Hiking in the Austrian Alps

 

Currently writing about Austria, while on the island of Lopud in Croatia. Austria seems so far away now. It was, actually, considering I was in the Alps over a week ago. Again, with just too much going on to fill my days, and sometimes having a hard time sitting town to type, this post is coming in a little after the fact. I'll probably keep things somewhat brief, and again I'll end with some videos from one of my best days of hiking as a way to give some more info and visuals to go along with what I'm about to write.

After being in Bavaria for a couple of weeks, I really had a hankering for getting into the mountains and for spending several days just embedded in the Alps. So... I left Wangen, and the Schmidts (the greatest hosts, by the way...) and set off for Reutte, Austria. Not the easiest of places to get to by public transport from Wangen, especially considering a whole section of train tracks is currently closed between Wangen and southern Germany due to a train derailment back in June. So, my journey took me on one train, and three different buses. Luckily, no delays, no missed connections, so I made it just fine. A couple of the buses really sucked, though, because these were buses that were acting as replacements for the trains that could no longer run in that part of the country, so my fellow passengers and I were rather sardined into these city buses that had been repurposed to act as shuttles for currently non-existent trains. Anyway... bottom line is my journey could've been better, but the destination was worth it.

In Reutte - actually I was staying in the adjacent, tiny village of Lechaschau - I had booked myself into a fairly nice, splurgy type of place. At the base of the mountains. Balcony looking out to the Alps. Sauna. Steam room. Big buffet breakfast. I was treating myself. And it was nice. But upon arrival - around 2:00 - the place was a freaking graveyard. Dark. Empty. Absolutely no one around. Siestas in Austria? Maybe? So, I dumped off my backpack and decided to go for a stroll. I walked down to the banks of the Lech River and enjoyed a bunch of food I had stashed in my backpack. Chilled out. Got some sun. Dipped my toes in the water, then headed back to check into the hotel. Petra, now womaning the reception desk, got me all sorted out and recommended a lake hike for after I settled in. I was grateful for the recommendation, took no time at all to dump my stuff in my room, then set off for the lake. Thanks, Petra. It was a great hike. Just an hour or so to get to this high mountain lake, and once I was there it was a quick dip in the water then up to the restaurant for a beer and an early dinner. Great way to spend my first day in Austria.

The following day I hiked along the Lech River, south, to a really cool area that has not only the world's longest pedestrian suspension bridge - Highline 179, but also the ruins of Ehrenberg Castle, a gothic castle that strategically stood in this location since 1296. Really cool hike. Really cool experience. I'll let a video me from the day add some more info here...

On my second full day in Reutte, I hiked to the top of the Hahnenkamm Mountain hiking area. With this hike, and the one the day before, the beauty was I could just stroll out of my hotel room and hit the trails. No buses. No driving. No nothing. Just load up on some food, strap on the backpack and go. This day was amazing! And the hike was one of the best of my life. It started with a steep climb to get to the main hiking area where most people take a gondola to get started. Softies! I didn't want to do the gondola today. I wanted the whole thing to be a hiking - no technology assist - kind of experience. And it was great. Gorgeous scenery. Several different mountain huts. Tons of sweating - that then got replenished with weissbiers. Great, great time. I was up and on and down that mountain all day. I'll go ahead and again let me video self do the talking below...

But, all in all a great time in Austria. I will say I did get a tad lonely, this being a part of my trip in which I wasn't with family or friends, but the hiking made up for that. When I was on the mountain, or along the river, or on the bridge, or eating cake or drinking beer, I was a happy man. It was mostly those breakfasts and dinners back at the hotel in which I noticed the loneliness. But...I digress... Later, in Croatia, when I put my mind to combatting the loneliness with some good old fashioned "talkin' to folks", things got a lot better. More on that to come... For now, enjoy the videos of my day-long hike to Hahnenkamm... Auf Wiedersehen!