I just returned from a 3 day hiking trip in the German Alps. Originally planned to be 6 days, I was rained out from making the return journey. Instead I jumped trail to the nearest Baunhof (train station) and came home to dry out. The trails in these mountains are amazing and have been there for hundreds of years. The trail network is elaborate and can get you pretty much anywhere you would like to go. Situated along the trails are small huts or cabins that are all locked up and just nice to look at.
The first day I arrived by train to the town of Oberau at about 2:00 in the afternoon and hiked a short distance to the first nights camp. Right after I pitched my tent and got all my gear inside it started raining and it rained pretty much all night.
The next morning I shook off the rain and started down the trail, everything was great until about 1:30. It started to rain a little, but I carried on. I saw some domestic sheep on the way up a slope and rested at the top, when it started to rain harder. I took shelter under a group of pine trees and waited it out. The rain stopped and I through on my 75+ pound pack on my back and started down the trail. Not more than 100 meters around the bend was a gate where the electric fences, to keep in the sheep, came together. Now I know what your thinking, most gates open and close, this one was nailed, wired, tied, and wedged between two trees. I had to take off my pack and lift it over this chest high blockade and then jump over. By the way jumping isn't an easy task once you have been walking up mountains all day with a pack on your back. So back on the trail and it starts raining again, this time harder than ever and the clouds move in. Only when your in the mountains, you are in the clouds and you can't see more than 20 or 30 feet. My goal at this point is just make it to a place where I can sit up camp out of the rain. That being another cabin that was barred shut, but usually has an overhang to sit under and stay dry.
So I make it to the cabin soaking wet, my boots are gushing water with every step, and to my surprise there are some bikers at the cabin. No not the kind of bikers with leathers, boots, chains, and tattoos the kind with padded tight shorts and pedals. They allowed me to stand under the edge of there roof and get out of the rain. After 30 mins. or so they came out of the small cabin to head home back down the mountain. One showed me a better route on my map than the one I had planned and asked if I would like to make camp in the front of the hut...Not inside but in front. "Of course" I said "Danke Schon", little did they know that as soon as they were gone, the fire wood stacked along the sides of the cabin would be a blaze in my camp fire. At this point pretty much everything is wet except my sleeping bag...but it is still raining. I quickly sat up my tent, put my gear inside, and blazed up a nice little camp fire so that I could attempt to dry out my boots for the next day. I sat under my poncho with no boots on for the next 3 hrs drying my boots over the fire. I was getting pretty discouraged about the rest of the trip at this point. This was just the end of the first real day of the the trip and everything was getting wet.
After a terrible night of sleep through pouring rain, I again shook off as much of the rain as possible, packed everything away and started back up the mountain. The first leg of today's section would take me to about 6,000 feet up a switch back trail and back down the other side. The sun was out in the later part of the morning on my way up and my hopes where up. The view was spectacular and the weather was turning out to be great. So I headed down the other side. Switch back after switch back for 2 hrs...WOW my legs were burning. I reached the bottom which was a nice logging road that was a well traveled route by hiker and mountain bikers. Right where the trail met the road was a nice table and bench, I dropped my pack on the table and grabbed some snacks and sat down for a nice rest. About 2 mins later out of nowhere was a huge clap of thunder and it started raining again. What next I thought, I grabbed my pack and put it between my legs under the table and put my poncho on over me and the pack. Well this is what was next, while getting everything situated and making sure everything was staying dry, my poncho got pinched between the table and the top of my pack and ripped a huge hole right in the front. HOLY HELL!!! I now have to lean forward so that the hole is under the table and not letting the rain get on my pack. Now Mother Nature must be pissed off at me for taking a leak on a tree a couple of hours ago, she sent in the hail to finish me off. After an hour of rain and hail I decided that instead of hiking around the mountain and finding the next camp site, I was going to head for the nearest town with a train station. Strait down the logging road about 3 miles, it met a highway and I rest area. I made it there at about 7pm, only having to stop 3 times to wait out bursts of rain. There was a huge pine tree right in the middle of the rest area and that is where I sat up camp. Pine tress are a great spot to stop during a rain storm, they block a majority of the rain. I ate dinner, planned out the next days exit strategy, and lied down for another terrible night of sleep.
