Last summer we joined a hike organized by the Munich chapter of Internations. This one was a short trip from Munich, to Breiteinstein in the Bavarian Alps. The drive took only an hour to reach the parking lot at the trailhead (in the village of Birkenstein, near Fischbachau).
You'll see in the Google Map below that Fischbachau lies east of Schliersee, near the Austrian border.
This is a good hike, with a mix of steep and easier stretches, as well as mixing meadows, forest, and rocky trails.
The hike up takes around 2 1/2 hours and less than 2 hours down, depending on your stops. The trail begins around 850m elevation at Birkenstein, ascends to a hut at 1,585m, and finally to the peak at 1,622m (for a total rise of 1,170m).
You can see our destination below - we'll go all the way up to the small cross at the summit.
The hike starts off with a steep walk up shady trails through the forest, before opening up into rolling meadows dotted with evergreens. Not too bad, but definitely a challenge.
There are quite a few benches along the way to stop, rest, and enjoy the view. The wide trail then snakes through the meadows, with a steady (but not steep) climb upwards.
We then reach the bottom of a large grassy hill where cows graze, and gently wind around the hill into the forest on the right.
After passing through more shaded forest, we reach the Hubertushütte, a little hut serving drinks and snacks in a small valley below the peak of Breitenstein. We stopped here for a snack before the final push up a rock-studded grassy hill up to the cross at Breitenstein. It's only another 10-15 minutes up to the peak.
Despite the not so steep-looking grassy meadow, the mountain drops off on the other side. At the top there is space to sit and look out over the villages in the valley, as this couple does.
We ate lunch at the top, before heading down. Instead of the same route down, we passed along the ridge through a flat meadow where the cows grazed.
We pause to enjoy the view before descending.
Then back down the grassy hills. Herr J greets another one of our huge bovine friends. The cows were definitely one of my favorite parts of the day.
Once again we had nice weather, friendly hiking companions, and great scenery (with animals!) -- this is why hiking in the Alps is so much fun.