Höllentalklamm is a short hike near Grainau, our Bavarian headquarters. "Hölle" means "hell" in German and for years I thought that the name of this incredible gorge had something sinister in its etymology. But as the official website indicates, it refers rather to "Höhle," which just means cave or grotto. Whew! I often wondered what could have lurked in its past that would give such a sublimely beautiful place an infernal reputation! Although, without the wooden bridges, walkways and handrails, navigating through the gorge would be rather frightening.

Incidentally, the rest of the word seems like a bit of overkill, but German words occasionally do go on and on: "tal" is valley and "klamm" is gorge. Höllental is the name used to refer to the entire gorgeous valley, so adding "klamm" to this is logical.

But by any name, this was a highlight of our Bavarian sojourn. And the overcast, somewhat foggy weather added the perfect atmospheric context to the adventure. For the most part, the photos are shown here in the order they were taken. (Details about the hike itself, in English, is on this page of the Tirol Atlas.)

First, you have to get to the entrance of the gorge. And, as you can see, this scenery is worth the hike by itself...

(You might notice that, fortunately, the ticket allows you to go into the Klamm and back out: "hin und zurück"—very kind of them, wouldn't you say?)

Close to the gorge entrance are a couple of amenities we're not used to seeing on trails in the Rockies...

...a trailside shrine...

And here we are in the gorge...the tiny pink blob in the distance is Kathy with her raingear on...augmented by an umbrella in the photo in the center. Yes, it was a little damp!

...and a tea shop! You can just see it up ahead of us through the trees. And below Kathy is fortifying herself—and warming up—for the trek through the gorge with a stimulating beverage...

About at the end of our hike, when we turned around to head back out of the gorge, there was almost a glacier!

And here are views, in order, taken on our way out of the gorge. What a fabulous place!

And a final look at the lovely Höllental valley...hard to imagine more wonderful scenery anywhere in the Alps!