Our Hike to Tappenkarsee - The Way Up

It is impossible to take a bad picture of the Austrian mountains, so I will try to refrain from filling the blog with endless pictures of scenery.  The bus met us at the dorms early.

The weather was fabulous and we got good views out the bus window of the Austrian landscape.

At one point we ran into a little fog, but it eventually lifted.

The bus let us off at a beautiful little lake, that would be the start of our trek up the mountain.

I don't have many pictures of the students on the way up, because they were so much more fit than this older woman, whom they pretty much left in the dust! ;-)

So you will have to make do with pictures of the  scenery.

Everywhere we looked were beautiful sights.

Woods, streams, waterfalls. We got to see it all.

 

We followed the stream up the mountain and had quite a rigorous climb.

It was the time of year when they were bringing the cows down the mountain, so they could spend the winter in a warmer place, so we would occasionally hear the cow bells and know that we needed to get out of the way.

The cows were certainly more sure-footed than I.

 

 Gradually the lake we started at receded into the distance and the view got higher.  Assistant director Pia kept me company at the back of the  group.

 

As we neared the top, the stream descended at a sharper angle forming a lovely waterfall.

 

In the back (center)  of the next picture you can see the lake we started off at. It seemed much larger when we were there!

 

Before we knew it, we had arrived at our goal, another lake - Tappenkarsee.

 

We hiked around the lake and up a little path to get to our Hütte (Hut - really more of a lodge) where we would spend the next few nights. 

Here we are just about to arrive at our destination.

The weather was beautiful, the air was fresh and we were  happy to have made it.