Awesome Alpine Adventure Day 4-Innsbruck to St Mortiz

Day 4: the trip from Innsbruck to St Moritz, along the Inn River and in the Rhaetian Alps.

Favorite photo for this post

The folded rocks in the Alps were unbelievable and all I wanted to do was jump out and try to map them instead I just had to settle for a zillion pictures.  I liked this one so much because you could see the folds and there was a ruin house/castle on top.  Because of the difficulty getting to it you can imagine why this spot was picked to build the castle/building there.  Then again the view must have been incredible because it overlooked the Inns River. 

Day 4 we traveled from Innsbruck to St Moritz.  Here is a Map of  http://map.search.ch/ Switzerland.
Innsbruck is to the east in Austria and we basically traveled in the Inn River Valley till we got to St Moritz.  We took A12 out Innsbruck then took 180 and then 27 when we got into Switzerland and traveled that all the way to St Moritz .   We were going through the Rhaetian Alps and here's Wikipedia bit on them Rhaetian_Alps, Swiss_Alps and the Alps. (Each one of these are slightly different and gives you a good overview of the region.) This was one of the routes the Romans discovered/built to get through the  Alps. St Mortiz is close to the Italian boarder.   Here what Wikipedia has to say about St._Moritz.

When we started out the mountains were in the clouds and at first the views were not the best, but still it was so different from what I was used to seeing I didn't mind.  I took sooo many pictures and most of them did not turn out since I was in a bus and there was a lot of reflections.  Yet when I got home I was amazed at the number that are good enough to insert into this blog and this has been by far one of the hardest post to write since I wanted to include them all but I know that just wouldn't be practical.
The other thing I wished I had would have been a geologic map of the area so I could of at least had an idea as to what formations I was looking at.  Since I don't know this information I just have to post the images and let them speak for themselves.

 At first the cloud were low but they did rise as the day got warmer.

 (I need to point out that I used my Kodak sure shot  camera and they have the date stamp on them and also my cell phone camera that does not have the day stamp.  The Kodak took better images but it processed the images between each one and you couldn't take shots quickly.  The cell phone you could get a series of shots in a row but they weren't as focused.  It was a trade off so I used both hoping something would turn out once in a while.)

 The one thing I noticed that the snow from the day before was already gone and the white I was seeing was the rocks outcropping.  I figured they had to be chalk/ limestone or marble of some sort.
When I saw this one my reasoning got even more confirmed.

 The river is the Inn River

 I like this one because you could see a road/ track was built into it.

 I zoomed in trying to get a better image of the outcrop.

 This was another one very close by. 

 On one side of the bus I was getting okay photo's while on the other they were lousy. 

I know this next one isn't the best with the clouds and blurry vegetation but the folding in this area was incredible.    It sure does look like the top section is an anticline that's been thrust over the the rocks underneath.  I wish I could get an age of the rocks to know if this is the case or not.

While we were driving I would see quite a few quarries where they were getting what looked like limestone/marble out. 

 Just look at the way these layers are oriented.  I'm just glad I didn't have to map this area.

 I couldn't tell if this was an old abandon quarry or if this was due to natural erosion.  

 This was definitely a quarry where they were getting material to build the roads. Since I saw the trucks and road building equipment there I concluded this was limestone.

 Sometimes I took the pictures and wasn't sure what I was seeing.  I just thought the formations were interesting to see.

 I was fascinated by this.  I couldn't tell if there was a road or a train track there.  But just look at the way they built these arches right into the formation

 This isn't the best but some of the landslide debris where pretty huge. 

 There were lots of these scenic waterfalls cascading down the mountain sides.

Again this looked like another thrust fault with an anticline on top of the other.

 We were traveling close to the River Inn.  That made it a very scenic drive and to was fun to see these quaint villages by the river side.

 This doesn't do it justice but the thing that really caught my attention was how light green the river was. I'm sure its that color from all the glacial run off that feeds into it. 

 You could tell that the river valley was were all the agriculture activities were concentrated.

View along the Inn river, Switzerland

There were spots you could tell that were made into recreational area too like this area.

The Inn River in the Engaedin Region of Switzerland

Along the way there were a lot of churches.  The spires would stick up and be very noticeable.  You could tell a lot of these communities were built around these structures. 

 Not the best picture but I was trying to get this waterfall going into the Inns river.

 I wasn't too sure what would cause that one pinnacle to stick out like that.  I figure it was probable an igneous intrusion of some type.  Either that or a fault of some sort.  What ever its definitely showing some differential weathering.

 I liked seeing the ruins of what I want to believe where once castles.  And wonder why the are where they are and why did they let them deteriorate like that.  So much of what I saw was so old and they seemed to keep everything in good shape so when you saw something like this it really sticks out. 

 Another interesting church.

 This was really interesting to see.  At first I couldn't tell if it was a igneous tuff or something else. But then the more I thought about it - I decided it had to be something else.  Something glacial related probably and then it came to me its probable an end moraine.  If you look closely you can see some well rounded boulders near the top.   Makes me wonder if the stuff underneath was a loess deposit.  It looks fine-grain and clayey to be.  Again I wished I could have gotten out to get a better look.

