Hiking in the golden autumn on the Nockberge Trail

The southern slope of the Alps in the Alpe Adria region is commonly known as a popular holiday destination, especially in summer. The warm, turquoise bathing lakes, the cozy pastures surrounded by high mountains and the northern Adriatic invite you to linger. Even if most guests come to Carinthia in summer, autumn with its breathtaking colours, the unique silence and the clear light is still the most beautiful time for hiking. We who live here know the secret and enjoy the golden, quiet days on our long hikes. It’s time to unveil this secret for our guests. Hiking in the golden autumn of Carinthia.

What makes these autumn days so incomparable? To do this, we want to embark on a trail that is particularly suitable for describing these days – our trail across the UNESCO Biosphere Park Nockberge. While in the west the Hohe Tauern and in the south the Karawanken still radiate an almost youthful ruggedness and from their peaks the first snow is glistening towards us, the Nockberge with their gently rounded mountains and crests rest like wise giants in themselves. Here you can now Hike over quiet alpine pastures, through golden stone pine forests, on ridges with breathtaking views, from one peak to the next with almost limitless panoramas. A really good choice to ground yourself within a few days and soak up the peace and serenity of the Nockberge.

The peace and serenity is probably due to the silence that you encounter up there at this time of year. I just hear the wind blowing and my own heart beating all day long. Silence as far as the ears can carry – you can only hear a mountain stream murmuring in the distance. During a break I lie down on the dry alpine pasture, close my eyes and hear the hum of a bumblebee nibbling on the autumn gentian in its search for sweets even before the cold days start. In the morning hours, the forest slopes are still white and there is a smell of damp earth. The smell is pronounced in my memory of distant days. How I love the scent of the leaves, the wet wood and the pine resin. So reminded of my childhood, I look for elves and forest spirits in this magical nature and sometimes I’m lucky and discover a forest creature in a tree bark or in a forgotten flower. The incomparable nature of these autumn days up here on the Nocken is probably also due to the play of colors of the leaves and needles, from golden to red, yellow, brown, orange to green. The deep red leaves of the alpine rose say goodbye to the last warm days. Everything that is promised to the yellow glows somehow farewell. From this splendor of colors I take my eyes with me, so to speak, for the cold, white days. But none of these colors could shine without this special light. It is this incomparable sharpness between light and shadow that we owe to the low sun. The tiny body of each insect shines through the air filled with yellow light as it flies. In this warm sunlight, the larches burn golden against the black of the opposite slope. The trees cast long shadows of soft sound and sweet fragrance. In between, islands of light on damp moss cushions. Time doesn’t matter anymore and I sense the eternity of the moment.

Hiking in the golden autumn – play of light on the path along the Nockberge Trail in the direction of Königsstuhl ©Trail Angels GmbH

Far above the wild geese fly south and as I watch them my mind is lost. On the Almboden, the butterflies are still happy in the last warm rays of sunshine. Two chamois peer curiously at me from the next ridge. A little later an eagle quietly, almost majestically, circles in the dark blue sky. The spiders, like veils of elves, weave silver-white webs in the bushes, hung with morning dew. Against the light of the rising sun, they are presented to us in their unbelievable beauty, provided we can perceive them.

Hiking on the gentle ridges in this warming light above the glistening white fog of the valleys. Later in the day, as visibility clears, streams shimmer silver and still up from the valley. On the horizon, a thick cloud rolls like snow in a foen storm over the Julian Alps. Clouds are now chasing across the black-blue sky. Sometimes the wind whispers softly through the alpine grass, sometimes it blows stiffly into my hair. Now a fresh autumn wind is blowing over the ridges. It rustles through the pine and fir treetops and raises leaves to the sky. I suck the fresh air into my lungs and breathe with the wind.

This wind blows all the heavy thoughts out of my head. He tugs at me and I let my worries go with him. If I walk north and it blows from the south, I am propelled by it and I float more than I walk. On these crests one then feels like a bird. The path leads me along a pasture fence with its bleached, even bizarrely white, wooden slats. The rusted barbed wire is already lying on the ground, ready for the winter. A poem by Monika Minder comes to mind: “Throw off the dying so that the setting sun can honor the mild days in the peace of love.”

The shadows are creeping into the valleys earlier now, while the sun is still warming up here. A golden day glows at the end. The evening sky is colored with red streaks and flames are slowly fading on my face in the evening. In the last rays of the sun, drops sparkle like glass beads on fine spinning threads. The air cools noticeably and darkness falls quickly. I now descend towards the hut and in the dark the lights of the villages welcome me. A star shines through the misty air with a feeble blink.

A silver-colored nightgown now encases mountain and valley. The air becomes rough and foggy. But I let myself be pampered by this sky blue and sunny yellow all day long and created a color store in me with my eyes. Golden light fills my heart. Now I’m looking forward to the warm hut, the friendly people, the warm tea and the well-deserved snack.

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Golden light fills my heart. Now I’m looking forward to the warm hut!

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