Austria

July 21-25, 2017

Our first night in Austria was spent in the parking lot for Molltaler Gletcher , a ski area, near Flattach, Austria. We were going to ride the lifts (it would take 3 lifts) to the top and hike around, but the weather was bad, so the two upper lifts were closed. We decided to move on down the road.

We didn't plan on visiting Austria, but with all the hot weather we had been encountering, we just kept driving hoping to find cooler weather. We found it in Austria, but didn't know where to go. We picked up a brochure for Glossglockner Hochalpenstrasse at a visitors center and decided to give it a try.

Heilgenblut, Austria - Looking back down the valley we just drove through.

Heilgenblut, Austria - The beginning of the toll road Glossglockner Hochalpenstrasse (High Alpine Road).

View along the road from Heilbenblut to Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Hohe view point.

View of the road to Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Hohe view point.

Wild flowers - They were everywhere. We must have been there at the prime bloom time.

There were lots of beautiful waterfalls.

View of Johannisberg from Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Hohe view point.

Our free parking spot for the night. You can see the van lined up with his overnight parking buddies. We had a wild storm most of the night, but in the morning the clouds began to open up.

More wild flowers.

I have never seen so many marmots. They were everywhere you looked.

Grossglockner - The highest peak in Austria.

Grossglockner - Look closely and you can see a line of climbers crossing the glacier all the way to the summit. It was the first clear day in about a week, so it was a busy day on the mountain.