Short Reports 2016

Published on 2016-1-1 by Michael Stanton

Friends: Barbara, Toon, Camillo, Rowan
Location: Heimgarten, Heuberg, Flintsbach, Schafreuter, Roßkogel, Weißstein
Elevation gain: 0m = 0m

Markt Schwaben

November, 2016

I decided to make the 27 kilometer (~17 miles) walk out to Markt Schwaben. What an adventure...I'm back home now, my feet are so sore! From my apartment, it's amazing how it's just a straight line going east to get there. I used walking paths as much as possible, but wow...there are a lotta streets.

I remember a few special moments: the end of the six-story buildings that separate "city" from the rest...that happened by the freeway. I remember the first time there was an open field (not too long after). I remember the first time I felt sun on me, and much later, when I could take off gloves. The countryside is mostly populated by women and their dogs. I see how good dogs are for people, in that they simply make them get up and go out on the land.

But the land was pretty empty, too. Scuds of cloud to the south, and glimpses of mountains. Dry grass was inviting to sit on for it's scarcity.

It'll get colder and wetter.
The days get shorter, now.
A hulking man and child pass by,
both with quizzical expressions.

A smug man with enormous headphones and a microphone.
I've doubtless received a sentence in his book.
Heathens on the moor...

A day begun in joy, but marred by a crack in glass brought
too quickly from heat to sharp cold.
Oh, we thought.
There are pits and traps.
It matters not that we made them ourselves.
The shock of cold water is a thing large to me.

Now you are the wanderer.
You feel your muscles and the sun on your back.
These are your friends.
Perhaps you can tolerate no other.

Dreams die, as they must.
But look, here is dry grass.
A hummock to sit on.
One day there will be coffee in a house.
The blue peaks call you, as they ever did,
as if beyond time.
Me, that day

Roßkogel and Weißstein

July 21, 2016

I hiked up from road far below, avoiding the toll road. I think it was the Tieftalbach. The steep descent down the west side of the Weißstein was especially interesting. I was hoping to reach the Pieder Spitze, but in the never ending ups and downs of the Koflerspitzen, realizing I had to reverse the whole route, I decided to turn back. This time I followed the south and then east ridge descent of the Roßkogel to the summit called Köegele.

A most interesting day. 1850 meters up and down. Here are a few pics...

Looking to the Weisstein from the Koflerspitzen