We moved down the valley making a big half-circle counter-clockwise. Then down down into the broad valley. We passed a shepherd's cabin, marked as a ruin on the map, but still obviously used. I got some snow to replace the water I had already drunk. I was a little dubious about this because I could see sheep dropings on the trail but I got snow from deep underneath way off the trail and it in fact didn't make me sick.

We came to the branchpoint for the trail that led up to the pass over by the Grosse Hundstod (Great Dog's Death) which we would use the next day. Our path led around to the left. As we climbed nearer the house, we ran into a flock of sheep. Christine started "baaaaaing" to them and they came over and licked our hands of salt. As we moved on, they followed us across the snow.

The hut always seemed far away, but finally we reached it after only four hours of hiking. (The signs always suggested times that were 1-2 hours shorter than our actual times.) We got to relax on the porch with appel strudel with vanilla sauce and coffee again, and admire the views of the Steineres Meer and the Klein and Grosse Hundstod. We could see in the distance the small Viehkog over the Funkensee from where we had started.

The hostess, Syvia Gruber, was very friendly and made everyone feel at home. She had a great dog who played catch forever. You could even throw the stick off the bacony into the stony sea onto ice and snow and he would find it and bring it back. Next time, I want to detour up to the Riemannhaus which is a bit higher and deeper in the Steineres Meer. It is managed by Manfred Gruber, who turns out to be Sylvia's brother.

I washed a few more clothes, hung them to dry, and we relaxed for the evening. The dinner was great and the breakast scrambled eggs were terrific - the best I have ever eaten.