The Buckelwiesen Hike, part 1

So this was our plan: the long hike across the Buckelwiesen, the characteristic rolling hills in the area from the town of Wallgau back to Mittenwald. It was a pretty long hike, about eight miles, but only 600 feet total gain in elevation. It had come highly recommended by the regulars, mainly German, on the trip advisor Germany forum, so I was glad we had the time to do it.

We caught the bus from Mittenwald. The driver was a little bit surly, but I guess he was tired of driving tourists around on the regular bus, because some of said tourists were being testy with him for not opening the bus door when they thought it was time for it to be opened. That said, we got on, took two seats, and off we went, north from town.

On the way, we passed the army base, which we had only seen from overhead from Karwendel. It's a Bundeswehr base, mountain troops or some such thing. We saw a few of them in town, but not with the cute little hats they used to wear.

Anyway, a lot of the tourists got off long before us, so maybe when we finally got off in center of Wallgau, Mister Surly Bus Driver thought we were locals, but I doubt it. We looked around the town, and decided we should eat first. One place was open, so that was it.

We sat outside. The day had gotten much nicer. The sun was out, the skies were blue, it was getting a bit warm, but not bad. I had the schnitzel this time, with cream sauce, unbreaded. It was very good, and so were the fries. Herr Hai tried currywurst, which is a huge thing in Germany. Not so great. Not bad, just didn't live up to the expectations we both had. Beer and food was good overall, service was friendly though non-English speaking, bathroom was clean. What more could you want?

Now, hike part one. We set off from downtown Wallgau, knowing some of the hike would be along the road. I think we got sort of lost, or at least, we weren't sure how to find this trail. So after some wandering around, consulting websites (yay, thank you burner phone and Austrian sim card!) and google maps, we found our way.

We came out of the town, which was much smaller than Mittenwald. The buildings became fewer and farther between, and finally, we reached the Isar river. Now, it was really hot. No shade. The Isar was unbelievably clear, unlike the very blue color of the Leutasch.

The path took us along a line of trees, mountains beginning to rise to our left. After a while, we crossed the Isar again and came into the town of Krun, stopping to look at the war memorial. We could have given up here and gotten on a bus, being hot, tired, grumpy, having already already hiked out and back to Lautersee, visited the church. We didn't though, because if nothing else, we're persistent.

Oddly enough, we didn't take any pictures of Wallgau, except the food and the monkey truck, and this part of the hike was less scenic than we had anticipated. Of course, the last week or so has spoiled us when it comes to scenery.Lue lisää