May 1, 2022
Saturday morning, after waking up, at 7am the local town band marched through the streets of the village of St Wolfgang playing “wake-up” melodies in honor of May Day. We were up and getting ready for our fist hike from St Wolfgang to the neighboring village of St Gilgen. Our route was to hike to St Gilgen and take the ferry back to St Wolfgang.
The hike today was called The Pilgrims’ Way Over The Falkenstien. This hike was only 8 miles, but we knew would be the steepest of our hikes. We left the hotel in a misty cool morning, and headed through the quiet and deserted village of St Wolfgang.
The first two miles were through the outskirts of the village, along the neighborhood lanes towards the mountain.
About 30 minutes in, the ascent began, which was pretty steep until we hit the tree line. The next 35 minutes turned into a much steeper, winding switchback grade up and up on gravel, wet leaves, crushed stone and rocks. The trek continued up into the clouds, at a level where we were shedding layers. Two hikers said it was worse than they expected, a third hiker said it was a brutal as he anticipated, while the 4th hiker is still trying to catch their breath.
At that the crescent, we stopped for a few minutes and had snacks in the shelter of a small hut. According to legend in the Salzkammergut area, Saint Wolfgang erected the first church at the shore of the Wolfgangsee nearby in 976. The legend continued that he threw an axe down the mountain to find the site and even persuaded the devil to contribute to the building by promising him the soul of the first living being ever to enter the church. However, Satan was disappointed as the first creature over the doorstep was a wolf.
We continued 10 minutes further until we came upon St Wolfgang chapel. We were met by a large Austrian family, who’s patriarch was celebrating his birthday. Each year for 50 years, he and his family have ascended the mountain to ring the famous St Wolfgang church bell for his birthday. We all rang the bell as well. By the way, the Austrian family was surprised that some Americans had taken to the trail.
At this point, we began a deep decent which was just as treacherous and challenging as the hike up. In the descent, we saw the beautiful Stations of the Cross made along the trail many years ago. At the base of the mountain, we saw freshly cut tree trunks which supplied the assorted villages with their May poles.
We followed the local musicians into town, and listened to them while having a few beers. So onto tomorrow, as we hike to Lake Schwartzensee and Bad Ischl.
Check hiking the Alps off the bucket list!