The next morning at day light I pack up and high tailed it for the town of Griesen. I jumped on the train at 7:30am and headed home on a 7hr train journey.
The next morning I shook off the rain and started down the trail, everything was great until about 1:30. It started to rain a little, but I carried on. I saw some domestic sheep on the way up a slope and rested at the top, when it started to rain harder. I took shelter under a group of pine trees and waited it out. The rain stopped and I through on my 75+ pound pack on my back and started down the trail. Not more than 100 meters around the bend was a gate where the electric fences, to keep in the sheep, came together. Now I know what your thinking, most gates open and close, this one was nailed, wired, tied, and wedged between two trees. I had to take off my pack and lift it over this chest high blockade and then jump over. By the way jumping isn't an easy task once you have been walking up mountains all day with a pack on your back. So back on the trail and it starts raining again, this time harder than ever and the clouds move in. Only when your in the mountains, you are in the clouds and you can't see more than 20 or 30 feet. My goal at this point is just make it to a place where I can sit up camp out of the rain. That being another cabin that was barred shut, but usually has an overhang to sit under and stay dry.
So I make it to the cabin soaking wet, my boots are gushing water with every step, and to my surprise there are some bikers at the cabin. No not the kind of bikers with leathers, boots, chains, and tattoos the kind with padded tight shorts and pedals. They allowed me to stand under the edge of there roof and get out of the rain. After 30 mins. or so they came out of the small cabin to head home back down the mountain. One showed me a better route on my map than the one I had planned and asked if I would like to make camp in the front of the hut...Not inside but in front. "Of course" I said "Danke Schon", little did they know that as soon as they were gone, the fire wood stacked along the sides of the cabin would be a blaze in my camp fire. At this point pretty much everything is wet except my sleeping bag...but it is still raining. I quickly sat up my tent, put my gear inside, and blazed up a nice little camp fire so that I could attempt to dry out my boots for the next day. I sat under my poncho with no boots on for the next 3 hrs drying my boots over the fire. I was getting pretty discouraged about the rest of the trip at this point. This was just the end of the first real day of the the trip and everything was getting wet.
After a terrible night of sleep through pouring rain, I again shook off as much of the rain as possible, packed everything away and started back up the mountain. The first leg of today's section would take me to about 6,000 feet up a switch back trail and back down the other side. The sun was out in the later part of the morning on my way up and my hopes where up. The view was spectacular and the weather was turning out to be great. So I headed down the other side. Switch back after switch back for 2 hrs...WOW my legs were burning. I reached the bottom which was a nice logging road that was a well traveled route by hiker and mountain bikers. Right where the trail met the road was a nice table and bench, I dropped my pack on the table and grabbed some snacks and sat down for a nice rest. About 2 mins later out of nowhere was a huge clap of thunder and it started raining again. What next I thought, I grabbed my pack and put it between my legs under the table and put my poncho on over me and the pack. Well this is what was next, while getting everything situated and making sure everything was staying dry, my poncho got pinched between the table and the top of my pack and ripped a huge hole right in the front. HOLY HELL!!! I now have to lean forward so that the hole is under the table and not letting the rain get on my pack. Now Mother Nature must be pissed off at me for taking a leak on a tree a couple of hours ago, she sent in the hail to finish me off. After an hour of rain and hail I decided that instead of hiking around the mountain and finding the next camp site, I was going to head for the nearest town with a train station. Strait down the logging road about 3 miles, it met a highway and I rest area. I made it there at about 7pm, only having to stop 3 times to wait out bursts of rain. There was a huge pine tree right in the middle of the rest area and that is where I sat up camp. Pine tress are a great spot to stop during a rain storm, they block a majority of the rain. I ate dinner, planned out the next days exit strategy, and lied down for another terrible night of sleep.
The next morning at day light I pack up and high tailed it for the town of Griesen. I jumped on the train at 7:30am and headed home on a 7hr train journey.
