Hut to Hut Hike

July 24: We just returned from 3 days/2 nights in the mountains doing a hut to hut hike. We started in the town of Mayrhofen which is a home base for lots of action in the Zillertal Alps. On Monday we drove about 20-30 minutes south to the Schlegeisspeicher (which is a dam). We parked the car and headed out on our hike. There had been a rock slide in the area which blocked the route but we were able to pass by having a construction worker take us through the area where the workers were clearing the rock. We walked on a fairly flat section around the dam which was a beautiful blue color and into the valley. All around us were green mountains with high, jagged peaks, many of which were snow covered or had glaciers on them. We reached a point where we finally started ascending. The kids were carrying their own packs this time but we tried to keep them light. There were so many beautiful waterfalls all around. The hike was steep and we had some complaints but the kids forged ahead. We took a lot of breaks and ate a lot of snacks. After about 3.5 hours on the trail we arrived at the Furtschaglhaus hut at 1:30pm. We checked in at 2:00pm and had a long time to just chill at the hut. We rested, played cards on the deck, explored the river, rested, read, etc. One unusual event happened during our down time at the hut. A hiker had fallen when a rock he was on gave way and crushed him. He managed to get down to the hut with help from his group but he was all bloody on his face and they called a helicopter to take him out so we got to see the helicopter come in and land and the hut and take off. We ate big bowls of spaghetti bolognese and then got in bed early, around 8:30. We had a room for 8 people that we shared with two Finnish hikers who were very nice and quiet.

Tuesday morning we woke up and got packed up and had some breakfast on the deck of the hut. It was chilly in the morning before the sun came over the peaks. We started hiking at 8:30am and were quickly shedding layers as the day heated up. We knew we had a long and difficult hike ahead of us. We started a 3 hour ascent over a 9,000 foot peak. We stopped many times to admire the beauty surrounding us. We spotted sheep, marmots, waterfalls, we walked through snow fields (only two weeks ago this route was still closed due to too much snow). We had to scramble up rocks and finally made it to the peak called schonbichler horn at just over 9,000 feet. We stopped for a long rest and then began the descent to the valley below. We walked along a nice ridge line and passed through many snow fields. We had a bunch of snow ball fights and took a lot of rests. We could see the hut we were headed to from the peak. The kids did such a great job. No complaints, no whining about their backpacks, and they just kept trudging. Molly and I had a mantra to keep her moving about "how do you eat an elephant?"..."one bite at a time". We finally trudged into the hut at 4:24, exactly 8 hours from when we started. The sun was strong and we all had sun burn on our right arms. The Berliner hut is one of the oldest in the Alps and is so grand. It is much larger than the rest of the huts, there is this enormous wooden dining room, a beautiful deck with a raging river, two roaming pigs that the kids had fun with and beauty as far as the eye could see. It was really something to behold. We had a room to ourselves which was great and delicious food to fill us up after a long day. We played all sorts of board and card games, rested, walked around the property and got in bed by 8:30-9:00.

Wednesday morning we had breakfast on the deck and hit the trail around 9:00am. We had an easy descent on a nice, smooth, wide trail which was a nice relief for our feet and knees after a long, rocky descent the day before. We got to the bottom of the trail in under 3 hours. James got a ride back to our car and came back to get us. We scrambled back up the trail a ways to a beautiful waterfall area in a gorge that ran alongside the trail. Everyone (except me) went for a dip. Then we drove back into Mayrhofen to grab lunch and checked back into the Guesthaus Zillertal. We vegged for a long time as the day was unusually hot then we took the kids to the alpine slide for awhile. We went for another quick dip in the very fast moving river then headed out to a farewell dinner in town with Jon as he is leaving very early in the morning. The week with Jon has absolutely flown by. He is returning the car to the Munich airport tomorrow so we will back using the trains to make our way west to the next farm. Not sure what wifi will be like there but I fly home on Aug 1.