This post is dedicated to everyone in the southern hemishpere who is suffering from the Summer heat at the moment.

Actually, I wanted to visit another waterfall in the Maltatal valley in Carinthia that morning, but on my way there I thought that I have never been to the Gößfälle waterfalls and I could have a look if they are really that interesting like people say.

To be honest, the waterfalls look cool, but now in Winter this place somehow doesn't look that amazing to me. I might give it another chance in Spring though, when the leafless trees and shrubs turn green again.
In Winter there's also no chance for me to get down into the gorge and closer to the waterfalls - too dangerous - and all those shrubs and trees are in my way.

But in Springtime, when all the water from the melting snow is rushing down from the mountains, I might change my mind and fall in love with this place 😊

During my hike up the gorge and along the waterfalls I only made these close-up detail photos with my 100-400mm zoom lens because the leafless shrubs and bushes would have been disturbing everywhere in the images, and I really didn't like that.

There was quite some snow in the forest and ice in the river, so the little water that was flowing wasn't so bad because of the ice that added nicely to the scenes, but when the snow in the mountains melts in Spring, it will be much more spectacular, I believe.

Hartelsgraben - Gesäuse
February 11, 2023

Yesterday, I got up at 3:30, drove about 3 hours and luckily there was a snow free parking spot near the start of the hiking trail through the Hartelsgraben (Info Hartelsgraben (en)) in the Gesäuse National Park (Website Gesäuse (en) / Wikipedia: Gesäuse).
All other parking lots along the road haven't been cleared from snow yet, so I really was lucky that this one was snow free because otherwise I wouldn't have had any chance to park the car nor to do the hike.

The trail through the Hartelsgraben (trench) is on the oldest forest road in Styria and leads mostly along the river of which I couldn't find the name.

Last weekend it has snowed a lot in this area, so the trail was still completely covered in deep snow and partly buried by avalanches. Luckily I have had my snowshoes with me, so this wasn't a problem but rather fun.

The Hartelsgraben is considered a natural jewel because of its imposing rock and water scenery and the gorge forest.
After my hike I can confirm this statement, although the snow and the avalanches have covered a lot of the trail and the river and it wasn't possible to get closer down to the water. That's why my 100-400 mm lens came handy again, and once more I have taken some intimate waterfall photos.