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For centuries Salzkammergut area has been known and used for its salt mines, a "white gold" of the time, which made Salzburg - a center of the region - one of the richest towns in Austria.
St Wolfgangsee is a pretty large lake in the Salzkammergut area, a famous Austrian resort providing opportunities for swimming, walking, hiking, climbing in summer, skiing in winter and simply enjoying yourself all year round. We've been here 2 years ago (see my 2013 trip blog here in russian) and used the opportunity to come back again. There are three main towns on the lake: St Gilden, St Wolfgang im Salzkammergut and Strobl, with several more smaller villages in between.
We came to Strobl in the afternoon of the 10th day. Heavy rain started right after we had arrived and continued through the evening and night and only by morning the sun was shining again.
It was a hiking day for me. The area features numerous hiking trails, from leisurely walks to real climbing.
The first route I chose was a trail marked as beautiful in a guide, along the gorge, promising breathtaking views. The route led to a small lake called Schwarzensee, rich in fish, at the height of 716 m above the sea level.
At first the trail was pretty steep and challenging, but after a while it became a flatter road winding inside the forest on the hill slope. Down below there was a mountain stream, but calling this a gorge was an overstatement. Due to hot weather the stream was almost dry, so it wasn't as spectacular as it could have been.
Such a short and easy trail was not enough challenge for me this day, so I picked the next one - a pilgrim way over 3 hills, passing a famous local church called Falkenstein. It is a part of one of Europe's cultural pilgrimage routes - St. Rupert's. Clearly marked, with signs telling you the history of the place (albeit in German only), steep in the beginning and at the end, flat in the middle, it was a great pleasure. It started in the village called Riedl on the lake shore...
Last glance at the lake before entering the forest...
... and off you go into the woods on the slope of the hill, going up and up...
At the top the forest gave way to a nice grassy plateau with a Falkenstein church built into the mountain. The church was open, with benches, candles and even a bell that you could ring (and everybody did, breaking the pleasant silence of the forest).
After the late lunch in one of the guesthouses near Strobl, I was still not tired and decided to finish the day hiking the mountain nearby. The beauty of the trail I picked was that it had a steep ("red") part in the beginning, promised beautiful views of the lake on top of the mountain and then a nice and easy descent ("blue" trail) back to where I started via the Kleefeld wildpark. Sounded amazing.
Since it was getting closer to the evening my plan was to pass the red part of the trail - steep hike - first and then come back with a longer flatter semicircle. In this case even if it started to get dark, I would be able to easily descend on a wide walkable road.
The important part was not to miss the fork at the beginning of the trail and go to the steep part first. But the trail signs were so confusing, that in spite of checking the map and the surroundings I took the wrong turn and ended up being on the flatter blue trail in the first part of my journey. When I realized my mistake it was too late to come back so I enjoyed the lambs and goats in the wild park on my way and then sprinted up the mountain to make it as soon as possible to the top, because I had no idea how steep the descent was and how long it will take me. On the way up the road slowly became less and less visible until it finally turned into a barely visible narrow trail on the top. But by this time I realized with a sense of relief, that I made it to the top with still plenty of time to go down.
A nice evening view to St Wolfgangsee lake opened from the top of the mountain.
I spent a great deal of time just sitting on the old trunk of the tree looking to the boats sliding peacefully on the emerald water surface. The forest around me was quiet - just the buzzing of mosquitoes and a noise of cars driving below on the road, amazingly loud, was heard at the top.
After some time I decided it was time to go back and I went to the red route. It was not very hard but it was harder than I expected. Actually, the worst part was that the trail was almost invisible and only the markings on the trees in the form of austrian flag with a trail number showed me where to go next. Sometimes I couldn't find any trees with the marks.
Eventually I made it to the base of the hill, passing several beautiful stops with views on the way, also noting where I have made the mistake on my way up and noting that I would have made this mistake in any case because the signs were really ambiguous.
By now I was finally tired and it was time to call it a day. One important outcome of it was that I really liked my hiking experience and there was one more reason now to come back to Alps - this time to go up the mountain without cable car. And to my greatest pleasure the amount of trails to hike and views to admire is big.
*3 Berge, 3 Orte, 3 Steige (german) - 3 mountains, 3 places, 3 hikes
- The route
- Day 1. Die Hängebrücke
- Day 2. Conquering two peaks
- Day 3. Glacier lakes and a small miracle
- Day 4. From the top of the mountain to the depth of the earth
- Day 5. Berchtesgaden. Rossfeld route. Malenwinkler rund.
- Day 6. Klagenfurt
- Day 7. Design city. Schwarzenegger's heritage.
- Day 8. South to North.
- Day 9-10. Up and down Danube river
For centuries Salzkammergut area has been known and used for its salt mines, a "white gold" of the time, which made Salzburg - a center of the region - one of the richest towns in Austria.
St Wolfgangsee is a pretty large lake in the Salzkammergut area, a famous Austrian resort providing opportunities for swimming, walking, hiking, climbing in summer, skiing in winter and simply enjoying yourself all year round. We've been here 2 years ago (see my 2013 trip blog here in russian) and used the opportunity to come back again. There are three main towns on the lake: St Gilden, St Wolfgang im Salzkammergut and Strobl, with several more smaller villages in between.
