On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
It’s not unusual for us to have so many On the Road submissions in the queue that you don’t get to see your pics published for a month or two. At the moment, though, we have enough submissions for this week and next, but nothing at all after that. So if you have been thinking of sending in some pics but haven’t done it, this would be a great time to send them in and get to see your pics published with a short turnaround.
way2blue
These photos are from the second half of a hike in Sudtirol. (Before our visit to Südsteiermark, we spent time in the Zillertal Alps of Südtirol, near the village of Meransen/Maranza. The town has a gondola up to ski runs on Gitschberg [8230 ft] which was still running in late October. We would take the gondola up to Nesselhütte [6915 ft] to hike up, down & around a web of trails with stops at Nesselhütte for glühwein / beer. Great autumn colors as the larch foliage had turned yellow. A bit taxing at first given my home is closer to 600 ft.)
Larch against rocky mountain slopes as seen from the trail to Kleiner Gitsch.
Trail to Kleiner Gitsch runs along a narrow ridge crest.
Valley and mountains to the south appear as the trail drops down from the crest.
Another view of the valley and mountains, looking south.
Narrow stream valley filled with small farms bounds the north side of the ridge.
View of high valley from opposite side of the valley.
Both Nesselhütte (where the gondola ends) and Gitschhütte (above it) are visible on opposite side of the valley. Ski lift to the top of Gitschberg and gondola infrastructure are also visible.
Benw
Super cool
Old School
Thanks for sharing!
How long was the hike?
Anyway
What fun! Loved this set (and the previous one). Enjoy hiking in that part of the world whenever I get the chance…Nice pics. Thanks for sharing.
Librarian
As I understand it, “Steiermark” is the Austrian state of Styria, and Sudtirol is South Tyrol, which was Austrian until WW1 , then it became part of Italy.
JanieM
I especially like #6, with that thread of green cultivated (or at least cleared) land running through it.
“The Tyrol” as mentioned in books I read when I was a kid always sounded so incredibly beautiful and romantic — it’s fun to see pictures of the reality. Plus, I hiked extensively in the US when I was young and had good knees, but never in Europe. So this is another enjoyable vicarious trip for me.
susanna
You’ve captured the beauty of open, somewhat barran places. Love picture #2!
Being on the older side of life, I encourage the younger ones to experience this sort of travel while you can. And find what’s there for you.
pat
So this is in Italy, but with remnants of Austria in the names and language?
WaterGirl
Day 2: no new submissions for On the Road. Slackers! :-)
way2blue
@Old School: It wasn’t super long, maybe 3 hours. We decided on the fly to complete a loop (I’d thought the trail to Kleiner Gitsch dropped in to the main, rather than skirt around the ridge). Main challenge for me was the altitude, but fortunately my ‘fitness’ steadily improved over the week.
way2blue
@Librarian: Yes. Südsteiermark is southernmost part of the Austrian state of Styria.
way2blue
@susanna: Agreed. These are rather stark, spare landscapes (above the treeline). But as a geologist, I enjoy seeing the rocks…
way2blue
@pat: Yes. As explained to me—look for whether German or Italian is the first language on street signs to know which way that region tilts. Rural areas tend to be more Austrian (e.g., with Austrian style houses), urban areas more Italian. It’s an appealing merge of cultures (although with a bitter fraught prior history of conflict).
way2blue
@WaterGirl: I need to organize my Kenya photos…
J R in WV
My grandfather spoke only Switzerdeutsch (Swiss German) until he started grade school, and still spoke it a little when I was a tyke. His parents came here in the 1890s and settled in NE Ohio dairy country as farmers.
He took his whole family, grandmother and 4 kids to Europe to visit his cousins in Switzerland just before WW II really became a raging world war, driving around in their big gray Oldsmobile. The take over of Austria happened while they were in Vienna, the whole city was draped with scarlet banners and flags with that German symbol on them. Storm-troopers everywhere…
Anyway, as a kid I was told of a Great-Great-Uncle who kept dairy goats in the Swiss mountains, (probably my GGGG uncle) and lived in a tiny mountain hut above the goats downstairs, which was really typical back then. These photos remind me of those stories.