A beautiful gorge, or the day my shoe dissolved

The look out, with a great viewing platform in the middle

A few weeks ago I made the decision to head into the Tiefenbachklamm, a beautiful gorge not too far away from my hometown. I havn't been there since at least twenty years, so it was time for a second visit. And  I enjoyed the day and everything in it, but I lost some good old friends on that trip: My hiking shoes. Grieve for them. But back to the beginning.

Path to the gorge, after leaving the broad road leading into the valley

It all started with the usual things: Packing stuff into my backpack, buying some supplies at a local bakery, take the next train and off to a town called Kramsach. No, I wasn't there for a sightseeing trip or to dive into one of the lakes nearby, my goal was a famous gorge lying within a broad valley that had it's starting point in the before mentioned village. Getting there from the train station was an easy task, a warm up somehow. Just a few kilometers more in my legs, mostly on broad ways and concrete sidewalks. But it all was over when a sign pointed down a narrow stone path: "Tiefenbachklamm, right and down." From that point on the path looked like on the image above.

Heading deeper into the ravine

As i headed deeper in, the river constantly roaring a few meters below on my right, the scenery began to change. The valley straitened itself to a point were you got the feeling that the rocks will close up over you and form a deep dark cave. But nothing like that happened, there was always a small, thin piece of sky above my head. So I headed on, enjoyed the view on a really save way: Nearly for the whole distance in the gorge a fence separated the walkway from the cliff down to the river. 

Always look left and right if you are on a bridge. Otherwise you might miss something.

I had a blast. But then something happened, something that can be as devastating for every hiker as a nuclear meltdown: My left shoe started to dissolve himself. Not very amusing. But I had nothing with me to do some makeshift repairs. So I headed on, knowing that the distance to the exit point of the gorge wasn't as big as the way back to my entry point. From that moment on I had to place my left foot very carefully and it really slowed me down. The positive side effect was, that I had more of the impressing nature surrounding me. Haven't been walking that slow for a long time...

A nice place to rest, the Jausenstation Tiefenbachklamm  

After a while the gorge broadened a little bit more and from one meter to the next the whole scenery changed: From stony cliffs with trees to relatively flat farmland with a house in the middle: The Jausenstation Tiefenbachklamm. Went by there, made a break and asked for a duct tape. And was served with one to repair my damn shoe. Now I was prepared to head on towards next and last goal, the village Brandenberg. 

The view during my way up to the village Brandenberg

And up I went. The village itself lies high above the river. Some nice views came in my field of view. The way up, nothing out of the ordinary, just your average mixture of farm lane, concrete road and narrow steep path through a forest. And than, after heading over one last edge, the goal, the center of Brandenberg (some farmhouses, some hotels, a church, a graveyard and a firehouse as far as I can remember) came in sight. Just heading to the other side of the field, and there was a bus station. So I sat there for a time, watched the Saturday evening village life and than drove back home.

The goal, the village Brandenberg.

So in the end, a short conclusion: The hike was worth its time. Heading to and through a beautiful gorge on the bottom of valley and the climb afterwards towards the village weren't that demanding on stamina at all. But it will take you a few hours to get it done. And keep in mind, the starting point doesn't mach the end point. 

Well, now at the bottom, the usual social media blogging stuff: Feel free to comment, share and like, if the article was or is it worth for you. You can also follow me on Facebook or Twitter. Or do it the old fashioned way and tell your friends about it while drinking a cup of coffee...