Meraner Höhenweg mit Hund, Oktober 2019

[thedutch]

Meraner Höhenweg with my dog Lupa, October 2019

 

I had a few days of vacation left over for a trekking tour in the beginning of October. As the weather forecast for the central alps was far from good I decided to go for süd Tirol and do the Meraner Höhenweg.

 

 

Day.1-I parked my car at the cemetery close to the Texelbahn Talstation (Partschins). For free!!!!!!

With a slight drizzle we walked up towards the Nasereit Hütte. As we got there the weather turned better and we walked to the Hochgang Haus.

 

View between Nasereit Hütte and Hochgang Haus

 

I had a nice glass of wine and thought of staying and having another one but I decided to carry on and my dog Lupa was happy.

By the way I do most of the treks in the alps with my dog and she is never on the leash. Dogs are smart animals with a great instinct  and don´t drop down mountains if they have been doing so all there life.

 

Thirsty dog

 

By the end of the afternoon I started looking out for a place to pinch my tent but couldn´t really find a nice spot. When I reached the Oberhochmuthof I asked if it was possible to have a room and if the dog was welcome and the answer was yes. So the first night on the trail was a real bed!!!!

 

Hochmut

 

Day.2-The weather was great and after a nice süd Tirolian breakfast we walked off with the sun giving us a good time.

We just walked on for the day had a rest when we felt like it and  had a cool beer in one of the many pensions on the way.  On this trek there are not to many places where you can just pinch your tent as the area is pretty cultivated so I decided it would be a better to ask a farmer I I could camp on his land.

 

Old sawmill

 

Beautiful süd Tirol

 

By the end of the day we passed the Valtelehof  so I decided to ask if I could do so. They felt sorry for us as it was getting close to freezing at night so they offered us to sleep in the barn. They do have a kind of dormitory but that was full and no dogs allowed. The last Is one of the main problems if you take your dog hiking. I have full understanding that may (Alpine club) mountain huts don´t admit dogs for sleeping. I wouldn´t want to sleep next to a smelly  (and dirty)dog , especially one that is not mine. I know lots of people do things the hard way but I am kind spoilt so when there is a hut close by I prefer a mattress to a tent and a decent meal to my instant noodles.

 

 

Day.3-The weather was great again and I was happy that I chose süd Tirol for the trail. We made our way to Ulfas , partly on trial and parts of it on roads. Not a lot of traffic but quit boring. The Passeier valley is very broad at this point so we had some great views. The last few kilomters before reaching Pfelders were road again and I kind of had it. I decided to leave the Meraner höhenweg and cross straight through the Texelgruppe. Walked up Faltschnal valley and put up my tent close to Spronserjoch (2581m). Just as I finished  “dinner”  it started to snow very lightly so of we went to bed.

 

 Upper Faltschnal valley

 

Day.4-Next morning was cold with a bit of snow but the weather looked good. Had my cup of coffee and muesli  and of we went. We crossed the Spronserjoch and looked down at all the beautiful lakes, truly a fantastic place.

 

Spronserjoch

 

Me!

 

Made our way up bivac Lammer were we had a break in the bivac and enjoyed the views . From there we crossed the boulder fields towards the Halsljoch. From the bivac and it looks pretty close but it took us quite some time to get there. 

 

In route on our way to the Lodner Hütte

 

From the joch we walked down to the Lodner Hütte that was already closed. Not far down there is the Zielalm where I had a glass of wine and watched the farmer gathering his pigs to bring them down the valley  the next day. What a live these pigs have roaming these mountains.

We walked further down looking for a spot to camp. I found a spot but that was so close to the Nasereit Hütte that I decided to ask if they had a room for me and Lupa. The answer was yes and the “Wirt” even brought a special dog mattress to the room ( I didn´t hear Lupa that night).

I had a great Dinner and went to bed with full tummy.

 

 Nasereit Hütte

 

Day.5-Last day of the trail. The sun was there again and we just felt lucky. We walked down to the Giggelberg (Texel) Seilbahn and from there walked  all the way down to Partschinns passing small farms.

Nice view on our last day

 

We arrived around noon, got in the car and drove back to Germany.

All in all a great tour with great views and very lucky with the weather.

 

 

Conclusion:

As I walked the trail in October with the Stettiner Hütte already closed there were still quite a lot of people on the trail but not overrun.

I can imagine that things get very crowded in summer and to find a place to sleep without reservation is almost impossible.

One of the things I did not like about the trail is that fact that a lot of normal roads open to traffic are involved. I knew this in advance but even more roads that I thought before I started the trail.

Bearbeitet 23. Januar 2020 von thedutch

[danobaja]

nice picture of you! lupa is a superb photographer!

thanks for the great trip report!