Crossing the Ammergau Alps in south Germany on foot

 

A wonderful view at the start of my trek, looking out over one of the Königsschlosse. (ignoring the enormous parkings and rows of restaurants and souvenir shops right below this castle).

A beautiful canyon was my starting point.

Early 2020 my parents hired a camper van and planned a holiday to Norway for the month of July, and I would join them for a while before traveling further north for a hiking trip. COVID-19 intervened and Norway kept its borders shut, so the destination became Germany instead. I joined my parents for a mini-roadtrip, exploring the Hunsrück and Allgäuer Alpen and then they dropped me off at Füssen. This pretty city is site of the world famous Neuschwannstein castle but also an entry point for the Maximilian's Trail. I more or less walked a short section of that trail: a wild camping trek through the beautiful Ammergebirge (Ammergau Alps) in the very south of Germany, where the flat lands quite aruptly rise to high, forested, steep peaks of up to 3000 meter. 

Once away from the castle-admiring crowds (seriously...) I was able to put all the pandemic worries behind me and just enjoy being out in nature in this green nature park. It felt wonderful to be back hiking after months of lockdown in the polders of the Netherlands. During my trip, however, I was plagued by notourishly hot and unstable weather, making it too risky to climb high up on the exposed rocky ridges. One evening even saw me sitting upright in my tent with pounding heart, ready to throw my stuff in my backpack and descent if my tent would collapse in the violent gusts of the hail- and thunderstorm. Luckily, my trusty tent once again proved more than capable (I've grown really attached to that tiny thing!). I'd like to share some of my favorite photos from this trip with you.

Rows and rows of mountain ridges in the Ammergau Alps. A beautiful place for hiking, but finding a good tent place is a challenge. It was also so lush and moist that I had to pull at least ten slugs from my rainfly each morning. Yuck.

Pretty Alpenrose in bloom.

Low clouds over rocky peaks, adding a rather ominous feeling to the landscape. One of the things I love about long-distance hiking is that is forces you to be out in all kinds of weather. Nature isn't only beautiful under blue skies and sunshine :)

One of the mountain passes I crossed.

Beautiful sunset colors after a vicious rain-, hail- and thunderstorm (you can see my tent is still wet). I had to scramble up a scarily steep slope to reach this place, but it was worth it - the most scenic camping spot of my trip. 

Wandering alpine meadows in the blazing heat of the day.

Long exposure photography at a rather large waterfall. You can probably spent a long time here, using the small waterfalls in front to make many different compositions, but it started to rain so I moved on.

Once on the other side of the mountains, from Oberstdorf I took the train to famous Garmisch-Partenkirchen and walked once more into the Ammergau Alps, this time aiming to cross them east to west. I climbed on thin, steep, barely existing trails in swealtering heat up to a beautiful ridgewalk that took me over three mountain tops. The next day I decided to, rather than risk a high, exposed section in possible lightning, hop on a train to the campsite my parents were staying at. That evening we were indeed once more treated to severe thunder and rain. But then there emerged a magnificent rainbow - to end my rather improvised holiday on a high note. 

Walking over mountain tops above Garmisch-Partenkirchen (visible far below).

An impressive double rainbow after yet another thunderstorm.