Saturday 15th June: Weather: 17°C to 23°C: blue skies, windy, sunny but later a little cloude
Karwendelhaus to Scharnitz: 19k: 7.30
Accommodation: Helga’s Gasthaus
Karwendaltal towards Scharnitz
Karwendelhaus below Bikkarspitze
Breakfast 8.45am on Karwendeltal
Meadows, blue skies and alps
Bikes and kiddie buggies
Logging trees in valley
Into Scharnitz
Lunch in churchyard
A long 19k walk down the lower half of the beautiful Karwendaltal from Karwendelhaus to Scharnitz, looking back at the Bikkarspitz at 2,749m, the highest peak in the Karwendel Mountains. Today is Saturday and we encounter hundreds of mountain bikes, ebikes, bikes with kiddie buggies, ski tourers, joggers, runners, hikers and strolling tourists coming up from Scharnitz. You could say today was a monotonous day because it was the same spectacular mountain scenery the whole day with no special highlight. But if that’s monotonous, I love it.
We had a quiet night, us two being the only ones in the four person dorm. We’re awake at 6am and have our Jetboiled cup of tea without disturbing anyone. Breakfast isn’t til 7.30am and last night our warden told us there was the likelihood of thunder storms today after lunch. So we make an immediate decision to skip breakfast, leave immediately and have our own bits and pieces with a coffee down the road.
We’re away at 7.30am descending the zig zag road to the second half of the Karwendeltal. It’s a surprisingly warmish morning at about 17°C and we trek down 300 metres over 5k to a plateau where there’s a seat - a perfect spot for breakfast. The first of hundreds of mountain bikers come towards us - some with ebikes others with kiddie buggies, etc etc - all types and sizes of bikes and people. Even ski tourers - ski fanatics riding mountain bikes with a pair of skis latched across their back. They ride to unknown ski patches left on the mountains, hike to the top, then ski down to where they’ve left their bikes. Hours of work for a 30 second thrill.
Breakfast is a hot coffee with UHT cream from Paris, a few nuts and seeds, bread and jam. Then off down the wide E4/01 forest road, occasionally looking back to see Karwendelhaus perched high on a knoll beneath the Bikkarspitz at 2,794m, the highest mountain in the Karwendel Mountains. The Adlerweg path goes via the Bikkarspitze, but even before we left home, we had re-routed ourselves towards Germany as so early in June at 2,700 metres, we knew the snow depth would make it impossible. The hut warden indicated that only a few mountaineers with technical equipment would be attempting it this week.
It’s sunny and hot and we’re looking for shade and continually filling up on water from the many streams. But strangely even at 1100 metres, there’s still large snow drifts left over from the extreme January snow storms. Conveniently we pack a few small bottles with snow to keep our “fridge” cold - our collection of butter, cheese, ham and tomatoes.
These storms have wreaked havoc on the trees in this valley and the forestry workers are busy in clean-up mode. We stop to watch their ingenious machine for hauling logs to the top road. Basically a powerful winch at the top hauling logs attached by a worker at the bottom. More and more bikers coming up and then the first of the return bikers come whizzing down past us at 60kph switching from side to side making it hard to know which side of the track to walk on.
At 1pm we’re in the village of Scharnitz, located at the junction of the Karwendeltal, Hinterautal, Gleirschtal and Isartal valleys and we can see Helgas GuestHouse off to the right on Inrain Rd, high above the racing waters of Isar River. It’s too early to check in so we wander down town and spy a bakerei which sells a few drinks, meats and cheeses and buy an ice cold beer with a fresh loaf of bread. The only place to sit is on the grass in the church grounds.
The young girl at the backerei had told us that there was no supermarket in town but that the local petrol station had a small shop attached and that’s where we headed straight after lunch. We leave with a lettuce, tomatoes, ham, cheese, 3 x beers and get to Helgas at 2pm. She’s hanging washing on the line but stops to show us to our room, or should I say apartment. It has a separate bedroom, bathroom, lounge and kitchen with fridge and table - better than the blurb on booking.com. After a hot shower and washing just about everything we own, it’s time to book tomorrow nights accommodation in between here and Garmisch - Parten Kirchen. I’d left it vacant as there were several alternate routes, some high, some low, and I’d thought the snow might be a factor.
After looking at lots of possibilities, we settle on an apartment in Mittenwald, only 7k up the road, leaving just 16k to get to Garmisch the next day by what ever route we like. A bit more blogging and photo sorting and at 5pm, time for dinner - a cold salad at our little kitchen table, with an icy cold beer. More photo sorting and it’s time for bed ready for our 11th day of hiking.