Theo's Hiking Pictures from around the World

Theo and Jeff South have, since 2002, vacationed in various mountain ranges around the world, where we can hike to waterfalls, lookout sites, mountain tops, high altitude restaurants and other places of interest.


These are pictures of Theo taken in Austria, Canada, the United States, and Switzerland from 2003 through 2008. (Jeff took most of the pictures.)

This is Theo in 2003 on the way up the mountains to the west of Achenkirch, on the Achensee in Tirol, Austria. We rested at this waterfall, which was not far from the standalone bellowing cow (for which there is a story for another time.)

Further up the mountain above Achenkirch, we bumped into this German couple who were vacationing at a farm, working the animals in the morning and hiking in the afternoon. On our hike, they spotted some wild chamois/"gemsen" (goat-like antelopes - or antelope-like goats) and pointed them out to us. The Germans had long conversations with us in German, most of which we didn't understand, but that didn't slow them down any. A nice couple ....

Also in 2003, we visited Kitzbuehel, Austria and stayed at the Hotel Erika, an unusually architected, three level building that was painted a pleasing pinkish/orange color. We were invited by the hotel owner (Uschi is in the picture below with Theo) to join a group of other hotel guests for a mountain hike. We fell in love that day with hiking in the mountains. The hike involved taking a chairlift well up a mountain and then hiking across six or seven miles of mountain paths. On the chairlift, Theo held on for dear life while watching the Swiss woman in front of her doing casual calisthenics. We snacked at a hutte (mountain restaurant) and rested our feet in the stream you see in the picture.

The picture below is from 2003. It shows Theo with her back to the valley in which lies Bad Hallstatt, Austria, a restored renaissance town on a lake. We started a hike back down to Hallstatt but quickly retreated back to the bahn, when we were accosted in a swampy area near some falls by hundreds of mosquitoes, against whom we had no protection. This whole area was beautiful.

Here's Theo in 2004 high up a mountain above Maurach, which is on the Achensee in Tirol, Austria. We took a bahn up to this point and then hiked further up the mountain. Note the clouds in the valley below her, but it was sunshine on the mountain itself.

Here's a view as we headed further up that same mountain. Later we worked our way down a very rugged trail all the way to Maurach, taking over three hours of stepping stone by stone down most of the trail. Theo and Jeff both fell several times and we were pretty bruised at the end of the day. But, it was beautiful!

Here's Theo that same year in front of a castle-like hotel across the lake from Gmunden, in the lake country of northeastern Austria. We went to Gmunden to look at tableware - but only ended up buying a ceramic rabbit.

Below is a wind-blown Theo squinting into the sun alongside the lake just south of Seewalchen, which is also in the lake country to the east of Salzburg. This was a beautiful day. The following day we went to an oompah band competition and heard some great music. We also stayed in a superb hotel just north of the lake in Seewalchen and had a terrific fish meal that evening. Seewalchen was gorgeous, with some marvelous old buildings and lots of swans, geese, ducks and other sea birds on the lake.

This is Theo in 2004 carefully climbing down a rocky path from a hutte above Mayrhofen, in Tirol, Austria. This hike involved a bahn ride halfway up the mountain, then three hours of hiking up to the hutte - a good meal and some fun with several horses that kept trying to climb up on the hutte patio to eat the food of the hikers who were sitting there. The hike down was rugged. When we got down to our car, we discovered that Jeff had lost the keys, but there was a note on our car indicating who had found the keys and where they had been left.

Below are Jeff and Theo at the Krimmler Wasserfaelle, at Krimml, Austria in 2004. There are three major waterfalls that drop hundreds of feet. The hike up to the top took about an hour and a half (and the path was blocked for a while by a herd of semi-wild goats). Then we hiked another hour or so up a long ascending valley, eventually eating a good breakfast-like meal at a farmhouse in the valley.
The hike up was of medium difficulty and we were encouraged along the way by a Scotsman to "finish the climb to the top" for him, since he was part of a tour and had to return to the bus before reaching the top of the falls.

Now shifting countries, this is Theo in 2004 standing in front of a small lake that borders the mountain teahouse above Lake Louise in Alberta, Canada. She loves this teahouse and we visited it again in 2007.

