The Harz Trip - Part 2, the Hike

On Thursday in the Harz, we got up bright and early and headed out to conquer some mountains.  The hike was 19km long and could be divided into sections.  First of all we headed up to Wolfswarte which is a high point offering great views across Altenau.  On his trip last year, Nico had lunch here but it was way too cold and windy for us to do that this time.  On the way up we discovered snow and signs of bambi!

A view on the way up

Bambi tracks in the snow

Wolfswarte

The view from the top

Struggling through the snow

Crazy old tree root

The second part of the journey cam after we had reached the furthest part of the journey and turned to head back along a path called the Magdeburg Way.  This was a truly beautiful part of the forest with steep sides of the mountain covered with pines and shafts of light coming through.  It was more of a challenge for me as I don't like heights and the side of the path was very steep.  Normally this wouldn't have been a great problem but all along the route, trees had fallen across the path and we had to climb over or squeeze under them.  It was a wonder the way was open as it had been closed because of this problem last year.  We also saw many old bridges and caves along the way.

Wondering how to get through

The branches we crawled under

Water Regale

One of the interesting things about the Harz is the waterways there.  When they were mining the mountains, some areas struggled as they did not have enough natural water resources so the people built canals and waterways that rerouted the water to where it was needed.  It was an amazing feat and most of them look like quite natural rivers next to the path as above.  

After our hike, we spent an exhausted afternoon and evening in the cabin with the fire on full and lots of nibbles, drinks and reading.

Relaxing

A new record

32 degrees!