Austria
June 17 - July 14, 2009
July 3 - Brixen Silberweg & Jochstub'n see
Today started off cloudy and drizzly again so we decided to do a walk more in the valley where no view was expected. Our destination was Brixenbach waterfall but we weren't sure how to get there so the plan was to check in first at the Brixen tourism bureau which served the added bonus that we could get our silver Brixen hiking pins. Unexpectedly however, the recommendation was to actually approach the Brixenbach waterfall via Westendorf!
With better hiking maps in hand, we looked at our choices and rather than head back to Westendorf, we decided to make a second attempt at finding the malacite and azurite rocks that were supposed to be along the "Silver Path" hiking trail. We took the lift up to Filzalmsee and set out on the hiking trail but the description was pretty vague and although we kept to the path, we could not find the rock fall.
Instead we eventually made it over the crest of the mountain and found ourselves the Jochstub'n See - a beautiful lake (man-made) stocked with trout which were served up at the adjacent restaurant. Bellies full we started heading back down and all of a sudden, lo and behold there were tons of blue and green azurite and malacite rocks! Woohoo! We explored and collected but eventually we had to head back to the lift before it closed.
We made it to the lift fine, but the winds had picked up even more and so the lift actually had to shut down because of storm warnings. Within minutes it got super cold and at one point it looked like we'd be shuttled down the mountain by bus. But the storm passed by staying mostly on the other side of the mountain and finally we were on our way down. Back home we got a lovely surprise invite to come and have supper at Uri's... Hannes had found the first chanterelles of the season and Uri made us Semmelknoedl with Schwammerl sauce (bread dumplings with chanterelle sauce). Mmmmmmm!
At the Brixen Tourism Information place.
Sam relaxing... you can actually buy these chairs... yikes!
Mmmmm, berner wuerstl (sausages bern style)...
anything wrapped in bacon has to be yummy!
Matching the "alms" to our hiking booklets...
yup, this is the Brantlalm so there should be a stampy station!
Samantha found it!
Milk cans.
Mountain meadows.
A little shrine along the way.
Snack time!
Samantha collecting some arnica for Uri to make a magic potion
(hmmmm, is Uri a witch? Samantha concluded she must be a good one!)
A view of the Kaisergebirge somewhat clouded over.
A pretty new bridge.
The Jochstubn See, an artificial alpine lake.
Samantha taking a little break.
Another stampy station!
At this rate we'll earn enough points for our gold pins by the end of today!
Time for lunch!
A cute sitting area to enjoy the view of the lake.
On the menu: Tiroler Groestl (pan fried potato, onions and bacon with a fried egg)...
...and a fresh grilled trout from the lake.
Samantha enjoying lunch.
The kids find their own little picnic table to play at.
This little hut is available to reserve for a little mountain vacation at the restaurant.
The wind starts to pick up and the clouds start to look
a little more ominous so we start to head back towards the lift.
A view back to the Jochstubnsee and the restaurant.
Hey, from here you can see all the way over to Ellmi's Zauberwelt!
Yikes, the approaching rain clouds are really starting to look ominous!
Samantha checks the map to see which way the
Silberweg goes to bring us in a round trip back to the lift.
Looking across the Brixner valley to the area where we had originally planned to go today - The Brixenbach waterfall area.
Lots of harebells... Samantha was convinced that whenever she smelled these flowers, the church bells in town would ring. :)
Hey, what's this?! Bright blue and green azurite and malachite! We found the rockfall!
Sammy excitedly collects some specimens, including some for Tante Silly.
Intense blue Azurite and bright green malachite are two basic copper (II) carbonate minerals which are good surface indicators of the presence of copper ores.
As the wind blows furiously the lift is shut down and we have to wait to see if it'll be turned back on or whether we will have to be shuttled down the mountain by bus.
As the weather got colder outside we took shelter inside and Sam discovered the number 66 gondola (66 being special because that is the number of Samantha's favourite campsite ever, #66 at Grand Manaan in New Brunswick)
Back in town, Samantha enjoys a trip to the grocery store where she gets to pick out a treat for a super job hiking today. Mmmmmm, milka chocolate!
Our silver hiking pins from Westendorf and Brixen.
Rubby found some of the BBQs in Austria very interesting.
A special treat of Schwammerl and Semmelknoedl back at Uris.
Hannes had picked the chanterelles earlier that day, the first ones of the season.
Christopher is getting pretty familiar with his surroundings!
Another great hiking day... zzzzzzz!!!!
Panoramic.