An Austrian Alpine Adventure

“It’s almost 7:30, and few else are up. I got up ‘cause I wanted an early breakfast, but also just to appreciate the early morning sun over the Talen and Bergen. It’s mighty cold and quite windy here on the cliff’s edge, but the air smells great and I really cannot wait to start hiking. I hope to go as far as my body and logic will let me go. Now if only frühstück was ready!

We all set out on the trail from the hotel shortly before 10:00, in a large group that included the majority of the class. As I rubbed shoulders with the Austrian families who had just come up on the gondola, it didn’t take long to become entranced by the beauty of the mountains I had never seen before. One thing that was immediately apparent to me was the amount of wildflowers; almost everywhere I looked, there were flowers! And not just one species either! I wouldn’t be able to name them all, except that I saw white daisies, yellow dandelions, tiny bluebells, stalks of dark blue flowers all grouped together, five-petaled pink flowers, and surely others. I can’t remember ever hiking mountains in California with this many flowers on them.

It also didn’t take long to reach the first lodge on the trail. (A word about these lodges: throughout the Austrian Alps these buildings sell cooked meals to hikers. They typically have indoor seating areas and bathrooms as well. A few of them even have beds for the overnight hikers. I am not sure if backcountry camping with tents is allowed here, but these lodges do satisfy such multi-day needs.) This first lodge, the Ottohaus, has been noteworthy to past students of this program because it has its own cat, appropriately named Otto! He seemed very comfortable amongst all the hikers and appeared the kind of cat who demanded to be stroked while laying down on the wooden tables next to the railing on the cliff’s edge.

“Man, this cat just knows how to live” I chortled.

The trail started to get rather rocky and very steep past the Ottohaus, but we soon found our way up to the large metal cross erected on the nearby peak. We would encounter a second cross later on, and I get the impression that many alpine peaks have crosses on top of them. I have to wonder what sort of tradition this is and how old the crosses are. Also worth noting here is that every trail we hiked on featured rocks with colored stripes painted on them, located about every fifteen meters. These rocks were very helpful in marking where the trail was, and their colors corresponded to the colors used to draw the trails on the maps we had. The Austrian Alps are certainly very developed for all who visit them.

Multiple scenic vistas later we came to our second lodge, were I got some wurst and lemonade. I actually meant to follow Professor Stuart’s recommendation and get the half-beer half-lemonade, but I don’t think there was much beer in my drink. Oh well, I consider it punishment for using such bad German at the counter! In any case, it was very cool to be able to have such a lunch high up in the mountains with other hikers. My father and I have often joked on hikes in California that there should be In-N-Out stands on peaks and passes; well, I’ve learned that they more or less exist in Austria!


As we climbed higher, the trees disappeared and all around us was just grassy tundra. There seemed to be fewer hikers too. It was pretty peaceful, and as I had noted early in the morning, the Alpine air smelled so good and fresh, like the way you would expect cool mountain air to be like. We briskly strolled over rolling crests of grass, bushes and flowers before reaching Habsburghaus – our last lodge and the farthest we would be from the hotel. Here I couldn’t resist buying a slice of some very moist apple cake and admiring the views from behind a glass window. In fact, we all rewarded ourselves with a bit of food from the Habsburghaus. If I ever come back this way, I’ll spend a night there and see if I can’t hike further out into the mountains from there.


The way back was an alternate route so we could see unfamiliar country. I think we splintered off into separate groups, but in any case I ended up walking through some dense pine forests. Looking through the trees to mountain peaks away, I actually could make myself imagine that I was still in California. But there were many other things around me – the abundant flowers, the painted rocks, the cozy lodges here and there – that made today a uniquely Austrian and Alpine experience. This has no doubt been one of my favorite days so far.


The German word of the day is "wohin," meaning "where to."