subject: Nature's dual role – the Alpine 'Park' / 'Lake' !!! [print this page] Nature's dual role the Alpine 'Park' / 'Lake' !!!
The Alpine Park in Tragoess, Styria (Austria) which sits at the foot of snow-capped Hochschwab mountains a pristine location where Mother Nature's miracle prowess unfolds A Park that turns into a Lake for half of the year and vice versa !
On the bed of the emerald green-like lake, underwater explorers will discover fish swimming though the branches of trees, a floor covered in grass, benches, bridges and a landscape that looks like it belongs overground ! And that's because for half of the year it is over ground.
Throughout the frozen winter months this area is almost completely dry and is used as a county park. It is a particular favourite site for hikers as well.
But as soon as the temperatures begin to rise in spring, the ice and snow on the mountaintops begins to melt and runs down into the basin of land below. Soon the park fills up with ice-cold crystal clear water, which gets its distinctive green colouring from the grass and foliage beneath.
The water levels rise from about one or two metres deep in the winter to as much as 10 metres in the late spring and early summer. The waters are at their highest in June when it becomes a Mecca for divers keen to explore the rare phenomenon, before the waters recede at the end of July. And the park resurfaces'.
"Changing of the seasons" Above photo shows, how the park looks during the autumn and winter months with a shallow layer of water at its lowest part . And the lower photo, taken in summer, illustrates a totally different area where divers flood in to explore the lake.
This amazing Alpine region offers some of the most unique diving experiences in 'land-locked' Austria. A diver swims between two bushes in the crystal clear water Who needs roads ? A diver takes his own path through the country park, past an access road Image Courtesy: "ExclusivePix"
