The Emerald Trail – Hohe Tauern National Park – Austria

Garden gnomes.   I have often wondered where they originated from, and why they make appearances (less commonly than they used to perhaps!) in our gardens.  Well not mine, but you know…  It’s one of those obscure thoughts that can be found whirling around the inside of my skull on the odd night that I can’t sleep, along with other such strangeness, such as trying to remember the Danish word for hedgehog, and wondering if I will ever figure out how to translate my teenage diary that I wrote in a completely made up code.  Whilst I have yet to shed light on two of those things, I think I have found the answer to the gnome question at least, and it’s a lot more magical than you might imagine it to be…

Once it had stopped raining/snowing outside our mountain hideaway, and the clouds had parted enough for us to venture down to reception to borrow one of the swanky back packs they lend out (I loved this, what a great way to a) test a decent back carrier, and b) there’s no having to pack one in your luggage!), we decided this was our last (and only day sadly!) to do something we loved the most when we lived with the mountains on our doorstep – go for a decent hike…  So, come hell or high water (more like snow or rain water) we were going to go for it…

Leaving the car at the bottom of the mountains at Bramberg, and with the toddler lording it high up in his luxury perch, it was time to set off with walking poles at the ready (which you might laugh at, but they do honestly help – especially if you are carrying a giant lumpus on your back for the duration).     People have questioned how we managed to do so much mountain hiking with the kids (probably the same person who questioned us taking the children to Japan – yes, I am rolling my eyes as I type this!!), because “surely it’s boring for them”.  Well, let me tell you, that person really need to ask themselves “why on earth wouldn’t you” when the scenery is like this?

I am not going to lie and say that each ‘expedition’ is entirely moan free (I will admit to doing some of the moaning myself from time to time, especially after walking up hill without any break for at least two hours – that Eagle’s Nest hike is one I will never forget for leg aching reasons!), but it doesn’t have to be an ordeal.    Blackmail is always a good tactic (especially in food form as it turns out!) and, on this occasion I had plenty of chocolate ginger bread squirrelled away for when it all became a bit much (I have decided to put together a post on hiking with kids based on writing this very paragraph – watch this space!).  Choosing a hike that has plenty of things to engage them along the way is always a good idea too.

We also added a Mushroom spotting competition to the mix – 10 points for each fungi spotted, and 50 points for something really unusual.  Having particularly competitive offspring, this kept them happy for the duration surprisingly, even if it meant I had to do a lot of adding up along the way  – they found A LOT of fungal growth.  It kept my camera happy from time to time too!

The Emerald Trail (or Smaragd Weg auf Deustsch) turned out to be a great option for a hike as it’s not only incredibly beautiful, but there’s plenty of stuff for them to see, play with, and learn about geology and mineral wise (in a fun way!) along the way.

You might think it’s called The Emerald Trail thanks to the many glorious shades of green you spot as you wander (on this trail you will also spot a vivid orange lichen that is so bright it looks a bit like spray paint!), but actually, and rather more enchantingly, this really is an ancient emerald mining trail, and if you are super lucky, you can still find them today…

And here’s where the gnomes come in (without fishing rods and red hats)…    In alpine folklore, there are legends abound about Venedigermandl –  mountain goblins/gnomes who always knew where the best seams of gemstones lay..   The name is derived from the term ‘Venetians’, as they had some of the best gem miners around.  Back in ancient times there was huge Venetian demand for raw materials such as gold, emeralds and quartz, and these miners travelled throughout Europe and beyond to search for such treasures, and the folklore surrounding them created many a fine tale.   Today legends are still handed down across generations about friendly but secretive tiny magical men that could lead you to treasures (or not!) in these parts.  Perhaps the origin of the little garden gnomes that we know today?…

You too might find one or two Venedigermandl on the Emerald Trail, and if you look carefully there are also witches to be found, tree sprites and vast freaky faces carved into huge rocks.   All of this, together with the stunning back drop helps with an almost magical atmosphere.  It was like being in a fairy tale…

It wasn’t too long before we spotted lots of glittering stones ourselves as the pathways are littered with strange dark flinty stones with a silver threads running through them.  There’s plenty of quartz to pick up underfoot too.

