Our original plan was to sleep in Bad Ischl for 3 nights, excurting to Hallstatt one day and hiking The Schafberg the other full day. But the weather forecast for the 2nd day called for rain and highs in the 40's F, so we cut the third night from the schedule and on our one full day excurted to Hallstatt then walked back towards Bad Ischl on a 10 km segment of the Soleweg or Brine Pipeline Trail. Hallstatt was beautiful as expected; the Brine Pipeline Trail was soooo good that we rate it as one-of-the-best-walks-ever!
Logistics for the day:
- Train from Bad Ischl to Hallstatt Station.
- Boat from Hallstatt Station to Hallstatt.
- Walk up to the Unseco Viewing Platform.
- Walk on the Brine Pipeline Trail to Steeg-Gosau Station.
- Train to Bad Ischl.
View from train approaching Hallstatt Station.
Crossing the Lake to HallStatt.
The cozy main square.
There were lots of Asian tourists in Hallstatt.
The views were tremendously good across the lake has we headed up to the UNESCO Viewing Platform directly above Hallstatt.
An entrance to one of the many salt mines.
Hallstatt, far below the trail switchbacks. Aside: Ever walk up, and up, to a viewpoint just to find that the actual view is blocked by trees and bushes from below that have grown up over the years? Not so in this part of Austria. They have perfect viewpoint management. ;-)
The amazing, and free, Unesco Viewing Platform.
We started down the Soleweg (Brine Pipeline Trail) on sets of metal stairs that seemed to have been slightly crushed by a falling tree. Later we saw that this section of the trail was closed. Yikes!
The trail follows the pipeline that even today takes salt brine from the Hallstatt mines some fifty kilometers downhill to Ebensee for processing. Along the way we spotted pipes, from wood to plastic to metal.
The trail continued to slope downward with great views of the lake and forest as we avoided the occasional avalanche and waterfall.
Blazes and beech leaves.
Whoops! Another closed section.
As we approach Steeg-Gosau, the trail is just above the road and lake.
And finally we cross the Traun River and head to the train station.What a fine hike!
Sun-Ling and John have been traveling the earth since 2008 while blogging, eating vegetarian and vegan, and riding public transportation. We love uphill day hikes, 20th-century architecture, Roman ruins, all bodies of water, local markets, shopping for groceries, aqueducts, miradors, trip planning, blablacar, and more.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Most Recent Post
Sri Lanka: Jaffna
Jaffna, the biggest city in the north of Sri Lanka; and being the historical base of Tamils in Sri Lanka, had suffered much from the 1983-20...
Most Popular Posts of Last 30 Days
-
After a "Melaka City Tour" route on local bus #17 we arrived at Melaka Sentral Bus Terminal and in a few minutes - no time for a t...
-
Instead of the usual single loop, our whole Sri Lanka tour is in the shape of an 8 all because of Navam Maha Perahera at the Gangaramaya Tem...
-
In order to guarantee a hassle-free speedy trip from from St Ignacio, Belize to Tikal in Guatemala we eschewed public transport and paid for...
-
Everything happened smoothly with our Galapagos trip. We had really good weather, two full days of sun and a couple of partly cloudy day in...
-
Polonnaruwa is an archeological site in north central Sri Lanka. Between the 11th and 13th century Polonnaruwa was the capital of the island...
-
On the 2nd day of the Lunar New Year, we flew from HCMC to Colombo via Kuala Lumpur. From the airport we took a transfer directly to Galle, ...
-
According to the Tooth Relic Temple website , on Wednesdays there is a ritual of tooth washing, in addition to daily rituals. What we had no...
3 comments:
For sure, most of the Blue Ridge Parkway overlooks are so overgrown that you can't view anything. We have preferred the Cherohala Skyway for exactly that reason but it, too, has become overgrown.
Google Maps photos include something named Photo Sphere. These are a 360 degree panorama which must be taken with a camera specifically meant for same. The PS from the Hallstatt ferry port gives a hint of the beautiful mountains surrounding the lake. Amazing how the camera can be in focus in 369 degrees.
Gorgeous views!
Post a Comment