Somewhere up there, just beneath the snow, the starting point on my way down.

Heading upwards is usually the first part of any hike in the mountains. And for me personally, it is the by far more interesting part of the trip: Everything lies in front of you, not knowing what exactly to expect or see for me is maybe the motivation to go out for a walk. When it comes to heading back down, it is normally more just a question about when it is over: One way to keep it all interesting is to take a different way downwards than upwards.

A view back on the Holzalm, after a quick passthrough.

But back to the beginning. After my walk from Saulueg to Thierbach I stood there, in the middle of some mountains, on the Holzalm, not really knowing what to expect from my way down. So after a long view back to that on that day very windy, but really picturesque place I headed downwards, hoping that it wouldn't take too long (not longer than the before calculated 10 kilometers, my legs...).

The road down, for the first kilometer, or maybe two.

The first part was the average driving way through a forest thing: A gravel road surrounded by some trees, nothing to see at all and not too steep. And no path in sight to cut everything short. So on I went.

The first of many changes in pace.

And then the forest ended for the first time. Also the first chance to catch a view and to define my exact location. So I decided to climb over the fence on the (at the moment I was there) empty pasture to get onto a small hill at the end of the willow. And on the picture beneath is what I saw (tried myself in a panorama shot, but horribly failed to do so...).

View of the Inn Valley, Brandenberger Alps in The center, a glimpse of the Kaisergebirge in the right Background.

So when there taking pictures and enjoying the view I decided to take a break. The last one on that trip. Ate my last food and drank a cold coke. If it weren't necessary from a certain point on to head down and do something different I would still sit there in the dry grass, with the sun shining on my back.





The Rofan, or at least a small part of it. And it started to get dark, looked like rain was coming up...

Everything has to end, so did my last break. And so did the gravel path. It turned into a concrete road surrounded occasionally by some farmhouses and chapels. Yes, chapels countless amounts of them. One could come to the conclusion that nearly every farm house had it's own place to prey. Some of them were really nice to look at. But it got darker and darker, long before nightfall: Heavy grey clouds loaded full with rain covered the in theory very blue sky.





One of the chapels I came by. Oh, and it got darker and darker. Not a good sign at all.

So I headed downwards, meanwhile as fast as my feet could carry me. Because of one simple reason: Even with the right clothing, rain and being out in the isn't a very funny combination. But eventually it all changed for good, the rainclouds were blown away and my stress level dropped to near zero: Still a long distance to cover, but without getting wet.

Reith im Alpbachtal, but not the best conditions to take a picture.

The rest of the hike was just walking down a long road, letting some cars pass by and from time to time taking a shortcut through some not official paths. Then the final goal, Brixlegg, came into view and I was happy to arrive there and wait for my train back home. Enough waiting time sitting on a bench and thinking about the next trip.

Not that far anymore, somewhere down there train station was waiting for me.

In the end, a short conclusion: Heading downwards still isn't my thing. But in that case it was okay with some very interesting views to discover, but also mainly on concrete roads with some car traffic (not like on a overcrowded highway, but still something to look out for). So if you are up were I have been, and have to head down it is a way to go, but if you want to head up and find some untouched nature, it is definitely the wrong way. There are many other more interesting paths in the region.