Below is Theo at Maligne Canyon, just outside Jasper, Alberta, Canada. We had completed a four-hour hike around Maligne Lake, where Theo had been spooked in a remote part of the trail by a very curious doe that came close to investigate us. Maybe the doe had never seen people before, but we were not bears or wolves and thus not a threat to her. Nonetheless, the presence of the deer caused Theo to turn around and head back at a faster pace than she had been going - maybe in case some grizzly came looking for the doe?

Here's Theo below Angel Glacier, south of Jasper. You don't see the glacier, but you can see the accumulated residue that had fallen below the glacier.

Theo and Jeff, with Lake Louise in the background.... Note the unique reflections in the water.

Florida

In 2005, Theo and Jeff vacationed on Sanibel Island in Florida. We did some hiking in a nature preserve on the island, during which time we saw many exotic birds, lots of alligators and the island's lone, twelve-foot long crocodile, which had been unseen for a week, but which we nearly stepped on. Fortunately, it wasn't hungry.

Here's Theo reading a display case that described some of the plants and birds in the preserve.

Here she is, seemingly relieved that the croc hadn't been much interested in her.

In 2006, we moved our home from Ohio to Virginia. In late September 2006, we spent a few days hiking along the Blue Ridge Mountain trails and the Appalachin Trail - staying at a bed and breakfast in Harrisonburg, Va. One of our hikes took us down to seven different waterfalls. Here's Theo in front of one of them.

This is Theo with the autumn colors of the Appalachians in the back ground.

On one of our hikes down from the Blue Ridge Parkway, we came to this waterfall. A couple of youths from the Netherlands took this picture for us.

On a particularly sunny day, Theo wore this floppy hat as we hiked. However, she didn't necessarily want her picture taken ....

Switching countries, again....

In 2008 we traveled to Norway. We drove across the mountains from Oslo to Voss on a more southern route (Drammen, Kongsberg, Edland, Roidal, Odda) and back on a more northern route (Voss, Flam, Gol, Fagernes, Gjovik.) We did some hiking, but less than we had planned, due to some food poisoning that Jeff got at an otherwise great four-star hotel.

Below is the Dalen Hotel, wherein we stayed the second night. Theo is just heading out to hike with Jeff around a bordering lake and through the small town of Dalen. There's a great hole-in-the wall restaurant in a grocery store across the street from this hotel, if you ever have the fortune to visit Dalen.

This is the view looking out the rear of the Dalen Hotel. Of course, when you go, Theo probably won't be standing in front of the picnic table.

Just north of Dalen, Norway, we hiked up to this famous spot, which has a view that has apparently been the objective of many dignitaries over the years. There is a large display case a few yards to the right of where Theo is standing that describes some of those dignitaries and the situations that led to their being at this site.

Throughout Norway, we came across stave churches. The one below (that's Theo in white) is near Oye, which is in central mountains halfway between Voss and Oslo.

This is Theo on a ferry crossing a Fjord just south of Voss. You can't see the ferry, but you can tell from the picture that the views were pretty spectacular.

Please continue to monitor this blog. We will be adding more pictures of Theo.

Jeff and Theo South - 2008 Norwegian Vacation

The following pictures and narrative describe Jeff and Theo's trip to Norway in July 2008. We rented a car and drove through the mountains west from Oslo to the fjords, then north to Voss, then back east to Oslo using a different route on the return. Along the way, we took in the fabulous scenery, hiked a number of times and generally marveled at the perfect weather and the beauty of summer in Norway.

We flew into Oslo and stayed our first night in a hotel in the city of Drammen, just outside Oslo. Our second night was spent in the hotel in Dalen you see below, halfway across Norway, heading west from Oslo. The hotel had really unique architecture. Our best meal during our vacation was served up in a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant in the back of the grocery store across the street from this hotel. The restaurant had a world class chef, was empty when we went in and jammed when we left.

In the evening we hiked around Dalen. Then the next day, we drove up into the mountains and took a short hike to this world-famous location. There's a monument that includes a listing of some famous people who visited the spot where Theo is standing. Notice, she's not too close to the edge. Jeff hung over the edge to get some pictures, but Theo wouldn't come within 10 yards of the edge due to fear of triggering her "klutz" gene (e.g., falls, slips, missteps, etc.)

After Hedda, we drove west to the town of Lofthus, which is on a fjord. Along the way we crossed the Hardangervidda, which is a high plateau in the middle western part of Norway. Even though it was July, you can see this area still had snow. It was kind of beautiful and kind of ugly at the same time. Nobody lived on the plateau.

