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Bad Harzburg Birthday Trip
  • Jen Ritchey
  • Jen Ritchey

Bad Harzburg Birthday Trip

A short but fine adventure by Jen Read more
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    January 8, 2026
    Jen RitcheyBad Harzburg Birthday TripTraveler

    Bad Harzburg

    January 8 in Germany ⋅ ☁️ -2 °C

    Today we headed off to Harz for some winter snowy mountain fun for my birthday! We are staying in Bad Harzburg (we came down here last year for New Years winter adventures!) and are staying just up the hill from where we did last time so we have a view of the mountains!

    Last weekend it snowed in Berlin and it hasn’t been above freezing since then so the snow is still there, but the side roads and parking lots are just sheets of ice! Getting out of Berlin (and running my errands with the car before wet left) was a bit tricky and we almost slid into some barriers trying to turn on a side street…and I wasn’t even going fast! Under 15, but I guess whatever I was going was still too fast. We drove through more snow and some lanes covered on the freeway, so it was slow going coming down, but not too bad. People were driving crazy though and not following the speed limits which is odd as normally most cars do.

    It’s supposed to snow tomorrow and Saturday so I am excited! All the winter fun!    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyBad Harzburg Birthday TripTraveler
    11

    Winter Walk

    January 9 in Germany ⋅ 🌫 -1 °C

    Today we got up and it had definitely snowed overnight! We spied on the weather as I had planned on going up to the pass and walking around, but the webcam up there showed miserable weather - snowing and windy and couldn’t see very far, so I made a different plan - to drive up just a little bit and hike up to a lake. Only there was no parking to be had at the trailhead, so we parked at the edge of town and I figured out how we could walk over there from here (2km away) while spying on things. So we made our own route!

    The walk was gorgeous! So much snow! Way more than last year and we didn’t see a single other person the entire day until we got back to town! Plus once we got on the trail no other footprints either except the animals! So we were alone out in the mountains :) we hiked up a ways, but snow takes more effort to walk through, especially breaking the trail, so we didn’t end up going by the lake as that was too far and we would have been hiking back to the car after dark. We still had a great time and the weather was perfect. Not too cold (right at freezing all day) and lightly snowing the whole time basically. Only windy for a short section at the top which was much colder (the lake probably would have been cold as well since it was up on the flat area). So much fun! And so much snow! There was at least a foot on the ground on the sides, though the trail was less, but still up to the tops of my shoes (and sometimes deeper). There was a section at the top of all the evergreen trees and that was my favorite bit. I love how they look with all the snow!

    Tomorrow I had another hike planned, but right now it says a high of -8C so that is pretty cold and I am not sure we will want to be out in that for hours (especially if it is windy) so we shall see what we get up to. But today was perfect even if I am exhausted now.    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyBad Harzburg Birthday TripTraveler

    Winter Wandering Day 2

    January 10 in Germany ⋅ ☁️ -7 °C

    Today we woke up and it said it was -8C, but it didn’t look too windy outside. I had planned to take the cable cars up the mountain and then walk to the lynx enclosure there, but when I looked online to see what time they feed them (to make sure we would see them) it was canceled for today!

    We are staying at the end of a road and after this place there is a short little path up to a walking path. We saw people heading up there yesterday so I looked to see if there was anything fun that away. Well I found a rock out crop about 3.5km away and thought okay we can try and walk over there. It is freezing so we might not go the whole way, but once it gets too cold we will head back…I really thought we wouldn’t be out that long only it didn’t get too cold! I had to take off my layers as I was way too warm with them on and even stopping for break I didn’t freeze. I was surprised as it said it was -7 when we were out and there was some wind, but it was fine. Definitely cold as we couldn’t keep our hands outside our mittens for long when we were stopped, and the inside of my rain jacket (my outer layer) got sweaty apparently and then the sweat froze so when I took it off there was a thin layer of ice inside! But we were both warm enough and had a nice long lunch break enjoying the views over the area (the second to last photo is where we ate lunch). The rocks were fun, but super windy so we didn’t stay on top long. There were definitely more people out and about today, one kid sledding and a cross country skier and a few hikers. It was a lot of fun. And for most of the way you could see out over the area which was really nice. Next time we will have to explore this area more!    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyBad Harzburg Birthday TripTraveler

    Bad Harzburg Wander

    January 10 in Germany ⋅ ☁️ -6 °C

    After our snowy forest wandering we came back and relaxed for a bit then went to wander around town. We spied on the park by the cable cars and then wandered through town and got a vegan waffle for a snack which was delicious (though I didn’t take a photo of that)!

    The place we are staying has a record player and some records and this afternoon I looked through them to put on some music (it is incredibly quiet here) and found two that were great! I really enjoyed them. We tried a few other ones, one that is exercises to help you be in shape for skiing and other misc ones, but they weren’t as good as these two!

     All in all it was a really nice day. I had expected to just go out for short walks until we froze, then come back and warm up, but even though it was really cold it didn’t really feel like it when walking around. It was great! All the snow! Tomorrow we will do one more hike before we head home.    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyBad Harzburg Birthday TripTraveler

    Final Wander Through the Snow

    January 11 in Germany ⋅ ☀️ -8 °C

    Today we got up, packed up, and then took the cable car to the top of the mountain to wander around up there. It was absolutely gorgeous today! Still cold (-6/-5), but no wind and sunny! It was so warm that at our first break we were on top in an open area in the sun and I was so warm I didn’t have any off my jackets on! Just a sweater and another layer! Crazy! Though later we did head into some gullies where the sun didn’t reach and it was cold!!

     The top is really nice with views over the area, and most of our walk this morning was also where you could see out over everything which was nice. It was really deep snow, sometimes almost up to my knees! But we were talking about how nice it was since it didn’t warm up at all the snow was still light and fluffy and easy to walk through. Not slippery at all! Which is good when going up and down hills.

    After the first break we headed down the road towards the trail we walked on Friday! We made it almost to the same intersection where we headed down on Friday, but we took a trail just a bit closer to where we were to see something new. It was really steep going down quickly, then kind of leveled out. We saw so many people heading up that trail with sleds! Somewhere at the top near where we hiked on Friday must be a good sledding hill as it was mostly adults carrying their sleds up there. Not very many kids.

    I had debated what I wanted to do for my birthday, if I wanted to go up to the coast or down to Harz or just stay home. We were supposed to get snow in Berlin on Friday (but it didn’t sound like they ended up getting any) so we could just go wander in the woods outside the city like we normally do. I thought about just going up to the coast as it was supposed to be similar temps to Harz and a week before was forecast to snow a bit (again that changed and they didn’t get any), but would be windy so I’m sure absolutely freezing but we could get a place where we could sit inside and look out over the water. Then last weekend we got some snow in Berlin and I said I want snow! Let’s go to the mountains and hope we get some! I’m so glad we did! I thought we would have to drive up to the pass to get the snow, but we didn’t even go up there this trip! It was so nice and I loved all the snow hiking! All the snow!

    The drive home was really nice too. For about half the drive everything was white on the sides of the road. White field and white trees and bushes - white everything! It was gorgeous!

    Then it was just the ground that was covered, but snow everywhere. Berlin is the same icy mess it was before we left, but this weekend was wonderful! I didn’t want to leave! We got lucky with the weather as this week it is supposed to warm up above freezing and rain! So I shall try not to be too sad we can’t go wander in the snow every day. Really a wonderful weekend.    Read more

    Trip end
    January 11, 2026
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