Heukuppe

TFTC

Blauer Himmel, viel Sonne, erster Schnee. Juchee!
DFDC

After my visit to the Raxkircherl cache
http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC1YFNV_raxkircherl
I returned to the Karl Ludwig Haus and after we left AnnaMoritz and I
continued to the Heukuppe while Cachen, nein danke and MoritzRabe
started their descent. We met them again at the Waxriegelhaus where
MoritzRabe had "Mohnnudeln".

When AnnaMoritz directed my attention to the Heukuppe cache and I
realized that the Heukuppe is over 2000m high, I was very eager to go
there as in October 2006, i.e. seven years ago I have been the last
time over 2000m (at the Speik). What added to the attractivity of this
summit for me was that I had heard that it offers a nice view.

The sign post said that the ascent takes 45 minutes, but fortunately
we managed it in well under 30 minutes even though I'm in a really bad
shape. On our way up we encountered two chamois and on the way down we
saw more then 30 of them - I have never seen such a large group at one
spot. They did not run away.

When we arrived up in the summit area, a wonderful view to the
surrounding mountains opened up. It was a bit windy, but simply
fantastic. I would have liked to name some of the most impressive
mountains. With more time I would have liked to spend some time there
and spin some dreams. Given the tight time schedule we quickly headed
for the cache. I was worried by the presence of a group of hikers, but
they were aware of the cache and so we could retrieve it and I could
sign the log book. The cache container and its contents are in good
condition. On a sunny day like today and when there is no snow at the
hideout the cache is not easy to log - I was lucky that the people
that were having a rest at the cache area, knew about the cache.

The descent took slightly longer than the ascent, but all in all we
managed to arrive back at the hut in a bit less than an hour. It is
confusing how much the times indicated on signposts in Austria can
differ - in some regions I need twice as much time as indicated, in
other areas I manage to stay within the predicted times and sometimes
I'm considerably faster. I also noticed on the way up to the Karl
Ludwig Haus that unlike my hike last week in the Gleinalm area not
everyone else was faster than me already on the ascent. This time I
overtook some people in the ascent and two people even in the descent
part (something very rare).

Going down was less tiresome than expected and the descent to the
Waxriegelhaus and further down to the car at the Preiner Gscheid went
smoother than expected. My knee did not protest - of course I was
aware of the difference to the healthy one, but I was glad that I did
not end up with pains.

We were surprised how many people went up quite late when we went
down. Some of them had large knapsacks - those apparently did not plan
to descent today, but some people rather looked like tourists and they
only had small knapsacks with them if anything at all. If those people
went down on the same day, they most certainly would have ended up in
the dark.

We arrived back at the car after a hike of around 13km which involved
around 1000 height meters. The Schlangenweg was the ideal choice for
me - it is easy and quite knee-friendly and spreads out the involved
height meters in a nice way.

This cache was certainly the highlight among the four caches I have
visited today. I'm very happy that I made it up to the Heukuppe and
that AnnaMoritz found a way to make it possible for me to go up there.

Thanks are due to the cache hider for hiding a cache at this wonderful
spot, to AnnaMoritz for her perfect planning of this day and to
Cachen, nein danke for taking over the driving part. I was so
incredibly glad that I did not have to drive after the hike. Driving
back to Graz mainly in the dark would have been quite stressful for
me. It was such a wonderful day! The rich colours of Autumn added a
special touch to the area though I also would like to see the area in
Summer when more flowers are in bloom.

It is surprising that mountain caches in this area get much more
visitors than comparable caches in other corners of Styria much
farther from Vienna.

Going for caches in the mountains fits my preferences so much better
than caching in a city.

No trade

Nachlog GC

Sehr schön ist es hier am Berg. Die verräterischen Spuren im Schnee waren wohl von den ersten Findern des heutigen Tages. TFTC

Gesucht & gefunden!!!

Merci für den Cache!