Hiking with Strangers - Technically my Halloween Costume.

Brian went on a hike a few week ago. He met a terrific doctorate student who is new to Graz, and wanted to go on a specific hike to Baerenshuetzklamm, which Brian had been to but I hadn't. We made about 48 seperate plans, but each time we were all too sick for Irma to leave and go for a hike all day. The last day the Klamm (the Gorge) is open for the year is October 31st, and on October 31st, Brian gently wiggled my shoulder at stupid-early AM and said, "are you interested in hiking today?"

my thoughts went like this:
"eeeeeeeh I have a headache, i'm congested, i'm tired, a bit cranky, i don't have any clothes, it's cold out, why didn't i pack my hiking boots.....?"

so i said "yes"

and i found myself wearing about 10 layers of cotton shirts and 2 pairs of pants, and carrying another sweat suit in my backpack at the train station in really cold foggy Graz asking the first single lady if she's going hiking today. Yes she is, and so are a lot of other people from a Facebook group I'm not part of since I haven't been using facebook. Like anywhere from 4 to 14 people. - But we're not sure. Oh! Ok.

We waited until a reasonable time, and ended up being 4 people.We bought a four person train ticket.
[incidentally, when you buy a multiperson ticket, they are not valid for rush hour and it gives you the option to buy several of them at once. So... multiperson ticket *click* for how many people 1,2,3,4 *click*,5 ... how many 0 (!), 1, 2, 3,4 we stand there confused for a second, then one of us clicks *4* and it told us an exhorbitant price. no we want ONE four-person-ticket]

The view is promising from the train.

Here are the 3 other people from our group.

We represent here from Left to Right:

Finland, Georgia, Rumania and not pictured, me, USA  Cool.

We also met a group of four girls our destination station who were hiking because of the facebook group, and a group of 4 guys who had driven there because of the facebook group.

The leaves were changing. It's not Vermont, but it's pretty pretty. ;)

Brian had told me there would be lots of bridges and wooden ladders, so I got excited and took a selfie here, but it turns out, ths was not impressive, and then I put my foot through one of the openings and a think almost broke my leg, but hurrah, no injuries!

Boy was he right. There in the gorge are LADDERS, and BRIDGES, and STAIRS oh my!

they are built like this. a little rung on the inside of the ladder, a big rung on the outside of the ladder. Sometimes they were too far apart for me, built for a Women's size 9 1/2. :) 

It was breathtaking at every corner.

The view from the top of one of the spots.

When we reached the top of the gorge, we stopped at the restaurant, had some soup (well, I didn't) and decided to keep hiking. the other 8 people, who had been hiking a bit slower** decided to go back down. We continued on over the next mountain to the next town where we were planning on catching a bus back to where we started and then wait for the train to Graz.

**a bit slower in this context means: They showed up with their cars when we arrived, with the "need to get back by 2pm, so we shouldn't hike so far, but where are we going I don't have a map or know these routes, and I don't usually hike, so I can't tell you my speed" mentality. It seemed they wanted to make our group of 4 responsible for them, but we went much faster. At some point they caught up to us at a resting spot, and told us we were going too fast. Their version of hiking included listening to really really loud Shakira on their iphones, and throwing candy wrappers on the floor. I wasn't really impressed. Oh well. 

I stopped to take a picture of the daisy in the grass which had white petals if you looked at it from the front, and pink petals if you looked at it from the back. Cool.

Also, a type of deciduous pine tree - a type of pine that looses its needles in the fall. Cool.

The view near the top. More depth in real life. ;)

We wanted a group picture, so we tried near the cross (that's what's at the top of pretty much all mountains in Austria) but we were horribly backlit. We look like winners though.

Then we tried here. On top of the world!

CODA.

There's a little more to the story. We hiked down the mountain and into town, and we were very happy and a little sore, but in a good way, and got to the bus stop and read that there was no more bus service *after september 6*.     ........ um... it's the end of october. That was our way home. 

We see a tourist bus, so we ask if the busdriver speaks English, and he says NO, with a look that says GO AWAY.

OK....

We go in the hotel/ski lodge that's teaming with people, and ring the bell at the reception (which is hidden in back of the building past the bathrooms) and nobody comes out. We ring again, nothing. Once the door to the reception area started openening and then closed again. They didn't want company.

OK.....

Then Mira (from Finland) sees a guy packing his car, and we run out, and I ask him if he would please give us a ride to Mixnitz, and he says, sure! I say there are two more people and he says, sure!

OK......

so we wait for a few minutes and go off. The drive is SO long, because we have to go around the whole mountain and gorge that we had hiked today. It takes about 30 minutes, and he explains he is  a retired lawyer who donates his services in Vienna to the elderly in hospice care with unfinished business (like estranged children, etc) so that they can die easier. He started the work after his wife died. Now he is on a relaxing trip with his two adult children hiking, and he is taking a break from them to drive us to the train station (we thought he was LEAVING! and we thought he was ALONE! oops!) and he is very congenial. And speaks very softly. 

At the end, he didn't give us his address so we could send him a card, or anything. He just told us his name was Franz, and that he was glad to help us. Aufwiedersehen, he said as he left us on the street. 

Then we see the 4 girls from this morning. They had just gotten back! The 4 guys had also just gotten back, but had left with their cars. So much for being back by 2 Haha.

Here are all of us in Mixnitz. What are the chances?

We were all super giggly, and from the Graz station had to bike/walk back. 

When I got back I we had company from Slovenia!

I didn't miss American Halloween at all - WHAT A DAY!