The Tegelberg Hike

Dear readers, I am sorry I have not been updating at the promised time! I had a looming deadline, and the final week of classes, and no mental energy to spare. Please forgive.

Please accept this charming and ethereal photo as a token of my humble apologies. Yes, it is a real photo, and yes I took it. Yes, its not really very clear and in focus but...that's totally what I was going for.

Now. Where were we?
Ah, yes.
Things were going swimmingly after our picture perfect photo op of Neuschwanstein Castle from the Marienbrücke bridge. Most sensible tourists would then turn back and head on down to the castle or the quaint town to see what there is to see.

Not us. We crossed the bridge and saw a small trail heading off into the trees. We thought, I bet there is an even better view just beyond that corner. Let's check it out!

So young. So innocent.
We began to climb. And climb. The further we climbed, the quieter it got. We hadn't really seen anyone for quite a while.

Overlooking the town.

Nothing can be confirmed, but see that distant peak to the right? Just keep that in mind.

Who knows if the Grimm brothers hiked this very trail?

I was only mildly concerned we would get lost in the mountains and never find our way back to the town. At least not in time for the bus. It seemed like we were in the middle of nowhere.

The sun went away. It began to rain. Then it rained harder. And harder. Then we ran into some tourists, who did not speak English. They looked far more hardcore than us.

I was not in very good shape (things haven't changed all that much), but Brit managed to convince me to keep going/I started feeling competitive and didn't want to admit I was dying.

What does this mean? We would never find out if we didn't keep going.

 But having come this far, we couldn't turn back. There were signs that maybe there was a destination ahead. Adventure called.

We had to cross sketchy slippery log bridges, climb steep hills, and endure periods of drenching rain.

At last! A real sign! 40 minutes to Tegelberg didn't sound too bad compared to the alternatives. We didn't know what the heck Tegelberg was, but we were going to get there!

Unfortunately, that meant tackling these stairs to nowhere. Did I mention that I was dying?

With trembling legs, and rapidly thumping heart, I did indeed conquer the Stairs of Doom. We reached the top! The sun made a brief appearance to celebrate the victory!

Best of all, we spotted a building of some kind. Civilization! As we got closer we realized there was a restaurant and everything...

The punch line? We had climbed to the top of A FRICKIN SKI MOUNTAIN! 

Neuschwanstein to the Right, Tegelberg top and center-ish.

I don't know about you, but I think that is ridiculous.

We treated ourselves to a plate of crispy fries and hot drinks in the restaurant. Our poor waitress was so distressed that she did not know English, and apologized again and again. We comforted her by telling her that her English was much better than our German, and we were in her country after all. We all had a good laugh trying to place our order. 

Rejuvenated by some hot food, Brit decided to tackle the very tippy-top of the mountain because she is a champ! Climbing a ski mountain was good enough for me, and I knew my limits (literally could not do it even if I had wanted to), so I stayed behind in the warmth of the ski house.

Way to go, Brit!

As we were trying to come up with a plan for the return trip, we noticed a couple guys outside.

Turns out that for a small fee, you can hitch a ride to the bottom via parachute!

I won't lie, I wanted to do it. Luckily for my bank account (the fee wasn't actually that small), the weather turned sour and the guy decided he didn't want to take anyone down after all.

I kind of regret that missed opportunity. Imagine how awesome it would have been to float over that castle! Instead we payed a small (very worth it) fee to take the lift down. Figuring out how to get back to Füssen was another adventure, but not very exciting, so suffice it to say we got there in time for the last bus, and we slept well that night.

It was actually a really fantastic hike, if you have a couple hours day to spare. It was a nice break from the tourist crowds, the scenery was stunning, and it gave me a real sense of accomplishment...just when I thought I couldn't go on any longer, I pushed myself that extra mile (literally).
My legs were also sore forever afterwards. Good times!