grosse stauseen-runde

Station 5 gibt's wohl nicht mehr; T = 4

Even though we weren't sure about the weather we decided to use this nice Sunday to go for this cache; together with lachia, meliponini, Lord Harry and Mirax.
Turns out that it was a good decision; we had great weather, lots of sun - and together with the low water level of the lake really interesting ice-noises
It was quite a pleasant walk, nice path and not too far.. lots of fun - thanks!

OUT: TB "Amber the GeoCat"

Da auf den höheren Bergen noch ein bisserl Schnee liegt wurde gestern eine brauchbare Location zum Wandern gesucht. Diese Runde war heute perfekt dafür geeignet. Mildes Wetter, beinahe windstill und außer ein paar Anglern am gegenüberliegenden Ufer keine Menschenseele unterwegs. Die Fragestellungen waren klar und die Berechnungen eindeutig. Auch der Cache war ein Sekundenfund.

Besten Dank für einen empfehlenswerten Cache, Pr3ach3rman

As I did not get up early enough for a hike in the mountains and moreover was worried about thunderstorms, I decided to visit this cache as I hoped that most of the route would be in the shadow.

Once again I found it difficult to find the right way to the Langmann lake and arrived there only after a small detour. When I arrived at the lake the area around the suggested parking coordinates was quite busy, so I left my car about 200 m further away. I then had to go back to the be able to cross the lake and to go head for Stage 1. I already knew this location as years ago I walked around the lake on the occasion of my visit to baum's cache. The atmosphere was quite different at the Langmann lake than at the Hierzmann lake. The former was much more quiet today - just a few fishers, but no people in the lake.

Stages 2 and 3 did not cause me any problems. The tarmac walk felt shorter in this direction than I had expected in advance. Before arriving at Stage 3 I first took the wrong way, but realized my mistake soon. In this manner I came, however, across another interesting location as a bonus. Shortly after Stage 3 I made a big mistake and took the wrong route. It is not easy to take the right route at this stage without a GPS-r with a map. In case of doubt, I recommend to choose the marked trail.

I became sceptical about my route choice already half on my way to Stage 4, but did not want to go back, moreover I was not sure. Only when I was very close to Stage 4 I realized that I was wrong. I decided to continue nevertheless. I decided, however, not to follow the example of girasole, but to walk the whole route and even a bonus part as I thought it might a good training for me to lengthen this tour and not to shorten it.

So I finally visited all stages. I particularly enjoyed the walk around the more quiet shore of the Hirzmann lake where are not so many private places fenced off. Most of these places today were populated. Many young people used the water to get a refreshment and jumped into the water. I also saw several people in canoes and kayaks. This reminded me of my first time in a kayak on the Lahn in Germany. It was such a wonderful experience - unfortunately it is a long time ago that I had this chance. At one point of this cache I really wished that I would have a boat at my disposition.

After a quite long walk (which I could have shortened) I then arrived at the cache location. I was not too happy about it as I did not know how to approach it without stepping onto the moose. Once again I was surprised abou the size of the container though I should know by know that riegler_p seems to like huge boxes. Somehow one could believe that he has a special source for such boxes.

I then walked back to my car in the suggested way except that I did not take once again the forest path along the Langmann lake due to the position of my car, but walked along the street at the other shore. This did not increase the tarmac proportion by much and I was already a bit tired and had used up all my water (fortunately I had some extra water in the car). During the last 1-2 km of my walk I wished I would have a bicycle at my disposition.

All in all I enjoyed this cache very much. It was a nice and easy walk and both lakes have its own charme, at least when they are filled with water which is now again the case. The cache description had made me believe that the path along the Hirzmann lake would be much more difficult as it turned out to be. In Summer time I would rate it as 2* (the difficulty - I am not talking about the length). From my point of view the walk over the lake along the wall of the dam is harmless even for people who are not free from giddiness.


Thank you for motivating me to head off for my longest hike this year.


Out: GC

I left the two TBs in the cache as they are rather large and I do not know when I will be able to reach a cache where they fit into within the next two weeks.


PS:
I forgot to mention that it is no longer necessary to climb over trees - 2-3 times a tree is still lying over the path, but none of these locations poses any challenge at all. Even taking the length of the walk into account I feel that 4* overrates the terrain. In any case this tour is also suited for people who are very far from being outdoor experts and whose fitness is below the average level (not with respect to the scale used by Dr. Torque which is somehow biased).
So do not be scared off by the terrain rating. As almost no height meters are involved, the cache can be recommended also to those who do not feel fit enough to walk up a mountain.