An easy waterfalls HiKING day in Mayrhofen.
Please Stick to the Rivers and the Lakes that You’re Used to.
pop quiz: the lyric above is from what song and artist? clue: Lisa wrote this AIDS/HIV inspired lyric, or may have stolen it from Paul McCartney.
The weather forecast was for storms and thunder around noon, so we chose a short easy waterfalls hiking route just up the valley near Hippach to fill a couple of hours before the storm and before going supermarket shopping!
The walk, taking in parts of routes 13 and 15, described two lovely waterfalls and excellent views for just 200m of climb.
The free map from the Tourist Office was all we had, the scale wasn’t what we are used to from OS maps, but we figured we could work it out. We parked the car in a small car park on the back road linking Hippach to Laimach.
We strode out towards Laimach and then dropped down a path on the right to the Ziller River. The river runs the length of the Zillertal valley, with the aptly named Zillerpromenade alongside. The route continued north along the Zillerpromenade for a short while before directing us to turn left, back across the road and the start of the gentle climb towards Laimach Waterfall; which was easy going along a gravel forest track for about a mile.
Waterfalls Hiking.
Laimach Waterfall is an optional side shoot of the walk, a narrow track climbing quite steeply on the left for about 20mins. Well worth it for the little effort involved. The water cascades down a steep narrow crevasse dropping about 30m or so.
To continue the walk you need to retrace your steps to the main path and continue along the forest track for another mile or so. We passed a second waterfall which we thought rather disappointing until we discover it wasn’t the Talbach Waterfall, but just a bit of a stream!
The Talbach waterfall is rather spectacular, probably dropping 150m or so in total. Recent improvements to the trail providing bridges, steps and viewing platforms. This mean you can get close up to the water without (too much) danger. There are also a few Klettersteige routes up the far bank. These look rather more challenging than the path we were on; another day perhaps.
A simple drop back down to the valley floor and back to the riverside path, took us back towards Hippach and where we left the car.
The storms didn’t arrive, but we did get the shopping done!
Talbach and Laimach Waterfalls Walk Facts.
- Took us about 2 hours at a gentle pace.
- In May the temperature was an ideal 20oC or so and the sun was shining.
- Virtually no one else around.
- Kids and those prone to unsure footing need to take care of the edge.
- Tourist signs for ‘Easy Trial’ make most of the route a doddle to find and follow.
- The route notes stated it was 5km with 200m of ascent (and descent!).
