As we have not hired a car here in Zillertal, we decided to try taking a public bus ride up one of the mountains. The nearest bus stop to our hotel had a bus going to Hintertux Glacier so we boarded that one and paid ten euros each for a return ticket. When we arrived quite a few people were catching the ski lift gondolas up to the glacier, some carrying skis. We noticed a high school age group from Italy carrying a huge amount of ski equipment each.
They say there is still powder snow up there and in fact they had snowfall right through the valley last week. This week the maximum temperature has averaged 30 C. That combination meant that the streams coming down were running very fast.
Yesterday the Krimmler Falls were at their mighty best (we will compare them to Niagara when we get there). Today there were dozens of rushing streams converging on us in the valley. We found a sign pointing to Wasserfalle, so we climbed up a rough and stony path to see the first one.
The track sign pointed up to more and we started following a local family who knew the tracks. We stopped at many points overlooking the waterfalls, which sometimes flowed through deep chasms.
The father of the young family pointed out to us a rock which he called "the mouth of the whale".
They told us we could walk upwards to a bridge which would allow us to complete a circuit down the other side of the waterfalls. There were several light wooden bridges which crossed scary torrents.
They stopped at a large stony flat which looked like the former bed of a glacier and we left them there.
In total we walked up 260 meters to a height of 1750, so not quite as big a climb as yesterday (380) but a much rougher track, so just as demanding and just as beautiful and enjoyable. We called this a genuine "bush walk", with water crossings by the dozen and a remote feel. We are impressed with the way they use wood for every possible purpose: guttering, animal troughs, pipes, roof tiles, etc.
Lyn found a blue flower that survives above the tree line.
Farmers are mowing the short grasses everywhere, raking and tossing it, then baling it for winter. That has given Malcolm a hard time with hay fever the last two weeks.
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