I've been hinting at this hike in my last few posts and now I think its time to talk about it for real. This little adventure took place on day two of our time in Bad Gastein Austria.
It was one of the most convenient hikes that I've done to date, so I would definitely recommend it to anyone who happens to visit the town.
The cable car station that brought us up the mountain was location right in the city and we literally just walked over to it from our hotel in about 5 minutes or so.
We got there first thing in the morning before the station opened and sort of just puttered around out front while we waited for the cars to started running.
We read the large map on the side of the building that showed the surrounding area. It had information about the adjacent cities, the different mountain ranges and the cable car locations to bring you up them.
For those that want a little more of a challenge and some addition exercise, there is always the option of just hiking to the top of the Stubnerkogel as well.
The summit sits at a reasonable hiking elevation of 2200 meters and the paths leading up there weren't all that steep either.
The town of Bad Gastein is situated part way up the hillside, which means that the walk up is shortened a little as well. It didn't seem to be a very hard of a hike to do on foot even for a beginner hiker.
Of course I'm saying this as someone who sat on his butt and was carried up by a machine. So take what I say with a grain of salt.
If you do walk up though, you'll be happy to know that there are plenty of benches and chairs to sit on at the top of the mountain.
You can catch your breath and rest for a bit when you get there. The views are definitely worth the pause.
From the top you can see the adjacent town of Bad Hofgastein down in the valley.
From above it looked like a nice city that is completely surrounded by mountains on all sides. Not a bad place to live, I'm sure.
I don't recall being able to see Bad Gastein from up there on the mountain though.
I think it may have been situated in such a way that it was hidden by the mountain that we were standing on.
There were a lot of nice views up there in all directions, but that is to be expected from any mountain hike I suppose.
It's amazing how blue the mountains looked in this direction. It almost looks like the picture was taken underwater.
This photo (above) is one if my favorites from the day.
The cloud formation above makes the hill look like a volcano.
The biggest attraction on the Stubnerkogel is a long suspension bridge located at the top.
It offers some pretty amazing Panoramic views to the west.
The bridge is 140 meters long and 28 meters off the ground and conveniently located directly beside the cable car station.
My wife took this picture of me standing on my own in the center of the bridge (Above). I like the cloud formation in this photo as well.
Here's another one zoomed in.
The bridge was basically the first thing that you see upon arrival at the top.
I was pretty anxious to check it out as soon as we got there so I raced over to walk across it.
It was early in the morning and it wasn't very busy yet.
There were a few people here and there but mostly we got to experience the bridge on our own.
It was nice to be able to take our time to look out at the views and to take lots of photos without feeling rushed or worrying about holding others up.
Look at the camera... now look out at the landscape... you get the drill.
After walking the across and taking copious amounts of photos we moved on and explored the rest of the top of the mountain as well as the official summit just a few meters above.
The space up there was large and open and we spent a decent amount of time checking everything out.
Once we were done we decided to walk down the mountain a little and that is when we saw all of the cows and horses from my previous post on that subject.
If I'm recalling correctly the cable car was broken into two tiers so I think we got back on the car at the mid way point. And with that we were done with the hike for the day and ready to head back to the hotel for lunch.
Thats it for now. If you are
interested in seeing more of our trip to Austria then stay tuned, there's more to come. Until next time, thanks for stopping by.
interested in seeing more of our trip to Austria then stay tuned, there's more to come. Until next time, thanks for stopping by.
Amazing landscape, really really beautiful! I'm like...literally no words. I so love the place!💙 I remember being so close to Bad Gastein...if I only knew how much I would have loved to visit here back in September when being around. 😐
I didnt do my research too well, I guess 🤔😄. Well, definitely next time.
Take care and cheers from Romania all the way back to Canada 🙃🇨🇦🇷🇴
It was a nice spot but there are so many nice places in Austria that you can't see them all. I'm sure that the place you went to was equally nice. Where did you happen to go that was so close?
I know. Austria has a lot to offer and I'm thinking to go back this year, at least for a weekend.
Well, we were visiting Hallstatt, and I think there's a distance around 1.5 hrs drive, maybe less from Ellmauthal. That is a short time considering we're 8-9 hrs driving from Romania.
But there's also Salzburg that I didnt visit before. I'm thinking one week vacation in the area and that will cover a few places, including this.
Hallstatt is really nice if it's not too busy there. I think I remember you posting about it previously now that you mention it (unless I'm thinking of someone else). Salzburg is definitely worth a visit. We loved that city. It's a bit far from Bad Gastein, but if you spend a week it might work well.
I think it was OK by the time we were there, mid September. I didnt post about it, I just left you some comments to your post 😊.
I cant wait to visit Salzburg and Innsbruck, although I would be super excited to visit all the nature places around as well.
Oh I see.
Those are all great places. It will be an awesome trip for sure!
That suspicion bridge!! Blummin magic!
Spectacular views done of which are very reminiscent of the Scottish Highlands although I reckon some of those mountains are way higher and we don't have cable cars all over the shop!
Yeah the bridge was pretty cool indeed.
I hear that the Highlands are pretty spectacular. I hope to see them one day.
Epic views! The old guy in me would have taken the cable car instead of hiking, but it's undeniable that hiking has so much flexibility to offer, like taking unlimited photos. Manifesting my Europe tour not so soon!
Yeah the views were quite nice indeed. Cable cars definitely make things quick and convenient. My knees were still pretty bad at that time from my Pyrenees hike so I don't think I would have made it up if we did a true hike to the top. They are doing better now though so hopefully hiking is in my future.
I hope you make it to Europe soon!
I've followed your Pyrenees hike, and I have been obsessed! It's one of the places of my dreams because of its feature in National Geographic magazine I used to read when I was young.
Yeah that was quite the experience. The alps are really spectacular too though. Hard to say which are better. Lol. Seems like you can't really lose hiking any mountain range. I wish we had mountains close to where I live now.
Hahaha, yes, that blue one looks like an underwater mountain and the next one is like a volcano :D
I am absolutely thrilled with all these views from Austria. 😍
Yeah it was a neat effect. I'm not sure why it turned out that way. Must have been the way the sun was hitting mountains or something?
Being close to that mountain will make you feel like you’re very close to the sky
We’ve got something like this in Lagos too
We call it Lekki Conservative Centre
Nice pictures!
Yes that's true 👍
Sounds like Lekki is a nice spot 😃
That’s one of the best and that’s where I live
That's great!
@leaky20 I congratulate you on some magnificent photos, and a wonderful moment of meeting with nature.
Yeah it was a nice hike in nature. Can't beat a sunny day on the mountain
This is really epic view and this pictures are amazing. It boast the view of nature beauty
I'm glad you liked the photos 😁
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