I am finding that despite having a handful of things I want to blog about, I sometimes struggle actually getting around to writing the posts. This post for example, is about a hike I went on in early fall. It is now nearing the end of fall. Blame it on the brain fog, or the fatigue, or the lack of motivation, but better late than never.
One of my favorite things about the hikes in Bavaria, are these plaques found at the summit. If the hike has a Hütte at the top, there are plaques on the side indicating the summit elevation. This plaque is from a mountain behind where I live called the Kreuzeck, and it sits at an elevation of 1652m.
This summit was interesting, and at first I wasn’t convinced I had hit the top at all.
Summits are also indicated by some kind of cross, as if by the grace of God you made it to the top of a mountain. I love the crosses at the top, and for someone that struggled with chronic fatigue for many years, (and still does sometimes) anytime I make it to the top of a mountain I am thankful. The cross is a good reminder for me to thank God for all that I am capable of.
I am also thankful for all the mountain friends I find along the way. Sheep, and goats, and cows, OH MY!
Despite seeing the cross, I wasn’t convinced I had hit the summit. The summit of the Kreuzeck isn’t an obvious one like most hikes here, it’s more of a flat ground with other summits towering around it. This made me wonder if I had actually hit the summit, or if one of the surrounding peaks was the summit.
I stopped into one of the two Hütte’s at the top to ask if this was the summit of the Kreuzeck, and a lovely Germany woman confirmed I was in fact at the top of the Kreuzeck. A bit anticlimactic, but the hike was beautiful none the less.
I hiked this with one of my friends and we started a little later in the day, which meant darkness was close by. After walking up some surprisingly steep areas (despite the lower elevation of the overall summit) we decided to take the cable car back down instead of hiking down. This cable car only has a round trip ticket, which was annoying, but it was still cool to ride in.
My first German alps cable car ride.
The hike up was fairly quick, it took us under two hours to summit. We hung around the top for a bit hanging out with some of the summit locals. At the top there is a chicken coup next to one of the Hütte’s. All the chickens were roaming free, but one chicken in particular looked as if he were picked on by the others.
I don’t know what came over me, but seeing him missing feathers and looking a bit rough made me cry. LOL. I just imagined the other chickens plucking at him, and then I went down a momentary black hole of apology for eating so much chicken. My inner vegan was screaming to come back out, but then I had to remember why I started eating meat again in the first place.
Point being, despite how long it’s been I still struggle with eating meat sometimes.
Chicken coups aside, the view from Adolf-Zöppritz-Haus (the Hütte at the top) was beautiful. We hiked on a day with overcast, but the clouds cleared just enough to provide a view of the valley below. And just like that, I checked another Bavarian summit off my list. Winter is coming fast, and I have another hike from the summer to share in my next post, but I don’t know if I’ll be doing much more hiking in Germany until spring.
Q: Would you rather hike up and cable car down, or cable car up and hike down? Definitely hike up for me. I gotta work for my ride down!
