And back down, once more

The path down.
What goes up, has to come down. Counts for nearly everything, to a certain point. So after heading up until there was no up anymore, getting back to where I came from was the next thing to do. Not the exact same location, just down somewhere, somewhere with access to public transport. Luckily for me, a second path led down the Hochiss. So no need for me to take the same road twice. Something I don't like at all, at least not on the same day.
To the left, down from the ridge.
It began with passing alongside a mountain crest: A relatively flat hillside on the left, a vertical cliff to the right. After heading on like that for quite some time (shown on the first picture of the article), the path changed its direction and a small climb down part came in view: Nothing too dangerous, a metal rope to hold onto and a rock wall on each side with irregular stone steps in the middle. Just cut open my finger a little bit, because you know, carefully placing your hands is for cowards.

Down from the last ridge to pass over.
For a while the path went upwards again, just to get over the next mountain ridge. Up on top, a spectacular view opened up. Only one thing to complain about, would have been nice if those clouds could magically disappear. Needless to say, it didn't happened. But they were nice, those things in the sky, they didn't start to poor water on me. Back to the hike: The way down mixed stony passages with some snowfields, nothing too steep at all.

Steinernes Tor, the gap in the middle.
The next stopping point I came by was the "Steinernes Tor". A regional landmark, a big gap in an ongoing wall of stone. Impressive to stand in, a bit overcrowded on that day for my taste. Decided to look at it from a far away point. 

The view back up to the highest point of the day.
Around that time the scenery changed: For the first time of the day, I stood in the middle of some trees. I had passed the tree limit. It really had something to walk downwards surrounded by those small high alpine plants.

An old, long abandoned shepherds hut.
And then, already seen from far away, some ruins. Remnants of not to long ago time, when shepherds lived with their herds up here for the summer months. Must have been a tough live, looking after cattle and sheep, making cheese out of their milk and hoping that the weather stays fine. But that's history. There are new cabins further down the slope. The meadows still get grassed today.

Heading towards the big patch of grass.
Enough of the past. I am in the here and now, with plenty of walking lying in front of me. And plenty of nice views to enjoy. For quite some time I headed through a very nice conifer forest: Bright and dark green trees in every size and shape.

From time to time, turn around.
Further down the forest found an end and an alpine pasture took its place. Nothing out of the ordinary, but then I turned around and took the above picture. After standing there and looking at that giant wall of stone, I headed on. The rest of the story will be in an upcoming post.

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