We came to Strobl in the afternoon of the 10th day. Heavy rain started right after we had arrived and continued through the evening and night and only by morning the sun was shining again.
It was a hiking day for me. The area features numerous hiking trails, from leisurely walks to real climbing.
The first route I chose was a trail marked as beautiful in a guide, along the gorge, promising breathtaking views. The route led to a small lake called Schwarzensee, rich in fish, at the height of 716 m above the sea level.
One of the most beautiful sights on the way were numerous Cyclamens, or alpine violas as we call them. Small and gentle, they grew in patches here and there.
At the lake there were two restaurants with customary Apfelstrudel, huge cups of coffee and no credit cards accepted. In general, once outside the big cities and highways it's almost impossible to find a place to eat where you can pay with a bank or credit card. Bargeld (cash) only. This is especially true in Bavaria, even in cities, due to high bank charges for card payments. It's easier in Austria, but in the mountain villages still - stash cash!
Such a short and easy trail was not enough challenge for me this day, so I picked the next one - a pilgrim way over 3 hills, passing a famous local church called Falkenstein. It is a part of one of Europe's cultural pilgrimage routes - St. Rupert's. Clearly marked, with signs telling you the history of the place (albeit in German only), steep in the beginning and at the end, flat in the middle, it was a great pleasure. It started in the village called Riedl on the lake shore...
... and went up the hill at some places so steep, that even bikers on mountain bikes had to walk it, except for lucky ones having an electrical bike.
Last glance at the lake before entering the forest...
... and off you go into the woods on the slope of the hill, going up and up...
... until you reach a next bench and a bunch of tired bikers and hikers, all greeting each other, resting and admiring the view. One very pleasant feature of these places, or trails, or people? is that everyone I met on trails greeted each other. You could only guess from their Hallo's, Grüß Gott's and Gruetzi's whether they were German, Swab, Austrian, Swiss or someone else, trying to look German, Austrian or Swiss (like us). In any case it felt real good to meet and greet people on the way.
At the top the forest gave way to a nice grassy plateau with a Falkenstein church built into the mountain. The church was open, with benches, candles and even a bell that you could ring (and everybody did, breaking the pleasant silence of the forest).
On my way down on the other side of the mountain I realized that I went in the direction different from the one the route was designed. Not that it mattered to me, it's just all the way down there were stone crosses depicting images of Stations of the Cross (Jesus Christ on the day of his Crucifixion), and the idea was that you go uphill passing these and presumably feeling something remotely resembling suffering of the Jesus going up the Golgotha. For me it was a pleasant (although pretty steep) walk down with more views to the emerald waters of Wolfgangsee.
After the late lunch in one of the guesthouses near Strobl, I was still not tired and decided to finish the day hiking the mountain nearby. The beauty of the trail I picked was that it had a steep ("red") part in the beginning, promised beautiful views of the lake on top of the mountain and then a nice and easy descent ("blue" trail) back to where I started via the Kleefeld wildpark. Sounded amazing.
Since it was getting closer to the evening my plan was to pass the red part of the trail - steep hike - first and then come back with a longer flatter semicircle. In this case even if it started to get dark, I would be able to easily descend on a wide walkable road.
The important part was not to miss the fork at the beginning of the trail and go to the steep part first. But the trail signs were so confusing, that in spite of checking the map and the surroundings I took the wrong turn and ended up being on the flatter blue trail in the first part of my journey. When I realized my mistake it was too late to come back so I enjoyed the lambs and goats in the wild park on my way and then sprinted up the mountain to make it as soon as possible to the top, because I had no idea how steep the descent was and how long it will take me. On the way up the road slowly became less and less visible until it finally turned into a barely visible narrow trail on the top. But by this time I realized with a sense of relief, that I made it to the top with still plenty of time to go down.
A nice evening view to St Wolfgangsee lake opened from the top of the mountain.
I spent a great deal of time just sitting on the old trunk of the tree looking to the boats sliding peacefully on the emerald water surface. The forest around me was quiet - just the buzzing of mosquitoes and a noise of cars driving below on the road, amazingly loud, was heard at the top.
After some time I decided it was time to go back and I went to the red route. It was not very hard but it was harder than I expected. Actually, the worst part was that the trail was almost invisible and only the markings on the trees in the form of austrian flag with a trail number showed me where to go next. Sometimes I couldn't find any trees with the marks.
Eventually I made it to the base of the hill, passing several beautiful stops with views on the way, also noting where I have made the mistake on my way up and noting that I would have made this mistake in any case because the signs were really ambiguous.
By now I was finally tired and it was time to call it a day. One important outcome of it was that I really liked my hiking experience and there was one more reason now to come back to Alps - this time to go up the mountain without cable car. And to my greatest pleasure the amount of trails to hike and views to admire is big.
*3 Berge, 3 Orte, 3 Steige (german) - 3 mountains, 3 places, 3 hikes
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