Another challenging day although the sections of Alpine trail with wire rope to hang onto were fun.
After an enormous breakfast I started the day visiting the SPAR store to restock with supplies. At around 10 am I started up the trail to a nearby Ski resort, just as the morning rain was finishing. Although uphill it was easy enough being on a tarmac road for much of the way, which ran below a modern "galleried" road, where a concrete "roof" protects the cars from rock falls or avalanches.
From the ski resort a gravel vehicle track took me upwards. Although the steep climb seemed unrelenting, the track did level off in time. Black lizards stood on the path, not moving in the wet , cool weather. Then paths across a promontory lead me to a track which took me way down in a grass covered bowl surrounded by mountains, losing most the height I had so slowly climbed. Frustrating. On climbing up the base of the other side of the valley I arrived at what I knew from the guidebook was a seriously, steep climb to the top of Hochschere. At its base a sign warned this was an Alpine experience, not for those prone to dizziness. Forewarned I laboriously gained height. The climb was steep and long. Near the top, as it became more rock and loose stones than grass, steel cables anchored to the rock gave me something to pull myself up with. Climbing over the final section of worn rock I rewarded myself with a Twix and apple sitting on a patch of grass. Thinking the difficult part was over I was feeling quite pleased. I was mistaken in this belief. On restarting it was steeply downhill, cables helping in places, zig-zagging back and for. My GPS then showed the path contouring along the mountainside. Easy I thought! Wrong. Although it was true the path did not rise or fall too much, I neglected to take note of the closely spaced contours indicating a very steep slope. The path was narrow. At one place a rock fall had destroyed part of it. Cables helped in places and at one near vertical slab bars had been anchored in the rock for you to step on while holding the cable. Not as scary as it sounds as the drop below to a stream was not that great. The rock was wet from the morning's rain and the loose, shifting stones added to the difficulty. When I was not using my hands to hang onto cables my trekking poles helped maintain my balance. However there were no great vertical drops to make we "dizzy".
Once out of the steep slopes I had to contend with cow damage to the path. Today the gentler slopes were grazed by cows, their bells ringing a cacophony so evocative of the Alps. I also saw a flock of goats. The problem with cows is they like to follow the path, turning into into a dense array of mud filled holes. Even beside the path, the grass hides hoof-sized holes full of water and mud. This makes for difficult walking and dirty trouser legs. From the path there were some seriously good views of the surrounding mountains, their snow streak rocky peaks pointing to the sky.
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| One of the cows responsible for trail damage! |
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| Looking back at the path traversing the steep mountainside. |
The afternoon's hike was longer than I anticipated, not reaching the hut until 5:45 pm on increasingly wobbly knees. Just in time for dinner at 6:00 pm. Although I had only see one other hiker today, and only then in the distance, I was surprised to find the hut very busy. At dinner, I made a fool of myself not noticing a sign on one of the tables with my name on it, indicating where I was meant to sit. (I also neglected to pay my bill at the end of the evening and was chased for it in the morning as if I was trying to leave without paying. Huts have lots of rules....on notices in German).
After dinner I sat outside and watched the light changing in the surrounding mountains. Too many clouds for a good sunset but pretty nevertheless. As the darkness creeped in, I could see lights, far away at the mouth of the valley, of some village or town preparing for sleep.
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| View from Biberacher Hutte as darkness fell. |
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