Rob Decides it is Time for a Diet

Like a dog who has been walked too long, I stopped and refused to continue until the conditions were right. All around us were the aged and infirm, and somehow these unready looking folks were hiking the same route we were. "What is different about these two people from Denver," you ask? First hint: you read a poem about it in eighth grade, and in this poem somebody shoots a bird. Hint two: "Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink." Answer: Fifteen kilos of albatross around our necks, that's what.

We inventoried our packs, found out that we are insane, and decided to send fifteen kilos of stuff we will not use back to home base in Pfullendorf.

We dragged the full load up a steep, 800 meter climb, and after the climb down the other side of the mountain this morning, I simply refused to do the next, much longer hike without rethinking the amount of gear we had.

We began hike two for the day with much less weight (about 25 pounds each according to the post office scale), and it was a surreal mix of joy and suck. We climbed steep and steady for about two hours, then it got beautiful and ugly at the same time. We left a thickly-wooded forest, and started a long climb through a shaky scree field. To spice it up some, we scrambled and prayed up narrow paths with long drops, and we emerged into a lush field. The last section consisted of about an hour of steep switchbacks, and we finally got to the hut. The view reminds me of what the Grand Tetons would look like if you copied
Them, and dropped them into the landscape every mile or so for as long as you could see. Crazy beautiful. No cell reception up here (thank god) so this post will go up a day late.

Cows on a trail

It wasn't quite as dramatic as snakes on a plane... They were actually very friendly. We encountered them after a break on the Gartner Alm, where the owner greeted us with a shot which I followed up with a glass of raw cow's milk and Rob with a wheat beer. It was a really nice break, and it's just amazing how some people stay in the middle of nowhere with their cows for the whole summer,serving hikers speck, cheese and other homemade goodiest. The cows and their pretty sounding cow bells accompanied us for most of the upper part of the hike which was strenuous and steep, but the hut was worth it! Very pretty and very empty - we even have our own mattress camp. There's running hot water, hot food and even cell phone reception! We had dinner with the other two guests, an older French couple, also hiking the Via Alpina. My French was certainly rusty, but we managed. They came from the direction we'll be walking in tomorrow. All clear - according to them. Germany just won against Ghana, and will advance in the world cup, along with the USA - yay! It's all good. Time to rest up for tomorrow.

Into the wild (and back)

Yesterday, the weather had yet to turn, so we modified the beginning of our trip, and decided to go to Greece instead. Not really, but it was certainly a topic of discussion. Hopefully the warming weather will allow us to avoid this. Keep in mind, it is not cold here, but one late snowstorm threw a wrench in the works.

The word from the mountains was that we would need crampons if we wanted to follow the first part of our proposed route, so we did a little modifying, deciding to take a lower hike, followed by a train ride to get us further along our original path, and hopefully the heat catches up with our plans.

The hike, a steep up and down ten kilometers or so, was classic low-alpine cow country. We climed a steep couple of hours, lulled by the sound of cowbells in the distance. Every cow has a bell, and considering that they are pretty dense this low in the Alps this time of year, we heard the clanging of the girls' bells for most of the time we were underway.

The scene was a mix between steep fields and wooded paths, but green was everywhere we looked. Halfway down the path was a hut and a little restaurant where we had glasses of raw milk and some decent, but not great, eats. The milk was great, and I was glad to find it raw. "Restaurant," you ask? There farmers and farms all over these valleys, so there is often a place where farm meets kitchen, and we feelthe need to take advantage of this whenever possible.

After lunch (did I mention the apple
cake?) we hiked for about an hour through a delightful mix of deep mud and cow shit, and we were happy about the next stream we crossed. The last part of the hike led us back through a couple of small towns, one of which is celebrating its 1150th aniversary. That means established in 860 AD for those of you who might be a little math challenged. That is a long time (I cannot say "a long fucking time for fuck's sake," because Petra said I should try and keep it clean). Either way, there are some old towns.

We spent the night in a campground near Sontofen, and now we are on our way over the Austrian border, and there we will try and get back on our original path. We will let you know if the snow eases up enough to get up into high ground, otherwise, this blog will be headed south for a few days :)

Seppl, the waymaker

It has been raining only once since we arrived in Germany... From last Wednesday until just now. Yesterday we took the train to Oberstdorf to start our hike bright and early this morning. (That was at least the plan.) We stayed on the campground last night, braving the rain, and made new friends in the Camp Klause, the attached restaurant and bar. Seppl on the picture has been a waymaker up in the mountains many years, clearing the path to huts and so on. He already warned us last night about all that rain coming down as snow a little higher up... And look at him - he sure looks trustworthy - but we didn't really listen. So we found out this morning that the path to the hut is only walkable with winter equipment and experience of the local mountains. Gloves and a map didn't count. After trying to figure out what to do all day long, running through the pretty town of Oberstdorf from one end to the other, considering taking a night train to Sicily or taking the bus to a town further down the trail, we broke down and got a cute little room in a very old farmhouse with low ceilings and geranium plants from each window. We can see cows crazing on the hill across from us, and it'll just be a matter of time until we go eat a very cheesy meal. We'll see what tomorrow brings. We bought some more hiking maps today, and supposedly the weather will be better. Hopefully the waymakers will get up bright and early to clear the trails.

Two days before the day after tomorrow.

We hit the ground in D-Land (as opposed to D-Town) on Wednesday, and we are slowly adjusting to a diet of beer. We are on the train to where our hike starts, and oddly enough, it is raining. We will spend the night in Oberstdorf, and then we get this hiking party started. Well, we will get it started right after I replace the sunglasses and gloves I left behind.

Bis bald,
Rob

Moving on

We're homeless as of today moving on to new adventures.

Click here to view the June/July itinerary.