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You are here: Home / Photo Blogging / On The Road / On The Road – way2blue – SÜDTIROL – Hiking Jochtal in October

On The Road – way2blue – SÜDTIROL – Hiking Jochtal in October

by WaterGirl|  January 14, 20225:00 am| 12 Comments

This post is in: On The Road, Photo Blogging, way2blue

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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.

Submit Your Photos

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

Before our visit to Südsteiermark, we spent time in the Zillertal Alps of Südtirol, near the village of Meransen/Maranza. After a few days of hiking up, down & around Gitschberg [8230 ft] we headed to the village of Vals/Valles. We took their Jochtal gondola, then walked a gravel road up and around to Steinermandl [6950 ft] for a panoramic view toward various ranges of the Dolomiti. Lots of families with strollers & dogs.

On The Road - way2blue - SÜDTIROL –  Hiking Jochtal in October 7
STEINERMANDL, ITALY

View to the northwest. Steinermandl had a viewing platform. A ‘binocular’ stand with superimposed labels for various mountain peaks which changed as you rotated the view. Lots of stone cairns surrounded the platform, plus a young boy who delighted in knocking them over… Kids these days

On The Road - way2blue - SÜDTIROL –  Hiking Jochtal in October 6
STEINERMANDL, ITALY

A closer look of the valley visible in the distance to the northwest—across a mat of heather-like plants. Here the yellow larch are interspersed among other conifers.

On The Road - way2blue - SÜDTIROL –  Hiking Jochtal in October 5
STEINERMANDL, ITALY

An even closer look…

On The Road - way2blue - SÜDTIROL –  Hiking Jochtal in October 4
STEINERMANDL, ITALY

Same spot along the ridge, but now looking east through a driftwood bull.

On The Road - way2blue - SÜDTIROL –  Hiking Jochtal in October 3
STEINERMANDL, ITALY

Scree on the mountains to the north has an odd greenish cast. Hütte and ski lift infrastructure below.

On The Road - way2blue - SÜDTIROL –  Hiking Jochtal in October 2
STEINERMANDL, ITALY

View to the east toward the village of Vals with Gitschberg in the distance. Larch are lighting up the mountains slopes.

On The Road - way2blue - SÜDTIROL –  Hiking Jochtal in October 1
MERANSEN, ITALY

Kürbiscremesuppe. The owners’ son of the small family-run hotel where we stayed had trained at an Italian culinary academy. He’d previously worked in a five-star hotel, so we were treated to amazing five-course meals each evening. Here, seasonal, pumpkin cream soup with a drizzle of kürbis oil (pumpkin seed oil), pumpkin seeds, and a sprinkling of chives.

On The Road - way2blue - SÜDTIROL –  Hiking Jochtal in October
MERANSEN, ITALY

‘Classical Tiramisu with Melon Carpaccio’. I rarely photograph food, but the courses were so artful without being fussy. I couldn’t resist.

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Reader Interactions

12Comments

  1. 1.

    eclare

    January 14, 2022 at 5:32 am

    Lovely photos, and that soup looks delish!

  2. 2.

    sab

    January 14, 2022 at 5:54 am

    Wow. Of course every vacation in the mountains has a driftwood bull.

    ETA Just noticed: Driftwood in the mountains? How far is the nearest beach?

  3. 3.

    Mo MacArbie

    January 14, 2022 at 6:59 am

    Driftwood in the mountains gives me earworms.

  4. 4.

    stinger

    January 14, 2022 at 7:13 am

    What wonderful vistas! When I was a little kid, I was always surprised to see pictures of cozy green valleys surrounded by snow-topped mountains. The mountains are closer to the sun than the valleys, so they should be hotter and the valleys should be colder. Green mountain peaks and snow-filled valleys–stands to reason!

    You should photograph food more often, way2blue!

  5. 5.

    zhena gogolia

    January 14, 2022 at 8:09 am

    Beautiful!

  6. 6.

    Miss Bianca

    January 14, 2022 at 9:56 am

    @sab: I’m thinking “Driftwood Bull” might have to be my next band name.

  7. 7.

    Unique uid

    January 14, 2022 at 10:34 am

    Great photos!

    Do you think the bull might be modeling an auroch?

  8. 8.

    way2blue

    January 14, 2022 at 12:37 pm

    @sab: A bit of artistic license.  But ‘re-purposed’ wood didn’t give the bull its due…

  9. 9.

    way2blue

    January 14, 2022 at 12:51 pm

    @Unique uid: Had to look up ‘auroch’, but with the bull’s big shoulders & small head—could be…

  10. 10.

    WaterGirl

    January 14, 2022 at 4:04 pm

    Day 3: Only one person has sent in pics.

  11. 11.

    J R in WV

    January 14, 2022 at 4:38 pm

    Fabulous photos of wonderful countryside. So want to drive the Alps in a European auto!

  12. 12.

    Mark von Wisco

    January 14, 2022 at 5:15 pm

    These posts really make me miss Austria. I spent two years in grad school studying Germanistik at the Uni Salzburg (lived in Nonntal). The only 2 Austrian states I never got to were the Steiermark and Buergenland. I also really wanted to go the Suedtirol. But as a poor college student, I just couldn’t afford it.

    I dove really deep into the culture when I was there. My German was at a high enough level that people I met assumed I was Austrian unless I told them otherwise. I basically spoke Salzburgerisch when I wasn’t visiting Germany.

    I may be able to at least semi-retire as early as April 2023. I’m hoping that I can swing a couple of longer trips to Europe. I’m an avid road cyclist. At some point, I want to do a bike tour that hits every state in Austria.

    One of my goals for 2022 is to get my German as close as possible back to it’s former level. I plan to pull all of my German lit of storage this weekend. I still have all of the yellow Reclam books that I bought for my various classes. Gottfried Keller here i come.

    Well, this got a little rambly.

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