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| Heading towards a gorge, the Kaiserklamm in Brandenberg, Tyrol. |
It was a beautiful early summer day, the sun shone and felt warm and cozy on my skin. So I decided to head out on a hike. The goal was a cold dark hole, the Kaiserklamm in Brandenberg, Tyrol, Austria. On the way there I took the above picture of the valley leading there, maybe to remind how nice this time in the year can be. A few minutes later I headed into a small gap between two walls of stone with a river flowing through it. And no sun at, at least not in the beginning.
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| The hidden looking entrance path. |
Heading in there felt climbing into a hidden forbidden path, like entering one of those cursed ways only mentioned in fantasy novels or folk tales: No sun, a small walkway with a wall of stone rising to the left and a cliff with a river roaring at the bottom on the right. And to further enhance the "I am in a magic fantasy thing" feeling it all was overgrown by bushes and trees, at least at the beginning.
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| Looking Outside with the entrance on the left side of the bridge. |
Somehow already missing the sun and the light I stopped and took a look back to the outside, into to the direction i just came from: And I liked what I saw. Unfortunately the above picture can't replicate the view I had, but it gives you an idea how it was, and how it felt to stand there.
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| In the deep dark gorge. |
After turning around, it was dark again. And lonely, but not in a bad way, no other human being to interfere with my experience: Standing somewhere, even in the middle of the way and taking pictures, or just a closer look at something wasn't any problem at all. The path itself was drilled into the rock, about a hundred years ago, as far as I remember. Initial purpose to built it was drifting wood through the gorge: When some lumber blocked the way, workers had to get in the ravine to get it flowing outside again. A really dangerous task to do...
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| Heading through some tunnels, nearly hit my head on the ceiling. |
But those days are definitely over. I headed deeper inside, and there she was once more, the sun. Just before the first tunnel. And while entering the hole I nearly hit my head. Sometimes there are clear disadvantages if you are a tall person. But it reminded me to take a look up, and I liked what I saw.
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| The view up. |
After a while standing there and looking up, down, left and right I walked on. After a second tunnel, another moment that is nothing for claustrophobic people, the whole scenery started to open up into a really small valley. At a certain point it was possible to climb down to the riverbed, without climbing gear, just a short steep path and I couldn't resist.
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| View from the riverbed up to the path. |
After resisting the urge to jump into the cold clear water (it was getting hot in sun) I climbed back up to the way and headed the last few meters to the exit of the gorge. Somehow sad that one, maybe the most interesting part of the hike lied behind me, I headed on, but that is a story for another day.
And in the end, as always:
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| The view shortly before the exit point. |
