Day 21: Strolling

Today was an unspectacular but nice day. It was still a bit windy and it drizzled lightly inbetween, but was better than I had expected! The rain waited until the evening. 

Since there was no bigger hill, I was strolling through open agricultural areas, some nice forest patches and along rivers. I even passed a bog again. 

The Goldsteig on this part is the same as the castle trail (Burgenweg), so I walked up to Castle Schwarzenburg and walked over the well secured stony wall. 

Nice to discover things in the forest

The markers for the Goldsteig and Burgensteig - creative 

Wutzschleife

View from the tower of castle Schwarzenburg

Stony wall

Day 20: Crazy weather

It rained at night and in the morning, but not very strong. So I put on my rain gear and headed out.

Under a big spruce, I was a little protected from the rain and wanted to 'quickly' book my train ticket to head home on the weekend. At the end, it took me nearly an hour and I was not only freezing cold but pretty annoyed.

Luckily, the trail was going up, so I was at least getting warmer. But the dense fog and constant drizzle didn't help to lighten my mood...

But then I discovered a fire salamander and the days was gereat again :) I ended up seeing 3 that day!

The weather got a bit better and there were even moments of sheer sunshine. But also some rain and hail in between. 

In Furth, I bought groceries and of course my eyse were a bit too big. Now I will have to eat a lot the next days ;)

After Furth, I walked up several little hills in a big loop. I liked the name "Gibacht" (take care) and the "light house", a stone monument built with lots of different stones. I even made a step into the Czech Republic. That was also the time, when huge snow flakes came down and it got freezing cold. 

Another little ridge walk to the Klammerfelsen with its lovely view tower, before I decided to set up my tent past Herzogau, because the sky looked terrible.

And yes, it's raining again!

Last night's campspot

What a day... 

Fire salamander

Beautiful fresh green

View onto Furth

Dangerous hiking trail ;) 

Glass-cross on Mt. Reiseck

Day 19: Ridge walk

The night wasn't as cold as I had expected in the open beech forest. 

The first bit of forest of the day was amazing. Lots of standing and dead giants in a mixed forest. Very jungle like!

Then I skipped a bit of the Goldsteig, which passes through Bayrisch Eisenstein. There is no grocery store, everything is closed and I can't even walk over the boarder into the Czech Republic to get some nice cheap meal. 

So I walked up to the Arber lake and Arber mountain. It was very windy on top and I thought: what a great timing for the following ridgewalk. But it wasn't that bad, because it's not an open, exposed and small ridge. It was more a broad ridge, mainly in the forest and past the first 3 peaks, there was hardly any snow anymore.

I walked over 12 peaks today, which were over 1000 m. So really a lot of crosses... The views were not perfect, but I can't complain. Most of the day was windy, but sunny. Just in the afternoon it started to drizzle slightly.

A very nice hike on small paths, mainly through needle forests and with lots of rocks everywhere. And some small things on the way like a wooden chapel, a stone monument or a cave. 

Dead and standing big trees

Arber lake

View from Mt. Arber

Looking onto my route... 

... still following this mountain chain

12 peaks over 1000 m

Rock formation

Day 18: Snow

The night was cold. My feet didn't get warm all night, my tent was frozen in the morning and my fingers didn't get warm for the first hours in my bulky, relatively warm gloves. But at least it looked like a sunny day, much better than the day before! 

Just after starting, one of my hiking poles kind of broke. One element came off and I couldn't fix it. What a timing... But nothing to do about it and one is still so much better then none. 

I walked up Mt. Rachel, where there was still a lot of snow. I don't like hiking on snow! Usually it's either frozen and very slippery or mush and you're postholing. In any case your feet get wet and cold. 

Going down, it started to snow the first time that day, and it wasn't the last time. All day long, there was a bit of sun, then it snowed, sun and so on. 

Going down, there was a lot of water in the forest and at some point I couldn't avoid hiking through it, ankle deep, brrrrr.... 