Just west of the Hardangervidda was the little town of Roldal. This is the stave church at Roldal.


Throughout Norway, we saw a lot of rooves with grass growing on them. This picture is of a gentleman who is fixing the grass roof on a small cottage in Roldal.


Just south of Lofthus is the town of Odda, at the tip of the fjord. As we drove north along the fjord toward Lofthus we stopped and took this picture looking back at Odda.



Throughout Norway, we saw many waterfalls. The one below was just north of Odda, right next to the highway. Unlike most of the waterfalls we saw, this one was set up to accommodate tourists. We took photos of many other waterfalls, on farms, along brooks, in the mountains, but few of those waterfalls were being visited by tourists. Most of the waterfalls were just there as part of the everyday landscape.

We stayed at a very fancy hotel on the fjord at Lofthus. You can sort of see it in this picture. It's the multi-story building just below the cloud-covered peak on the right.

We took a hike through the orchards in Lofthus that you see in this picture and toward the waterfall you see on the mountain in the distance. Lofthus is the fruit capital of Norway. The route we hiked had little signs in four languages that described what was going on at each point in the orchard. For instance, they explained that the cherry trees were covered with mesh to keep the fruit from getting too much sun and splitting. The signs also explained that the apple trees were kept small, because small trees bore more fruit per square foot of ground space used and they were easier to pick.

A few miles into the hike we came to a different waterfall, but Jeff was beginning to feel ill, so we went back to the hotel. Jeff was violently sick with food poisoning for several days thereafter. We think it was the traditional Norwegian hash he had for lunch. We don't recommend that choice, if you go.

We got some beautiful photos while at the Hotel Ullensvang in Lofthus. This is one of a father and son rowing on the fjord at twilight. We love the light and the little details, some of which, unfortunately, you probably can't see because this picture is so small.

After Lofthus, we took a ferry across the fjord and drove to Voss, a world-famous ski area. The views from the ferry were stunning and we had some interesting conversations with people from different countries.



In Voss, we took a tram up the mountain behind our hotel. Because Jeff was still weak from the food poisoning, we didn't hike, but rather sat and watched a number of young people prepare for and take off hang-gliding over Voss. One of them told us he did it about twenty times a day! Voss was a nice little town and our hotel (Fleischer) was an historic building overlooking a lake and the town. The whole town was modern, but quaint - and quite beautiful.

Because of time constraints, we chose not to go on to Bergen. Instead, from Voss we headed back northeast toward Oslo. Just outside Voss, we came across this valley at Stalheim. To get down into the valley, we took a road that had 13 hairpin turns in a one mile downhill stretch. There were beautiful waterfalls along the road but we couldn't stop to look because the road was narrow, there was traffic and we were always in a turn.

At the end of the valley near Stalheim, we saw this mountain and the three waterfalls streaming down it. Strikingly beautiful!

As we got back toward the eastern half of Norway, the landscape changed to be more like the Finger Lake region of upstate New York. Here's a waterfall that we spotted at the end of some farmer's fields. Note the farm equipment near the base. This was definitely not a touristy waterfall. One couldn't get to it without having to milk some cows along the way or something.

An example of the views in the lake region northwest of Oslo.

This was a quick pictorial review of our trip. We have about a hundred more pictures, but these will give you a sense of the beauty of Norway. We didn't have as many interactions with people on this trip as we've had on other trips, and we didn't get in as much hiking as we would have liked. But, there's no question the country of Norway is beautiful. The weather was great. The only issue throughout was the relatively poor quality of the meat - a surprising fact to us, given how expensive it was. Still - a great trip, especially if you're not seeking a "city" vacation....

One more waterfall, this one near Dokka....

Theo and Jeff's 2007 Vacation Trip - Canadian Rockies

In June 2007, Theo and Jeff South flew to Calgary and then spent ten days visiting Canmore, Banff and Golden. We hiked in the Banff and Yoho National Parks, and also hiked up to and then swam in the mineral pool at Radium Hot Springs.


Here are some pictures and narrative about the hikes, the wildlife and the experiences we had.


Canmore and Banff:

Our first few nights, we stayed at the Lady MacDonald Bed and Breakfast in Canmore. It was a very nice room and the B&B is centrally located in Canmore, which is about 20 kilometers from Banff.

Our first hike was a repeat of one we had taken in 2004: around the shores of Lake Minnetonka and back up a long ravine to a waterfall. The day was overcast and chilly. Here's a view of the lake from the trail.

