I met Connor once six years ago in Vancouver to shoot for his photography project, Project Pilgrim, which he completed in support of mental health before walking the Camino de Santiago across northern Spain back in 2016. On his way to walk the Camino once again this summer, he made a few stops throughout Europe, one of them being Austria, so it made sense for us to figure out a way to spend a weekend together in the mountains.
I'm currently living in Salzburg and he was making his way through Italy and Slovenia before heading to Switzerland, France and Spain, so we met up in the little mountain city of Innsbruck, home to exceptional scenery and some stunning hiking trails.
On our first day in Innsbruck, we hiked the Zirbenweg above the city which was a beautiful trek with panoramic city views and plenty of cows.
However on the Sunday, we opted for something much more adventurous and, with Connor's friend from an exchange program he did ten years ago and her boyfriend, we all woke up at 3:30 in the morning to drive out to Kaserl, about a half hour drive from Innsbruck, from where we hiked an hour in the darkness straight up a mountain to reach the stunning Salfeiner See where we were greeted by possibly the greatest sunrise of my life.
This lake is renowned for its exquisite mountain reflections and for the soft pastel sunrises over Innsbruck. We were the only people on the mountain at that time of the morning and it was such a surreal moment. We were back in Innsbruck by 8:30am and promptly went straight back to bed!
ZIRBENWEG HIKE DETAILS
When: June to October
Where: trail begins in Kaserl at the Salfeiner See Parkplatz
Difficulty: intermediate only due to the elevation gain
Length: the return hike is 6.91km, which took us just over 2 hours roundtrip
Directions: from the parking lot, follow the gravel road all the way up to the small mountain hut, then cross the fence, pass through the meadows and follow the trail up to the crest of the mountain where you have views of Innsbruck and the lake at the top. Check out my Strava for the exact trail route and details!
Bathrooms: no
Public Transit: no
First light over Innsbruck
Sunrise over Salfeiner See
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Hi! I’m Jana, a Dutch-German-British-Canadian with a dream of seeing every country in the world. I am a storyteller, photographer and adventurer passionate about documenting and sharing my travels.
