Tag 5: Horseback Riding & the Unplanned Adventure Hike

October 13, 2021

This morning the sun is shining again, the sky is blue, and the temperature is +5 degrees 🥶🥶🥶

This morning we go horseback riding (my daughter and I) again. After breakfast, we walk to the stable around 9:30, where Peter and Sandra are already grooming and saddling 6 horses. The Haflinger mares Una, Issy, Haflinger Wasti, "my" Fany, and Schecke Daisy are also there again, so we are briefly excited that everyone will get their horse from yesterday. While Mara is already looking forward to riding Wasti, we help with grooming as Peter assigns the horses.

Today, Sandra needs Wasti and Fany for riding lessons – oh, okay – so Mara gets Arab-Haflinger mix Artax, who looks very similar to Fany. My daughter will ride Haflinger mare Issy again, and I will ride Una.

All right! I'm excited to see how it goes with Una 🤩

Today we start with Western saddles again. Like yesterday, we ride down the steep path into the forest towards Hafling.

When we cross the road, Peter says it would be easiest to ride the same route as yesterday.

Hm.... Really!? Too bad.... I was looking forward to different paths, especially since yesterday was quite road-heavy. But well, I don't know my way around here.

The weather is again fantastic today! It's still a bit chilly at first, but when the sun presents itself in its full beauty, it's pleasantly warm.

The horses are much calmer today than yesterday. We ride at a trot for a longer stretch before riding side by side on a long rein back towards Hafling through the forest.

Unlike another group of riders who ride obediently with 10 people in a line, Peter and I and the girls behind us ride relaxedly side by side and chat.

It's really funny. Border Collie Ronja is, of course, with us again. She is really tireless and loves accompanying the rides.

We return to Gfreinhof at 12 o'clock sharp.

Una was really well-behaved, and Mara also made friends with Artax.

After unsaddling the horses and letting them play in the meadow with the other Haflingers, the girls swing on the swing while I prepare lunch.

After lunch, we consider what else we can do with the rest of the day. We decide to go to Meran 2000, where we might go for a short hike to an alpine pasture. Nothing big, because tomorrow we have a full-day trip planned with our friends from South Tyrol.

Before we leave, I want to book another ride with Sandra, together with Mara if possible. Sandra suggests a half-day ride with lunch at an alpine pasture on Friday morning. Oh, how cool! Yes, that's closer to my idea of horseback riding 🤩🤩🤩🐴

With a big grin on our faces, we drive up to Hafling village to the Falzeben cable car station (we are really looking forward to the half-day ride on Friday 🤭).

It's almost 2 PM when we arrive at the top and start hiking towards Waidmann Alm.

Actually, the idea was to have a coffee at Waidmann Alm and then descend to the Falzeben station. I'm not exactly sure why we didn't do that.... 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

The weather is so nice, and Waidmann Alm is so crowded – so we decide to walk down the mountain to the Mittager chairlift station and take the chairlift up to the "Kleiner Mittager" (2,304 m). On the opposite side, the countless chairs are being manually attached to the cable. What a job…

It's almost 3 PM when we reach the "Kleiner Mittager" with the 2-seater chairlift. There are still some patches of snow up here, which immediately prompts my son to throw snowballs. The view is amazing – we can see the Dolomites! Awesome! However, we don't stay up here for long – it's windy and freezing cold!

We take the chairlift back down – it's already too late to hike down from up here – and now we treat ourselves to coffee and cake at Kirchsteiger Alm (1,995 m) and relax in the sun! Wonderful up here!

It's 4 PM when we get ready to descend. Just to remind you: we wanted to go back the same way and then descend at the Falzeben cable car – we already did that the first time when we descended after the Alpine Bob ride.

But it also means: first uphill again to Waidmann Alm and then the same way back – how boring.... Well... but probably the fastest option (and we know the way!). My husband doesn't feel like it and asks the lift operator as we pass by if there's another way down. He describes a path along the creek, mentions a few trail numbers, and says it would be faster and more beautiful than going up the hill again.

Well, if he says so, it must be true – after all, he knows his way around here... 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

We only find out how big of a misinformation that was when it's too late.... 🙈🙈

So, happily, we start walking parallel to the creek, cross the creek with the help of a wooden plank without getting our feet wet, and then into the forest for a while.

From the beginning, I don't like one thing: the path is on the other side of the valley and the creek – where exactly do we cross the creek or the valley to get back to the mountain side of the cable car!? No answer from my husband – the lift operator said so, it must be true!

After a while (on the wrong side), we hike uphill for quite some time. Uphill!? Shouldn't we be going downhill!? I'm confused, my husband complains – we keep walking! The lift operator described it that way.

Finally, we start going downhill again, and we finally reach the fork that is supposed to lead us along the creek and through the valley – and the nasty surprise awaits: the path is closed and allegedly impassable!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh………...

I had a feeling. Now what???? It's already 5 PM, and we estimate that we haven't descended any meters since we left Kirchsteiger Alm. We take out our phones and google maps and search for maps and trails. Google Maps tells us it's still 13 km and 3.5 hours to go downhill. What!? Okay, that can't be right (at least I hope so). The app Komoot claims it's almost half that distance. Oh God. We wanted to go for a SMALL hike, like "take a walk and have a coffee," and now it has turned into a big challenge.

We follow the signs to Maiser Alm, which roughly matches the direction, and look for more signs. The path is really beautiful, and the view is great – too bad I can't really enjoy it because I'm really worried if we will reach the parking lot before sunset.

Another sign shows us the way to Moschwald Alm, which is definitely in the direction of Falzeben. After a while, we reach it. There are still hikers sitting outside and eating and drinking, so we are not alone. Behind us, a couple is also starting the descent, which reassures me.

Shortly after Moschwald Alm, we reach the next signpost with "Hafling 1h20" and "Falzeben 30 minutes".

Phew, the end is in sight!

Let's see if we can make it down in 30 minutes – because there still seem to be quite a few meters of descent.

My feeling is confirmed when we see the narrow, rocky, and VERY steep path ahead of us. Okay, this will be another challenge!

I'm so glad to have my trekking poles in hand. The climbing really takes a toll on the knees, and the rock slabs are sometimes slippery.

The downhill path seems endless, but eventually, we reach the creek or the riverbed.

We cross the riverbed via a bridge and then start hiking uphill on the other side... I'm losing it... But well, there's nothing we can do, so we climb up again to then go downhill again past Hotel Josef and arrive at the Falzeben cable car. Yay!!!!

We made it!!! Before sunset. Now we are all relieved and walk back to the car. So, from a "walk," it turned into an 11 km long hike. Phew, it was great – although it would have been a bit more relaxing if it had been planned that way.

But hey – where would be the ADVENTURE that always accompanies my travel reports in the title? Haha, so it's fine like this!

Now it's time for dinner, chilling, putting our feet up, and resting – for tomorrow's day hike.....