Day 4: Baumgartnerhöf Austria to Kranjska Gora Slovenia

Quick note! Now that WiFi is better, yesterday’s blog post has been updated with a few photos and extra commentary. Check it out here.

“Hallo” from Austria and “Dober Don” from Slovenia!

Yesterday we spent a lot of time contemplating today’s trail. We’d heard it was probably the most difficult of our 17 planned stages, even in the best of weather conditions, and the current weather has been downright wintery in the higher elevations.

We came down to breakfast this morning prepared to skip this stage, but after a conversation with the innkeeper, we decided to give the trail a try, knowing we could turn back if things got too tricky. If we turned back, he offered to call a taxi to take us to our next stop Kranjska Gora, Slovenia—just a 40-minute drive by road compared to an 8-hour hike over the mountain.

Here we go! Day 2 on the Alpe Adria Trail!

The trail began as a forest road but soon narrowed into a steep, single-track path. The surrounding snow-dusted peaks were spectacular!

As we climbed, we crossed the border from Austria to Slovenia, walking along a ridgeline that separates the two countries.

The border crossing from Austria to Slovenia

Snow eventually covered the trail, but it was still passable, so we pressed on for a while.

The trail was precipitous in places, with a narrow flat path hugging a steep slope. I started noticing that Bob would nervously chuckle when he came upon one of these spots on the trail.

As we neared the first of two summits, the snow deepened to above knee height, and the trail markers—along with the trail itself—became impossible to see.

After 6 miles of climbing, we made the call to turn back. We both agreed it just felt too dangerous to continue.

We retraced our steps down to the Baumgartnerhof lodge, where the innkeeper arranged a taxi to Kranjska Gora.

With a couple of hours to wait before the taxi arrived, we treated ourselves to an Austrian lunch, sharing Kasnudl (cheese dumplings) and another round of that incredible garlic soup.

Soon, our taxi whisked us over the border and into the charming little mountain town of Kranjska Gora, Slovenia. Our taxi driver was a delightful lady who was full of great insights about tomorrow’s trail and all things Slovenia. We learned that the World Cup Giant Slalom and Ski Jumping is held in Kranjska Gora. The surrounding ski hills look very impressive.

Our place for the night

Our place in Kranjska Gora

Although we were a little disappointed that the weather wasn’t cooperative today, we still saw some incredible scenery, had a very good 12 mile hike and safely found our way to the place we planned to end up at the end of the trail. Not a bad day!

Here are a couple of fun pics from the trail today, before things got dicey:

Baumgartnerhöf is a mountain bike Mecca. Tons of trails, some with fun sculptures.

Yep, bears in the Alps. A smaller version of a grizzly according to our taxi driver.

Tomorrow we head to Trenta Slovenia. It’s another steep climb that’s above snow level, but we’ve heard that the path is well marked and follows a mountain road that’s maintained and passable right now - so no worries about tomorrow’s trail! However I am worried about WiFi tomorrow. The place we’re staying is quite remote, so I may not be able to post to the blog.

Good night friends!