This is the ravine along which we hiked to get to the waterfall. The photo is from a bridge.

The next day, Jeff played a round of golf at Silvertip, in the mountains above Canmore. It's one of his favorite courses. Here's a picture, taken in 2004, of Jeff playing a par 3. Note the mountain peak in the background. Each of the holes was positioned so that the approach into the green had a mountain peak behind it.





























In the afternoon we drove to and around Banff. There had been substantial winter snow and the spring weather had flooded some of the valleys. Here's a picture looking back at Banff from a ski area above it; you can see some of the flooding, although no buildings were threatened.



























We decided to hike up one of the mountains above Banff and to take a tram back down. On the way up, we came across the waterfall behind Theo in the picture below.






























From the top of the mountain we could look down on the Banff Springs Fairmont Hotel and the golf course next to it, along with the Bow River.





























Lake Louise:

The following day, we drove to Lake Louise, which we also visited in 2004. We again hiked up to the teahouse on a mountain above the lake. This time, we had to hike through some snow on the way. Here's a view back at the lake from about halfway up the two hour hike.































Below is a smaller lake that we pass on the way to the teahouse. If you squint, you can see the roof of the teahouse just below the snowy section around twelve o'clock in the picture.





























And here's Theo in front of the teahouse.

Moraine Lake:

After hiking back down, we drove eleven or twelve more kilometers to Moraine Lake. It wasn't as turquoisy-blue as we've seen it before because of the overcast skies, but it's still a very beautiful site.

At the lower end of the lake is a hill of boulders, which you can see below. No one apparently has been able to figure out from where the boulders came or how they got piled up like that. There's no mountain close enough for it to have been a rock slide and no way the rocks could have been carried there by humans. Maybe something to do with glacier movements millions of years ago...??

Yoho National Park:

After Lake Louise, we drove an hour or two west to Golden, British Columbia and spent three days hiking in Yoho National Park. Our first hike was an hour or so through woods to the waterfall you see below. We first approached the waterfall from above and then hiked down to see it from below.

Here are a couple of pictures of Theo in front of the falls and then an "artsy" type photo of some flowers with the waterfall. The flowers were only about one foot tall. Note in each of the pictures the hill of rocks and dirt that has built up from residue that has gone over the falls.

We then drove to Emerald Lake and hiked around it. As you can see, June is not necessarily warm in Canada.

On our second day in Yoho, we hiked up Lookout Mountain: three and a half hours of hiking and never saw a soul or any significant wildlife, although we sang songs to let the bears know we were coming. The picture below shows a semi-flooded valley from the lookout cabin on the mountain.

While we were in Yoho, we also visited the "natural bridge", which was just a rock outcropping with some passages in it that the water had carved out.

On June 9th, we drove from Golden down to Radium Hot Springs. We hiked up from the visitor center in town, through some campgrounds and along some ravines until we got to the hot springs and the related pool. We relaxed in the pool for awhile (the water temperature was perhaps 90 degrees), then ate some lunch and hiked back down. We then drove back to Canmore.

Canmore and Banff Again:

Above is a view of the Three Sisters mountain peaks from our rented condo window in Canmore. Below is the view of Cascade Mountain that you see from the highway just before you get to Banff.

On the eleventh, we drove to Johnston Canyon to hike. Along the road, we spotted this elk. We waited for a while, but at no time did it ever raise it's head to look around or to acknowledge anything other than the grass it was eating

Johnston Canyon:

Johnston Canyon is a long stretch of falls and rapids that come down out of the mountains. The Banff National Park people have built walkways and fences to accommodate hikers. Our total hike here was about seven or eight miles, as we walked the canyon and then took a back route through the mountains to the highway and the parking lot. Here are some pictures of what we saw in Johnston Canyon.

Along the way, Theo picked up a friend for a while.

As we returned from Johnston Canyon, we spotted this small group of longhorned sheep next to the road. We got a fleeting picture as we drove by.

Before we left Canada, Jeff got in a round of golf in Canmore at Stewart Creek, another fine mountain course - one that is not easy, but much easier than Silvertip. During the round, he saw deer, elk, fox and lots of pikas. Even saw a few birdies....

Here's one final picture (we have many others) of some of the scenery from our trip and a rare shot of some of the fuzzy-haired wildlife there as well:

Jeff in Yoho National Park