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After a somewhat premature end to my 2004 Munich to Venice hike - I destroyed my knee within the first three days - I made several corrections to my attitude and equipment. Most importantly, I'd section-hike instead of through-hiking, and I'd use a much lighter backpack and eliminate any unneeded weight.
I had spent the night in Bad Tölz, where I'd arrived in my car the evening before. Since this section of the hike would only last two days, I'd park the car in Lenggries (smaller towns mean easier parking), take the train back to Bad Tölz, hike for two days, and then backtrack via bus and train, retrieve the car and drive home.
With these logistical complications, I only started hiking out of Bad Tölz shortly before 10am. The first half hour took me over paved sidewalks and along a busy street before I found a smaller trail along the river again. The sky was overcast and at times I was worrying that it'd rain, but thankfully I was spared. What happened though was that the morning dew on the grass soaked the lower half of my pants.
Shortly before noon, I was near Arzbach, where I crossed the Isar and realized that I hadn't been following the trail described in my guidebook - which wasn't a major deal. I zipped off the lower part of my pants, which would be able to dry by hanging from my backpack. Thankfully, the sun had come out somewhat. By 1:15pm, I was sitting outside the valley-floor cable lift station of the Brauneckbahn. I wasn't planning to take the easy way up though, so I merely had a Wienerschnitzel and a beer to give me sufficient energy to hike up some 800m of height difference. Thus refreshed, I started off at 2pm.
At first, the trail followed a narrow gravel road, then it changed into a foot-path through the forest and over some ski slopes (I think). Afterwards, it rejoined the gravel road for a short while, before branching off into a foot-path again, mostly through mountain meadows. The trail wasn't overly difficult, or very steep; but I was still glad when I made it to the top at around 4:15pm. I guess I'd allowed myself to get slightly out of shape, since the typical low-land life in Luxembourg doesn't really prepare for any mountain climb.
This would be my first night on a mountain hut, the Brauneck Gipfelhaus, operated by the DAV. I was pretty lucky in that I had a four-bed room all to myself; but slightly less lucky in that I was too tall for the bed. I called it a night entirely too soon, but had no trouble sleeping through the night. Apparently, hiking 20km and about 800m of elevation had been enough to wipe me out.
Written Friday December 21st 2007 in my apartment in Bivange, Luxembourg
Accommodation: Brauneck Gipfelhaus
- Kilometres hiked: 21km (13.0mi)
- Ascent: 800m (2625ft)
- Descent: 0m (0ft)