Walking to Italy - Day 9 - Steinach to Vinaders

Day 9: Steinach am Brenner to Vinaders

We were both tired when we left Steinach. This was perhaps due to having hiked a ton up and down over the previous few days, but I suspect spending a rainy night in a hotel under the freeway in a town surrounded by freeway tunnel construction dust and wildflowers contributed to re-igniting my usual spring allergies. Alas, my bottle of Flonase was back in Steinebach. This was our slowest day of hiking, and we both felt wiped out enough that we adjusted our route, opting for longer distances but less steep trails.

Just outside our hotel stood a 7.9-meter diameter drill bit used to explore the rock before digging the 10-meter diameter tunnel. This particular drill bit is named Guenther, after a local magistrate. S regrets that he is not in this photo to provide a sense of scale. Guenther is very big. 

Our ascent goal for the day was the Nösslachjoch, so up we headed.

Ah, dust. When you build a massive tunnel through the mountains, the resulting gravel has to go somewhere...

We aren't entirely certain, but we suspect our alternative route probably had more open views than the originally planned steeper route through the woods. We were glad not to have to work so hard. 

Azaleas!

The higher we went, the tinier the flowers were. The little things that look like pink blueberries are actually flowers. Incredible.

These teeny tiny flowers are alpine azaleas!

Nearing the top. The reddish stone was a surprise atop all the granite.

We heard marmots before seeing them. They seemed pissed that we were tromping through.

The trail became steeper near the peak--steep enough that my cellphone camera actually conveys "steep."

Another peak, another Gipfelkreuz:

The views were OK:

Many of the wildflowers made me think Dr. Seuss must have hiked in the Alps at some point.

Seen from a distance, all those flowers are lost in the green leaves. Stunningly beautiful either way.

Hello, Brenner Autobahn. Our destination for the day was Vinaders, a little over a mile west of the freeway.

The flowers got bigger as we tromped down the mountain.

It rained long enough to make it worth using our rain gear, which made us happy, because who wants to lug rain gear through three different countries without ever actually using it? 

As we headed down, we made our nth decision of the day to extend distance in exchange for a shallower grade. Humans invented switchbacks for a reason.

One of the bonuses of that decision was happening across this early 14th-century chapel, Sankt Jakob. 

The entryway was open, but the chapel itself could only be viewed through two windows with metal grates, presumably to protect the centuries-old altar. 

We continued downhill...

Lo, Vinaders!

After dinner, we went for a verrrrry short walk up to the church and back. A cup of tea, a comfy bed, and a brook babbling outside the window made for a lovely evening.

Ta da! 12 miles hiked, ~4,000 ft elevation gain, ~3,400 ft descent.