  Again this isn't the best photo but I just loved seeing the cattle, goat and sheep all out grazing on the hillside.

 We had to stop fro some road construction and while we were waiting I couldn't help but to take a couple of photos. The first is the steep terrain they have to work with. 


 Then the neat outcrop that they were trying to shore up and hide away to stabilize the road.


 Even though the top black section is in the bus I thought this was very geometric and liked the looks of it.

 Here's what the other half of the bridge looked like and I like this section because of the rocks it was anchored into.  From the looks of it I got the impression it was an older bridge. 

Most of the bridges I saw were more like this one.  It just looks like it is more modern with the railing and more uniform rocks being used.

 One minute you are looking at one thing and the next minute you are looking at something else that is totally different.  Like seeing these U formed valleys and thinking a glacier once went through those.

 Then the next minute I'm looking at these massive shaley out crops and thinking these were deposited in deep seas.  I wonder how many million of year of accumulation are represented here.  I wonder if there are any Formanifera here to date them. 

 Then you are looking at the green river again and thinking this is so classic for a glacier stream. And then I notice the mountains in the distance and can see the snow covered caps.  Also I notice the tree line present and can tell we are getting higher and higher into the mountains.

View of the Inn River in Switzerland

 This little stream was emptying into the Inn river.  I couldn't tell if those were rocks from runoff or it they were put there to stabilize the banks of the stream.  The soil it cuts into looks like it is loosely consolidated and I'm sure slumps into it frequently.  Which was another thing I was constantly comparing and contrasting the V shape of this river cut verses the U shape of some of the other valleys. 

More road work and construction.  What was different with this one it appeared there was a lot of logs here.  I could tell if they were using them for their construction or if they were just recently harvested to clear the way for the project or was it a log jam that they were clearing away.  It was interesting to see them moving those big logs so effortlessly with those machines.

 Here is another U shape valley.  With a stream running down it. 

We were crossing over the Inn River and it was so neat to see the Snow covered mountains in the distance.

 It seemed like we came at a perfect time to see all the wildflowers in bloom.  I would see things like this and think of the movies "The Sound of Music' Or 'Heidi.   This region is called the Engadin. Here's the link to it with Wikipedia Engadin

A view in the Engadin region of Switzerland

 More tranquil scenery.  

 Here's another section where they were doing road work.
 This one shows how they build up these walls so that the outcrops don't collapse onto the road. 

 What I was really fascinated with is to see that normal faulting here.  At least I assume its normal faulting with the higher hanging wall to the left pinkish looking rock and the lower foot wall to the right with a gray mudwacke/ limestone on top. 

 It was interesting to see all the tunnels they have built.  Some of them were quite long and would go through mountains.  I was always amazed at how they were built and maintained. 

 Another typical view of the Inn River floodplain.  

 More snow covered mountains. 

 

 This was more typical with the way the streams would come through the valley to the river Inns.  

The Engadin region of Switzerland

 

I really admired those cyclist.  They were going at a pretty fast pace. 

Taken in the Engadine Region of Switzerland.

 Along the river there would be these towns.  And if you notice there is a stream that goes through it coming off the mountain to the right.  As is most places where the water was helped determine where people would settle and build. 

 I noticed that the river was a lot smaller now and the banks were shored up and looked manmade.  We were getting closer to its headwaters.  It was fun going upriver like that and seeing how all those small streams really made a difference to its size. 

 Some other towns along the way.  The one thing I did not like was they liked to plant a lot of trees near the road.  The trees would block the view and I didn't particularly care for them.  But then I figured they probably were planted there as wind barriers to held keep snow and inclement weather from affecting the cars. 

 I really liked the valley that was cut into the mountain side.  

 Some other towns along the way.  The one thing I did not like was they liked to plant a lot of trees near the road.  The trees would block the view and I didn't particularly care for them.  But then I figured they probably were planted there as wind barriers to held keep snow and inclement weather from affecting the cars.



Above the town there was a majestic building that caught my eye.  I wondered what it was.

 Going across the river again.  I liked this picture because you can really see how light green the water was.  It seemed the farther we went the lighter it got.  I couldn't tell if it was because it was shallow here or if it's from all the particulate matter in it.

  Another quaint view, with a U shape valley.

 More U shaped valleys.

 We were really getting into the mountains now and you could feel it just with your breathing.  Also I noticed a lot of people were yawning frequently, and I started to follow suit.  I could tell I needed to get more oxygen into me. 

 And finally we were pulling into St Mortiz.  This was only a 3-4 hr bus drive but it's one that will last with me for a lifetime.  I couldn't get over how incredibly beautiful everything was.  Also I was amazed with all the things I saw. 

 One more image of the River Inn.  I could tell we were really close to its headwaters.

the river Inn near St Moritz Switzerland

to be continued:

PS:  I do want to thank the group that took us on this awesome adventure and all the wonderful people we got to know while going on it.  You know who you are - THANK YOU.

This was truly an awesome ride and I have to thank my husband for making it all possible.  Thank you.