Leutaschklamm, part 1

After a restful night sleep on a comfortable bed, we were up and ready to go. The only problem was, breakfast wasn't served until eight. This was a huge drawback for us, as we're definitely people who like to get out early and start our days on vacation. But again, we adapted. It was vacation afterall.

Breakfast was good, except for the liverwurst. Warm croissants, fresh pumpkin seed rolls, various meats and cheeses with butter and marmalade. Coffee in much smaller cups than we have at home, but he left the pot. It was clear we were the only non-Germans in the place, but we were getting used to that, as it was the case in Berchtesgaden as well.

So the plan for today was to walk to the Leutaschklamm, a gorge with roaring water and one waterfall. It crossed the border between Austria and Germany, as our hike around the top of the mountains had the previous day. This was one of the three things we really wanted to see in Mittenwald, along with the two lakes and the ride on the Karwendelbahn.

Off we went. Instead of walking into town and taking the bus to the entrance (and it would have been free with our guest card), we decided to walk out the upper back end of town, and then out to the gorge. It looked easy and clear enough on the map. Just walk down the street, make a right, then another right.

WRONG. We turned too soon, I think, and ended up on another road. A road with no pavement. A road that gained horribly quickly in elevation in spots, and had switchbacks. A road that took us into Austria, and passed one of the many small roadside shrines that are all over the area, on both sides of the border.

Okay, fine. We would just go into the gorge from that side. And we did. Eventually. The gorge, which is a favorite among the Instagram set, was gorgeous. Apparently there's one place, a bridge that crosses over it, that is THE PLACE to get your picture taken. People wait in lines to do this. We weren't quite sure where it was, but as we were the only people walking through the gorge for the longest time, we figured we'd find it and give it a shot.

The trail through the gorge is a series of metal/mesh walkways and bridges. They hang onto the side of the rock face, and cross over at points. It's themed now, with stories about various mountain spirits, and portions called things like the Witches' Kitchen, the Devil's Pond, and Hell's Horror, not to mention the pay-for portion, the Ghost Gorge. There are informational signs along the way at several points, but everything was in German so I did my best to read them, which wasn't very good.

The gorge is long and narrow, apparently the longest in the eastern limestone Alps. The water flowing through it, the Leutscher Ache river, is a beautiful pale blue, even without filters. At points, you can look straight out to the east and see the mountains rising up in the distance, at others, you're surrounded by jagged rocks and prickly pines, the water churning beneath you.

We ran into a few other intrepid early birds as we got deeper into it. Then, we found it. Nobody was waiting, there was only one other couple there. So we too our pictures. Yay.

Eventually, we found our way out. There was a switchback trail through the woods, and we took it. Somehow we had missed the Gleisterklamm, the part with the waterfall. Never fear though, because by the time we got to the bottom of the zig-zaggy trail, we were right by the entrance, on a nice long FLAT road leading back to Mittenwald, the way we had planned to come.Baca selengkapnya