Hiking route number 41

In the end, it is not going to matter how many breaths you took, but how many moments took your breath away.

The Dolomites on the backround.

Gleb and Markus ran cooper today. Markus had to run 300 meters less because of the age difference to win the bet. Results: Gleb nearly having a heart attack and running 50 meters more than Markus. So Markus won! Now Gleb has to buy him beginner's course for climbing. Too bad he didn't win, because then both Gleb and Aino would have got a free massage from Markus...though Gleb already had one (which he paid for of course) but based on his screams while Markus massaged his hamstrings and calves he's quite happy that he didn't win after all.

Fallen trees on the way

Before the cooper we had improved the Active holiday packages the way Markus told us and afterwards he offered that we could go to eat some pizza together. To that the indomitable Gleb said no, and that we could easily take some biking or hiking trip. So we set off to a hiking trip more than four hours long.

Resting a while

We walked up to a nearby mountain, this time north to Niederdorf. The mountain wasn't so high this time (only 750 meters ascent) but the route we walked went on and on. The route was 17 kilometers long and it was very confusing. When we started the route suddenly was divided into two and the sign didn't tell which one to take. For the first time we choose the more difficult looking one, so on the way there were lots of fallen trees and broken branches we had to dodge. Then the route narrowed more and more and finally it was only a little path in the bushes. That didn't go on long fortunately and we could walk for a while on a regular hiking route.

Treehouse!

We were looking for the route number 41 and when the road crossed, there was a sign number 41 on it, pointing on the field. We walked on, following again just flattened grass when suddenly the path disappeared. We didn't mind of course, but walked on the steep hill, climbing to the top to search for a better route... or any route. We saw a deer, jumping up the mountain and Aino's trip immediately became a complete.

We make our own ways,
we don't need any routes!

We climbed up the mountain on a forest without trails, and we finally found one, full of grass and without any marked numbers. We decided to follow the path anyway, thinking it was the right one when suddenly, it disappeared. Yes, disappeared, again. We followed some sort of a path in the woods, climbing again the steep mountain, trying to hold on rocks and trees. After a while of coursing, we finally found the right route. This time marked with a number 41.

Aino found a knife that is used
for mushroom picking

The route was in good shape and we saw the deer again! This time both of us quieted down and we even tried to take a picture (don't get excited - we failed). We tried to get closer for a better view, but the deer turned to look at us for a while, then skipped away.

The route 41 went on and on. There were many crossings but not one of them were marked so we followed the route. The forest was beautifully green and we could see a little bit of the Alps on the left side and the Dolomites on the right. We walked by a treehouse, which Aino wanted to explore but the ladders looked too rotten for climbing. We also saw tadpoles in a little puddle in the middle of the route.

She ate ir's head...

When we were eventually walking downwards we saw a cat on the side of the street. She was hunting something, and Gleb had a glimpse of a tail of it. He said it was a mouse, but the cat captured the thing and pulled it to the road, and we realized it was a little snake. Gleb was 20 meters further just like that (he's a bit afraid of snakes) and Aino was praising the cat and taking pictures. The cat ate the poor snakes head off and the body of the snake started twisting like a maniac. Maybe that's enough telling about the snake.

Aino's amazingly artistic photos again. 

We were both pretty tired, especially our legs, but when we were already in Niederdorf we walked through a little adventure park, and Aino got excited. She only got to try two of the children's equipment when Gleb dragged her away, promising that we would come back later.

We decided to take the route sometime later again, because we didn't understand where the route 41 started. We also learned that even though the sign tells you to go somewhere, you should maybe use your common sense if the route looks like it didn't really exist.