The Alps

If one is to live in Germany, the experience wouldn’t be complete without visiting the German Alps. As such, a year after I moved here, I went to the Alps with some friends.

Two friends and I took a few trains to get to Oberstdorf where we met up with another friend that had gone ahead before us.

Reunited, we immediately started walking out of the town and went south. We didn’t have a specific destination in mind, and we just went up the first canyon that looked decent which led us up the canyon right above where it says “Allgäuer Hochalpen” on the map.

We arrived at the end of the canyon after the sun had already gone down. We had thought about stopping earlier, actually, since it was getting dark and lightly raining, but it was actually quite a steep canyon, and there weren’t many flat places big enough to pitch a couple tents. Therefore, we kept on soldiering along until we ended up at the end of the canyon, just to the left of the placemark icon on the map, where things were relatively flatter.

We had gone through a gate and were scoping out a place to put up our tents so we could get out of the rain. There was a noise—mooing from cows. After we had passed the gate, we had entered a dairy farmer’s pasture, and the cows were curious about the trespassers in the night. They kept approaching us, and it wasn’t only a few either.

It was honestly quite intimidating, and we ended up retreating to beyond the gate, which we ensured was closed behind us. It was still a bit steep there, but we did manage to find a couple places for our tents and got out of the rain.

The next morning, the dairy farmer was out and about checking up on the cows. I wanted to make sure that it was okay that we set up our tents, so I asked one of my 3 German friends that I was with to ask him. None of them were willing to do it, so I, whose German was not great, ended up having to ask him because my friends were all too shy, haha. He was fine with it, though, as long as we didn’t leave any trash around. Germany is a great country, but it’s not easy to go camping because there are people everywhere and not a lot of truly empty areas. Even in the Alps, there are houses and farms.

We then spent a couple days doing some hiking around the area.

The Eissee

I am pretty sure we were on top of Großer Wilder in the above picture, which is the red placemark icon on the map, but I am not positive. In any case, it was at least one of the mountains in that area.

After spending a few days in the fresh mountain air, we hiked back to Oberstdorf and took the train back home.

A couple years later, I went to the Alps again. One of my friends from the previous trip and I went to Garmisch-Partenkirchen and started hiking the long way up a canyon to Zugspitze, the tallest mountain in Germany.

We arrive in the town just to the left of where it says “Stadium.” Fun fact: the 1936 Winter Olympic took place there, which is why they have an Olympic stadium.

It was already later in the evening, but we decided to immediately head out. We didn’t manage to get all too far because the sun dipped behind the mountains. We found some farm that didn’t seem to be inhabited and set up my tent behind it. After packing up early the next morning and removing all traces of our stay, we kept hiking up the canyon toward where it says “Schachen und Reintal” on the map.

Again, while the nature is beautiful, there are people everywhere. Even hiking up this canyon, we encountered a café amongst the nature, complete with all the amenities. We didn’t go in.

We ended up reaching the area right before the final ascent of the Zugspitze at the end of the canyon directly southeast of the mountain, right above where it says “Deutschland” on the map. We again secretly set up my tent, this time behind some bushes. Luckily, my tent is dark green, so it is kind of camouflage.

We wanted to make a small fire in a fire ring we found, so we started collecting some twigs and small branches. After getting everything and setting up the wood in the ring, it was time to light the fire. Then it started raining.

Dousing our hopes of a fire, the rain forced us to retreat into my tent. It started off slow, and we hoped that it would pass and that we might still be able to manage to get the fire going. The rain picked up. Lighting struck. Thunder rang out. A full-on thunderstorm raged over our heads, and we ended up bunkering down in my tent for the remainder of the night. The thunder’s claps were so intense, they kept me up, and I couldn’t fall asleep until well into morning the next day once the storm had subsided.

The next morning, it was time to head back. We didn’t have enough time to ascend the mountain, but it was still a great experience. We started the trek back to the town, but first there was another thing we wanted to check out.