Rinken

I started as usual at around 7 am after nearby passing footsteps woke me up. Perfect timing to be in the next town at 8 am for the supermarket. I didn't expect much on this part but I was surprised by a gorge with a trail leading through nice rock formations. I came early to the supermarket and waited a few minutes. Luckily I found a power outlet, because I was running out of power and they had a toilet. After leaving the supermarket I looked for a breakfast spot and ended up in another public toilet with a power outlet.
Half charged I began hiking up the first mountain and had barely any break until O reached the first peak called Blauen. On top was a blue tower and at that time a big construction site, forcing me to take a detour. It wasn't the first one. The day before close to the hut a massive pipe was built a meter up from the ground over the whole path. Descending the Blauen I came to the next detour because of forestry work. I tried to find my own way but ended up taking the wrong path and I stepped straight down at the end to get to the next lower one. Getting a bit annoyed the trail provided me with half a pizza, which I ate while walking along the mountain side. An hour later I came to a pass road and had to take another detour but for unknown reasons. Further down the road was a guesthouse where I had a short break to give my feet some air and of course charge my phone again. I also did some stretching.
On my way to the next peak I met a couple who were the first to recognize the NST tag. It made me really happy and I was really surprised in that moment. We chatted for a while and they invited me for a beer in the next hut, giving me 5 €, because they just came down from there. This meeting gave me new strength and energy for the rest of the day and I got up to the hut in no time. Because I don't like beer and thought about better ways to treat myself I saved the money for another day. Also the power outlets I found didn't work so I continued after taking a few pictures. I even saw the swiss alps with over 4000 m peaks slightly in the haze.
It was 4 pm by now and I knew the next summit and also the highest one was at least 4-5 hours away.

Of course I wanted to be there before sunset so I kept up my high pace for a bit longer. After the first 2 hours I had a short dinner break at a stream also to clean my feet. I met a lot of multiple day hikers in this part. A km later I came to another road pass with a pretty nice hotel. It could have been a nice accommodation but I would have missed the rest of the day...so I only asked for the toilet and charged my phone for a few minutes. I also had my second dinner while waiting for the phone to charge more.
Now the time was running and the last long climb started. It was an easy ascent on broad paths but of course another detour because of a construction site. I knew the sunset from the highest peak wasn't possible anymore but from a lower peak right in front and there I had a great view of the whole landscape to the south and west. I was surprised at how many mountain bikers I met at 8 pm.
Now only a small descent onto the ridge to get to the final peak with the last sunlight brightening the sky and I made it. Before I got to the summit I stopped at a hut with a self serving kiosk. There were two fridges, a fully automatic coffee machine, a sink, snacks and power outlets. I stayed there for a while figuring out what to do. In the end I decided to hike up to the peak and come back down again. I took everything with me because you never know. Plans "might" change every 5 mins, as my father likes to say. With the last bit of sunlight it was easy to follow the path for about 10 minutes until I reached the Feldberg "field mountain", the highest peak of the black forest at 1493m. On my way I called my parents even though it was quite windy. I took a picture of me with the summit stone and then laid down on a bench to watch the amazing night sky covered with stars. I just took a picture of the Summer Triangle and checked it when suddenly I thought a really bright airplane appeared over me. A second later I realized a meteor shower was visible for at least 15 seconds and I was so stunned by the beauty that I only took one good picture. After the light show ended I was overwhelmed with joy and didn't know what to do. So I called my dad again, after saying I'll call them the next day but I couldn't wait. The excitement kept me laughing while trying to tell my father about the meteor shower.
I studied the night sky for a while longer trying to find more constellations. In the east I saw lightning, but the forecast was fine. On my way down in the dark I missed a turn and had to climb up a bit again. Once down at the hut I prepared my sleeping set up in the kiosk and started to write the footprint for the day which took about 2 hours until 1 am. Thank you for reading my posts and supporting me on my way Thru Hike, even though it might be just thinking about me❤️Read more