up and down and without any great difficulties. We hiked for 3.5 hours and I estimated that we hiked about 15km. We came across Gotzneralm and had lunch and a cold drink before heading back to the starting point, down the lift and home. Not sure if we like these guided hikes though. But we will try again. We hope that there so many because it was a Sunday.

This is Gotzneralm where we had lunch. We are still amazed that you can walk for hours and come across this in the middle of the forest. And so packed we could not find a seat.