Pathway to the Arolla Pine Forest in Obergurgl
Dear Readers, after quite a stiff walk yesterday (18,100 steps, maximum heart rate 135 bpm) we decided to take it a bit easier today, and so we went for a walk through the Arolla Pine Forest here. This is a very interesting habitat – in spite of a fire in 1880, there are trees here that are over 400 years old, and some of them are real characters!
The path winds up and down, and with lots of stones and tree roots in the way it’s a good chance to practice my balance skills and increase my confidence. Plus I always have John to lean on if it’s a particularly tricky jump down. But then, we got to a turn in the path and we saw this…
We soon realised that the Alpine cows were intent on coming down the path that we wanted to walk up. They looked at us. We looked at them. There was no way that I was going to sneak past half a ton of frisky cow on a narrow pathway, so we walked back to the nearest seat and passing place, and waited for the cows to come past, which they did, at their own pace.
What I found interesting was that as each cow came past, she sniffed me, then John and then proceeded on her way. I love cows. They seem to have the right attitude to life, somehow. And here’s a somewhat impromptu video of the encounter…
Anyway, after a few minutes the cows had passed on, and I huffed and puffed my way back up the trail again, stopping to take a few plant photos en route..Any excuse to get my breath back! Here’s some Bladder Campion….
Bladder Campion (silene vulgaris)
And I do believe this is a lousewort, in particular Long-Beaked Yellow Lousewort (Pedicularis tuberosa). These are interesting plants which are hemi-parasitic – they have some chlorophyll of their own, but they also penetrate the roots of other plants, in order to extract nutrients. They get their name from the belief that if animals ate lousewort, they would get lice.
Long-Beaked Yellow Lousewort (Pedicularis tuberosa)
These little star-like flowers belong to Rock Campion (Atocion rupestre), which grows up to 2,900 metres. A tough little plant!
Rock Campion (Atocion rupestre)
And then we were on the home stretch. On the way back we met a young woman and her mum with a baby in a pram. Yikes! The path down really wasn’t suitable, being full of steep drops, tree roots, incalcitrant cattle, huge rocks etc etc. Alas, we spoke no German and they spoke no English, but it’s amazing what mime can do, and when last seen they were thinking about pushing uphill to the Schonweisse hut, where we were yesterday, which although steep at least has a paved path. Obergurgl is many things, but much of it is not accessible for prams, or wheelchairs for that matter, though the public transport is, and some of the cable cars are. But then, as we know, it’s often not until you care for someone who has mobility issues, or have them yourself, that you start to notice these things.
And here is just about the last Alpenrose in the forest. Some friends that we met yesterday said that it had been in the low 30s last week, too hot to walk, and clearly it’s the reason that so many of the early plants have already gone over. So, our friends have had the whole gamut, from high summer temperatures to snow. A holiday here is always a gamble weathrwise, but on balance I’d rather have it too cold than too hot..
The last Alpenrose
I enjoyed your bovine encounter 🙂
18,000 steps is some walk! Well done.
A question though… When I click on your images, in the hope of enlarging them, nothing happens. I thought it might be to do with single images, but I see on oother websites (e.g. https://jimearl6.com/allen-crags-and-seathwaite-fell-from-seathwaite/) it is possible. Don’t ask me how as I always choose the gallery option. The images only form a small part of my overall screen, so I think your readers are perhaps missing out. 🤔
Thanks Mike! Let me have a look and see if there’s a setting somewhere….
Hi. Glad to see that you are back in Obergurgl. I’ve just had a couple of weeks in Oberau / Wildschoenau, good walking, but a very different back drop to the Oetztal. As I haven’t been to Ob for some time – I stayed at the Alpenland last time – I wondered how many hotels are open in the summer season nowadays? Also, are the yellow cranes once more ubiquitous; in other words, is there much in the way of building work going on ?
Hi Charlie, this year the Olympia, Alpina, Alpenland, Bellevue and Austria were all open, along with the Edelweiss and Gurgl (which doesn’t seem to be offered by Inghams any more). The Austria has re-badged itself as the ‘Food and Wine Hotel’, though I suspect they charge more for the gourmet offerings. There is one ‘hole in the ground’ down from the Spar, one of the last little patches of meadow in the village itself, but there’s nothing like the building site of previous years, particularly now that the new town hall has been built (the Gurgl Carat). We went to watch the introductory film about the region this time, in the posh new cinema (where we had simultaneous translation into English on headphones) but I think it’s lost some of the charm of the old slide show, did you ever go?
I stayed at the Jenewein during the summertime, but assume that is now winter-only. The first place I stayed at was the Deutschmann, which you may remember, near the Feskogelbahn and the Crystal? hotel. I wasn’t taken with the Alpenland; otherwise, I stayed at a B & B called the Hochegg.
I haven’t been in the hall since its refurbishment, but have seen its ‘new face’ online. As you say, the old hall, in which I attended an Oetztal-themed talk and most probably the slide show, was more atmospheric and in keeping with the surroundings. Progress, eh ?…
I’d recommend the Olympia for sure…
The only issues I have with the Olympia are that the vegetarian meals aren’t great, and having to eat out two evenings a week. The latter isn’t a hardship itself, but I do prefer to eat in each evening.
It can be a bit of a pain having to leave the hotel after a hard day’s walking, for sure…