13.6 miles ascent 3307′ descent 3557′
As we had come off the trail to reach our night’s accommodations, this morning we took a taxi back to join the trail at the Gasthaus Karwendelrast. The trail ran directly behind Karwendelrast and plunged down the hill into the forest.
Descending further into the gorge we came upon the power station on the Vomperbach River where we had to duck around an overhanging rock in the cliff face.
We crossed a series of smaller bridges, some warning against more than two people on the span at a time and one bridge was missing a few planks.
The path along the river was very scenic as it wound in and out of the forest.
We emerged from the river gorge and the deep forest via a series of very steep, upward zigzags to a high gravel track, where mountain vistas again became visible.
Taking in the spectacular Huberbankspitze and surrounding peaks was a pleasant distraction from the constant uphill grade. Another distraction, which we worked to avoid, was created by the dozens of mountain bikes, most of them motorized “e-bikes”, that zipped past us. We had hoped to take a rest at the village of Ganalm, but we found a self-serve cafe providing drinks that were sitting in the sun. As this did not look appealing, we journeyed on.
As we came around a bend an inviting waterfall was spilling down onto the track. So inviting that we jumped in and splashed around, cooling off, as the day had become quite warm.
After the long ascent we were ready for some refreshment and were delighted to arrive at the inviting farm of Walderalm.
We discovered, as we walked into Walderalm, that this hut was the destination for all the mountain bikers that had passed us earlier.
While enjoying the delicious meal we noticed some fascinating wood carvings. One life-sized carving was of a steinbock, also known as the Alpine Ibex. We had been on the lookout for one of these animals and this was the closest that we had come to actually seeing one!
We noticed over the door of one of the buildings an adorable grouping of miniature cows that had been carefully and skillfully carved.
Walderalm is a working dairy farm. The cows in their barn were quite friendly, not unlike the other cows we met on our trip.
After the meal and a brief rest, we resumed our hike and headed down the mountain to Walderbrücke Gasthof.
After several miles of walking through the forest we arrived at the gasthof.
We spent an enjoyable evening seated on the patio under the trees for dinner. The jovial wait staff and the other guests were spreading a friendly atmosphere, which lead to a delightful evening.
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