2022 Austria Day 6: Hallstatt Glacier Garden, Gosau

13 Sep 2022: Day 6

In Hallstatt's Echerntal (Echern Valley) lies the marvellous natural memorial, the "Gletschergarten" (Glacier Garden) which was discovered in 1926. The Hallstatt glacier garden is a relic of the last Ice Age, formed as the glacier receded 12,000 years ago. It is one of the UNESCO World Heritage sights in the region of Hallstatt Dachstein Salzkammergut, which is off the usual tourist tracks, but is still worthy of being discovered if you have time. 

We walked from the P2 (47.55528449917538, 13.645154118429826) car park, adjacent to the valley station of the “Salzbergbahn”, head along the left side of the “Waldbach” stream along the “Malerweg” through the small settlement in Echerntal and follow the signs (47.55115969695688, 13.63767538851259) to the “Simonyhütte” and the “Wiesberghaus”, along the left side of the valley. The Glacier Garden is also marked on many of the yellow trail signposts. 

We later found out there was another car park closer to the starting point of the glacier walk, which could save us from walking along the “Waldbach” stream.

After almost 2 hours of walking, at the end of the track, from a platform, we had a view of the chamber of this interesting formation, which was created by the erosion activity of the glacier water over the millenniums. The water plunges spirally 10m into the depth in order to escape at the "Felsentor". Continue to the vent of a "giant snail". The magnificent layers of rock gave us a unique insight into the glacial monument of the "glacier mills". 

We knew tomorrow will not be a sunny day from weather forecast. We did not want to miss the opportunity to visit Gosau when the weather was still good today. We quickly drove to  the car park of Gasthof Gosausee which was the starting point of  the gondola, and the Gosauseen walking track. We passed by another lake which water was super clear. The water was emerald green thanks to the reflection of surrounding trees and mountain. 

We decided to go for Gosaukamm cable car first. With the cable car we reached the Zwieselm with an impressive view of the Dachstein in just a few minutes. 

There were many activities like skiing, picnic or hiking can be done up there but due to the season we chose to do some walking. I couldnt remember which track we did, and we got lost and walked for very long to get to the peak where we got to see the 360 degree panorama view.

It was a very hot day, and the wrong path we took was quite steep at some points. We had to stop a few times to get some rest under shade. 

We spent two and a half hour at the top and back to the lake for another walk. As it was already 4pm, I decided to only walk along the first lake Vorderer Gosausee, which took around 30-45 min in total. My parents were quite tired after completing two walking trails for the day so they enjoyed their ice cream by the lake while waiting for me. We returned the next morning to do the entire track which took us to the middle lake, Gosaulacke, as well as the third and final lake, Hinterer Gosausee.