Berchtesgaden and Burghausen

If you hit the title of this post you’ll see some of the 145 photos taken while my buddy Chip and I went hiking in the German Alps for the last couple days. Certainly they tell the story better than my words.

Berchtesgaden is a small city in the middle of the first National Park in Germany. The region is gorgeous and worth many more than the two days Chip and I spent there. After a five hour drive down (scenic route) we hiked the first afternoon going near the Hintersee (Rear Lake) near Ramsau. The Zauberwald (Magic Forest) near the lake was easy walking and beautiful. From there we also went through the Wembach Gorge.

On the second day we had a more extensive hike of around 7 miles and 3,000 feet vertical elevation before turning around and returning the way we came. The lower part was much more pleasant to the eye landscape-wise; the upper half was largely through wadis or flood plains of grey rock. There were two huts in route to stop and get a beer or something to eat. Both of us are still in fairly good shape (Chip is a former Special Forces soldier) and while passing many a fellow hiker I felt we were making a good pace ... to my surprise halfway up I heard steps from behind and found a young woman running up the mountain. We never saw her return so there is no telling how far she actually went and I must admit it was a bit humbling. After that hike we had just enough time to drive over to Königssee (King’s Lake) and take the boat tour of one of the larger fresh water lakes in Europe. Spring fed and crystal clear with steep cliffs on many sides it is simply magnificent; unfortunately, the sun was low enough that many of the photos really didn’t take.

On the way home, we stopped by the Castle in Burghausen. The longest castle in Europe, the photos don’t do it justice … more to the point, we didn’t find a vantage point to take a photo from the outside. The following site though has at least one photo from the outside and gives you a bit of an idea about the town: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burghausen%2C_Alt%C3%B6tting