August 16th 2012
This is our group's first full day in the Alps, and we have it set aside for hiking. There's no class today, no lessons or reading to be done, instead were free to explore the Austrian Alps to our hearts content. For this reason, I'm not going to try to stress a historical point or lesson, instead I'm just going to recount my hiking experience and explain what it meant to me. I had a fairly exciting time out on the trails, as you're about to find out, so I'm just going to focusing on making it an exciting story.
Everyone in our group set out hiking at about 10am in the morning after having breakfast together at 9. I wasn't feeling very well that morning because I didn't sleep very well the night before, so I wasn't expecting very much of myself today. I had been told yesterday that the hike was only supposed to be as intense as we wanted it to be, as we were free to quite any time (turns out it wasn't quite that simple), so I was expecting to go to two or three stops before heading back sometime around 2pm in the afternoon. However I ended up having quite a bit of fun on the first part of the trail, and the hike wasn't nearly as intense as I thought it would be, so I was quite optimistic about the rest of the day. I was still in worse physical shape than the rest of the group, not to mention I had absolutely no hiking experience, but I was able to roughly keep up with the slower group of hikers. I was behind them most of the time, and I lost visual contact occasionally, but I was having no point keeping up. Things were like this until we reached the first major check point in our hike, a large cross overlooking the Alps from high atop a mountain peek. I was very excited when I reached this point because I meet up with Kathy at this point, and she had shot ahead of even the fastest hikers in the beginning of the day.
Things started to change after we set off for the next leg of our journey. The path of much stepper than before, with much of the way passing over uneven rock steps that could get up to as much as two and a half feet high. The road was much more trying and exhausting than before, I and quickly fell so far behind the group that I was all alone. I didn't have others to help my find my way, but the path was marked by the red colored markers on the ground, so I was eventually able to find my way to the next check point on our hike, a rest stop called the Habsburg house. The name likely has no relation to the famous Habsburg family, but I was still thrilled to see the place, as it meant that I was one the right path, and more importantly, that I could take a much needed break. I meet up with the rest of the hiking group, who seemed legitimately impressed that I made it out as far as the rest of them ( I didn't really know the way back so I really couldn't have gone home had I wanted to, but still). The Habsburg house served food, and I decided to order a hearty plate of pasta in addition to a few beers and plenty of water, as it was past noon and I needed to get some food in my stomach if I was to continue hiking. After eating, everyone in the group took time to relax and recovery, and we were even lucky enough to witness a very Austrian musical performance by rest-house owner's children, who played to tuba and accordion for us while wearing traditional Austrian lederhosen. It was wonderful to see, but after a while, we all had to go, so everyone meet up with Kathy to discuss how were going to march down the mountain and return home.
It became glaringly apparent to me on the hike up to the Habsburg house that going down hill on the steep, rocky, and uneven hill could prove extremely dangerous, so I was very pleased to hear that we would be taking a different route back home, the only condition was that we were required to take a the right turn off on an upcoming fork in the road or we would become completely lost, which is a very bad thing to happen on an Alpine trail. I was very nervous that I would fall behind, as I had done so earlier in the day, so I decided to push myself as hard as I could to keep up with the group. The trail appeared to be getting less and less kept up as we went along, so I feared I would not be able to find markers like I had before if I got lost. I managed to keep up with the others for until I slipped on a downhill section. Luckily I was not hurt, but I decided not to hurry after that. I fell behind from time to time, but people had gotten tired, so Kahtey decided to take frequent rests and allow people to catch up before continuing. This allowed me to keep in town with everyone despite my lower speed. We made it to the turn off together, and everyone managed to get themselves on the right path. However the trails we were hiking on narrowed and became more dangerous and taxing after this point. They were step, unkempt, and looked more like animal trails that the roads we had been taking earlier. It got so bad that we literally had inch along steep slopes at times to prevent from falling to what would have been very severe injury at best.
Eventually, after we had hiked about 15 miles in total from the beginning of the day, we managed to reach a point where the path started to get easier. At this point, I was totally exhausted, and could only manage to shuffle along at a snails pace. I had gone from keeping up with Kathy's group, to walking with the slowest group traveling behind her. However after a while, I had fallen behind even the slowest group, but we were on a safe, wide, and clearly marked path at the moment so I didn't mind. I thought everything was fine, until I caught up with the group traveling behind Kathy's that had previously passed me by. They were taking the road in the opposite direction that I was, and they told me that they though Kathy was traveling the wrong way down the road ever since we got off the more dangerous trail. At this point, I didn't know what to believe, so I decided to keep going in the diction I was traveling in, reasoning that if I was going the wrong way, Kathy's group would have to double back, and I'd meet them on the way. If I didn't see them, then that would mean I was going the right way. After a while, I cam across a sign that told me were I was on the trail. To my horror, I had been going the wrong way and I had almost reached the Habsburg house. Further complicating matters, the road forked at this sign, and I did not know which direction Kathy ended up taking. I was officially lost in the Alps at this point.
At first I panicked, thinking that maybe if I took the path a little father, it would twist around toward the hostel, but after a while I came to my senses and realized that the experienced group with two Ph. d.'s in it had gotten lost. I was exhausted, tired, and out of water, but my only chance was to double back on the trail I had been taking and go the other way. I knew where I was going at this point, but I was still quite scared, as it was starting to look it it would rain. It also felt colder, but the clouds in the sky kept me from telling how late it was getting. Regardless, I expected it might get dark soon. I just kept dragging my feet along the path I thought was right until I happened upon an earlier landmark that I recognize earlier. I reached ottohaus after a while, and realized where I was. I continued walking until I finally returned to the hostile, where everyone was very glad to see me. Much to my surprise, everyone was keeping track of who returned and when, and since I didn't return until 7:50 pm, everyone was starting to panic. Kathy was about to call in a search and rescue team for me, but I managed to get myself home in time. I even managed to make it home in time for dinner too. I took a shower, and finished dinner before turning in for the best night of sleep in my life. I managed to walk hike somewhere between 20 and 25 miles that day, and it was only my first time hiking. I'd like to do it again, but I think I've had my fair share of hiking for at least a while.
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