We stopped off at the kugel mill, a water run set up to demonstrate how marbles would have been made hundreds of years ago (you should also visit this place if you like this kind of thing)  a great place to keep children happy for a good few minutes – and probably for much longer on a warm summer’s day.    At this point, the toddler had a bit of a rest (as did his Dad’s back!) from his high up perch, and happily ran along poking things with a single walking pole (yet another good reason to bring them!) for quite some time.

As we progressed, the clouds didn’t appear to be lifting, so after stopping for a quick gingerbread pick me up, we decided to walk to the first hutte we came to (which was just as well, we later found out it was the only one open that day!) as we could have lunch and get a taxi back down again if the weather took at turn for the worse (believe it or not, there is one taxi, it’s a battered old land rover that does the run up and down to the mountain huts, but it’s there if you need it!)…

After two and half hours walking up hill, and with a few “hangry” arguments beginning to take place in our ‘spot the mushroom’ competition (mostly because I had forgotten to add some points on, and also because people were trying to wildly diversify from the point scoring system, awarding themselves fantastical figures for more obscure fungi!), we left the emerald forest with its raging river behind us, and set out across a relatively flat piece of valley closely surrounded by shrouded mountain peaks, all of us looking forward to a well deserved lunch, and some feet thawing warmth in the EnzianHutte ahead…

Happily refuelled with bowls of pumpkin soup closely followed by schnitzel and chips in this friendly place, it really didn’t matter that the weather hadn’t been that kind to us thus far.  The hike had been beautiful and enjoyable, and was most importantly all down hill on the way back…   By the way, you can walk much further than the Enzianhutte if the conditions are good and the huttes along the way are open.   On a sunny day, if you make it as far as the AlpenRose Hutte, you can borrow panning equipment to search for your own emeralds in the river (which is entirely possible, my friend’s son found one this way!) , but today a five hour round trip was more than enough, and we were happy with our lot…

As we prepared to leave, the others waited outside whilst I trailed behind to change the toddler and check for things we typically leave behind (like favourite toy cars that could prove catastrophic half way down a mountain)…   As I opened the door to the outside world, my first thought was, “oh the sun’s  out”… Then Mr R quietly said “look”…

People use the phrase “breathtaking” far too much, but I can honestly say that for a few seconds I was pretty much speechless (which I am sure those that know me well will attest is a rare thing indeed!) at the truly breathtaking view of the glacier that was now directly in front of us thanks to the sun burning through the clouds…   We immediately decided to postpone any and all walking in any direction for a good hour or so to appreciate this heavenly view, which the kids were more than happy with (the Enzianhutte has a great playground!), whilst we gazed on in awe…

When we did eventually tear ourselves away, the descent was made all the more interesting as the Smaragd Way has various trails to follow, so you are not seeing the same thing twice (which actually I would have been more than happy with).  This together with our combined intrigue at the Small Boy’s sudden interest in taking photographs with his sister’s camera kept us all happy, so engrossed was he on his little mission.  Later on that evening, we discovered that all the pictures he had taken had a similar animal pooped theme.  Of course I should have realised when words like “sister’s camera” are involved… At least it kept him happy as we trekked back down to lower ground – I bet he awarded each different poop masses of points on his own secret spotting competition!…

We loved this hike, it has to be our favourite to date.  It not only taught us about the geology of the mountain and its precious secret hoard, but also gave us an insight into the life of people in the mountains, and their relationship with this magical environment and the folklore surrounding it.

It’s said that the best time to enjoy this trail is between June and the end of October, and if you fancy searching for some precious gems of your own, the tourist office organises summer hikes to do exactly this.    Actually there are still plenty of professional stoasuchas (mineral hunters) in these parts today, and you should definitely make time to stop off at Museum Bramberg, and the larger National Park Museum to enjoy some of their finds.

The Emerald Trail is described as an easy hike for the entire family, and whilst I wouldn’t exactly describe it as a cake walk, as long as you have some kind of gingerbread blackmail about your person, and don’t mind your thighs aching for the whole of the next day, this one is definitely for you.   I can guarantee it will remain etched on your memory forever anyway…