Querweg photo dump 4: Schattenmuehle to Blumberg

Friday May 20:

You'd think that after all that elevation gain, we'd have gotten better at hiking upward, but the fourth day of our Querweg hike ended with a bonus 160 meter climb across a short 2 km in 86oF weather that just about did me in.

We left the Schattenmuehle shortly after 8am, hoping to avoid the afternoon heat. At about 9am, just after the trail had opened up next to a beautiful flowing pool of water, we encountered another hiker who really wanted to talk. 

Clearly a fellow acrophobe, she went on and on, and then on and on some more, about the shoddy state of the trail she had just come from. Between her accent and Elias's and my German comprehension skills, were weren't able to grasp all of the details--just that she was warning us now, so we could decide whether to invest in a few more km before having to either turn back or risk plunging to our deaths in the abyss below. She said it was one thing for people who were hiking together, so a person (she looked directly at Elias) could lend their mother (she did not look at me) a hand across the precipitous and slippery slope, where the trail was barely wide enough to accommodate two well-shod feet--look, look at these, they're serious hiking boots!--high above the raging river--but for someone to traverse that solo, with a shoddy safety cable that had lost all tension, and only two narrow steps upon which to round an entire curve on the trail--be warned! If you fear heights, be warned!

We did our best to listen politely, and I said "thanks, I DO fear heights!," and we offered her a helping hand if she wanted to go back the way she had come, but she kept re-hashing the risk of death bits, so eventually we interrupted her with one last "thanks for the info" and continued on our way. We spent much of the rest of our hike in the gorge trying to figure out where the spot in question was; we think we found it, at which point we reminded ourselves that it's almost always easier going up than down, and that it's good to have a helping hand.

NSFW snails

Geum, a.k.a. avens

From the photos above, one can see why the gorge is a popular hiking spot--and those were just the morning pics.

Having probably defied death, at least for the moment, Elias and I paused for lunch...

...then continued up and down the cliff walls for a few more hours.

Even this bridge was acrophobe approved, although I waited for the folks behind me to cross first.

So many choices... We were heading to the Wutach Muehle--an actual operational sawmill (as opposed to the Schattenmuhele, which is a now-defunct water mill).

We eventually emerged from the gorge--or rather, the steep gorge walls eventually dropped away--and we arrived at the sawmill. We paused for apple Kuchen at a small kiosk along the road, then continued into a field and onto a wide, shady forest road. Shortly thereafter, we left the Wutach river behind. Village signs in Aselfingen welcomed us to the Wutachtal (Wutach valley) 

So long, Wutach!

Once we reached Achdorf, our direction for the rest of the day was up. First, up above Achdorf...

Whew

Achdorf down below

Nifty bench design

...and then we kept going up. Gorge walls re-emerged in the woods, and the trail was once again reinforced with bridges and cables and built-in stairs.

The last waterfall of the day

This steep set of stairs was more of a ladder than a staircase. Elias and I were both glad we were going up, not down.

Then we went up some more. I took a selfie to check if I was as beet-red as I felt, and discovered that I was not. 

Then, suddenly, the trail emerged on a plateau and we were in Blumberg.

Geology lesson with an anachronistic timeline

Hot, sweaty, and thirsty, we checked into our AirBnB, where I emptied out my pockets and discovered the jangling noise I had been hearing all day was from the key to our room at the Schattenmuehle. Oops. We mailed it back the next morning and sent a profusely apologetic email, to which the laid back proprietor replied simply "ist's OK."

Most fountains we saw on our trip had signs saying "Kein Trinkwasser" ("not for drinking"), so we were pleased to find this attractive fountain in Blumberg with potable Trinkwasser. The faces are Perchten--southern Germany's beloved winter demons.

We enjoyed dinner at an entertaining Italian restaurant, where the owner rolled his eyes when we said we were vegetarians ("your loss"), offered to invent whatever vegetarian dish we wanted ("pasta with veggies? Pizza with veggies? Baked pasta with veggies?"), and then told Elias he should want more veggies on his pizza than the ones he'd asked for. We're pretty sure it would have been impressively tasty even if we hadn't just hiked 15 miles in blazing heat.

After dinner, we stopped by Edeka for fruit for the next day's hike. On the way back, we passed a nifty "book tree."

Elias used the price sticker from our Edeka bananas to fish a 20-cent coin out of an ancient, filthy, defunct candy dispenser. That, along with a washing-machine coin and a battery-powered LED light the size of a quarter that he found on the sidewalk outside of Edeka, made the lad rich, rich, rich beyond his wildest dreams. (Stefan observed to him via text, "I knew it was a good decision to send you to university!")

Ta da!