After getting up earlier than the days before we had a nice, but short breakfast before we headed off again.
Thankfully, we chose the Hotel Gmeineck because this way we had a headstart of 2 km into the next stage.
The morning was already very warm and we were glad to have left early. At first it was an asphalt road but passing neat houses on the way so it wasn’t boring at all. Soon we were on a comfortable 4×4 road in the forest and it was easy walking though not very exciting. Very soon we reached the Pichlhütte.
From there the way changed into a beautiful alpine path with amazing views down to Seeboden and up the mountains above. There were many cows on the meadows but they seemed utterly chilled even with young ones in the herds.
In-between the way got steeper and somewhere at the Tangener Alm the way was unclear. The marks lead us a complete different path than the GPS tracks but somehow they joined after a while again.
At around midday we reached the Sommeregger Hütte at 1700m and stopped for lunch. The view was gorgeous as was the food. We ate blueberry pancakes and Kasnudln (the last being a famous Carinthian pasta dish where the pasta is filled with curd and mint).
Afterwards, we hiked again through a beautiful forest (the smell was just sooo awesome I wish I could fill it up and take it home with me) before a winding path brought us higher and higher up. The view was so incredibly amazing all the time that I stopped every few metres for pictures.
On the way up we also stumbled over a herd of goats (this one is for Sabine: I couldn’t find sheep so far but goats will do just fine, too 😉):
Soon we reached the Tschiernock and the view was gorgeous beyond words!!! 360 degrees panorama on mountains and especially many above 3000m and even down into the valleys. I think that was the best view on the whole trail so far, I wished I could stay there forever!

After pictures and absorbing the greatness all around us we continued on a more or less flat path over some peaks passing some summit crosses and again great views.
The funny thing was kind of a baffle gate in the middle of the mountains:
Then the path went down rather steeply for some 100 metres before we finally reached the Alexander Hütte, our accomodation for today.
It was insanely well visited and we hoped that our reservation didn’t get lost. But thankfully no! The landlady brought us to our room which was a 2-bedroom, very small with a tiny balcony. Not so charming was the fact that 15 people had to share one bathroom (and the WC was not separate!). So we hurried to get a shower before all the others arrived. (And good that we did because starting at 6 p.m. the bathroom was constantly occupied for nearly two hours. And somewhere in-between the hot water was running out, too!)
When we went outside to have something to eat we met Martin who also just came along and wanted to stay here. Although he had booked a bed in the 5-bedroom they told him that they were overbooked so he had to continue to the Millstätter Hütte 30 minutes into the next day. Hopefully he found a bed there!
Although I’m not very fond of the Alexander Hütte for staying overnight the food was just awesome! I had an omelette with herbs and buttered bread (with which a Schnaps came along 😂) and Felix Kaiserschmarrn. Afterwards I ordered the vanilla milk which was fresh milk with powdered sugar and bourbon vanilla, it tasted wonderful!
Concerning the hike it was probably the best day together with the first stage on the trail so far, the nature all around was just perfect! Though I’m not sure whether I would want to stay in the Alexander Hütte again I would definitely stop to eat there! Best food of the trail so far!
Some figures for today:
- 23km
- 1560m up
- 380m up
- Hiking time: 4h 19m