The funny thing: I zipped off my pant legs today! Not like everybody would, on a sunny day, but probably one of the coldest days since I started. That's because they are a bit too long, so I have to roll them up. But they get wet in the snow and then unroll themselves. So it's better without them, just a bit colder ;)

Then I passed lots of "Schachten" today. That's a local name for clear-cut high grazing grounds for animals, around Zwiesel.  Interestingly the animals were also grazing in open forests up there in the summer. The areas were used from the end of the 17th  sometimes to the mid of the 19th century. 

Very pleasant walking was the board walk through the "Latschenfilz", an upland bog.

At the end of the day I walked up the big and small Mt. Falkenstein and passed some areas, where the bark beetle killed entire areas of spruce.

Seems like another cold night is lying ahead of me! 

Hiking up Mt. Rachel

Top of Mt. Rachel (1453 m)

Snow-art :) 

Board walk through the bog

Snowing

Remaining, massive shade tree for the animals on a Schachten

View on Mt. Falkenstein (1312 m) 

View towards Mt Arber (1456 m), which I will walk up tomorrow

Day 17: Lazy day

It rained and snowed the entire morning and stayed foggy all day with the occasional bit of sleeting. Actually not too bad, but I wasn't motivated to walk up the next mountain, knowing the weather will be better the next day. 

Instead I stayed in my sleeping bag and listened to the radio for a while. Just sad, that I didn't bring a book! And of course that I have to watch how much I can eat, since I calculated only 5 days of food, but now it will be at least 6 days to the next store. The good thing is, that I'm just at the beginning, so food isn't bothering me that much yet. I still have enough body-fat :) 

Packing List

It's miserable today, so I will use the time to make a packing list, since a friend asked me to write one. I added it to the header. 

Since I'm a last-minute packer and because I will go home again at least one more time, this might not be the final list, but it gives you an idea, of what I carry around!

I'm not a gear junky at all. I think it is important, but not everything about hiking! And thus I have hiked the world with a broken tent, rain pants that are ripped open up to my knees, a cheap foam sleeping pad and T-shirts bought in a thrift store. 

I try to go light but not ultra-light. These things would probably not even last a week with me :)

The things are listed accordingly to topics. Brands are added only where I thought necessary (e. g. the most important things like tent) or if I liked it. 

I don't want to advertise anything and I don't get any money or benefit from any company for listing their name!

I also think that you have to find out, what works best for YOU!!!

Day 16: National Park Bavarian Forest

It rained again at night. A bit more than the night before, so I was slightly concerned, if I will get wet. I'm still in the testing phase - my tent is dug-taped!

But it was all nice dry and only a slug had visited me at night in my tent.

The morning started with gloves and lots of fog. So I just wandered along the forest and got lost in my thoughts.

The first little peak of the day was the Haidl, which has a view tower. Of course I walked up, but no views. Interestingly there were 4 other people walking up and I just told them, that I think it's nice I'm not the only one walking up a view tower, knowing there will be no views :) 

The day got better, so I even took out my solar panel for a few hours around lunchtime. 

After Mauth, I entered the National Park Bavarian Forest. Sadly, the first part of the  Goldsteig trail was closed until the 16th of May due to wildlife protection, but the redirection via a forest road wasn't too bad. And I was surprised to see lots of beech forests, while the needle trees were dominating only at the very top. 

I walked up to the 1337 m high Lusen with its huge boulder field on top. The views weren't amazing, but it could have been worse. There was still a bit of snow on the trails and they were partly pretty wet, but nothing too bad. 

After passing the devils hole (Teufelsloch), another Boulder field, it started to drizzle, so I decided to call it a day and tackle the Rachel mountain the next day. 

However, I will have to see what tomorrow brings. According to the weather forecast, I'm going to have lots of rain, which might mean a tent day...

Hiking along a trift-channel

"View" from the Haidl viewing tower

Lake for swimming - I already passed a few but it's way too early for me ;) 

Lots of beech forests - not what I had expected! 

View from the Lusen (1337 m)