Hřensko to Herrnhut, Day 2 - Chata Tokáň to Rumburk

Wednesday June 3, Chata Tokáň to Rumburk

At breakfast, I spoke German with my host; at dinner the night before, I had spoken English with a different host. I was grateful to have two languages at my disposal, and grateful both of my hosts did too.

After breakfast, I happily set off back up the hill and then a pleasant half mile down the road before I realized I was on the wrong route.

Ah, this looks more like it...

It's kind of hard to tell from these photos if I was going up or down, but it was pretty much a straight shot up. Steep and narrow, but not so narrow that I couldn't have fallen sideways off the stairs in the drizzle, I ended up scooting on my butt on some of the landings.

I emerged...

...to some expansive views...

...and then resumed the playground-like ups and downs, throughs, overs, and unders.

Here are three of about a bazillion photos that I took of waist-high ferns.

About 4.5 miles in, I reached the Köglerova naučná stezka, which Wikipedia tells me is the oldest nature trail in Bohemia. Like the Teufelsgrund on the Malerweg, this trail makes an excellent natural amusement park. 

Carly the Travel Chicken, for scale

My eyes say "these steps were steep," even if the camera won't say it

At the end of the nature trail loop, the drama ended, and here I parted ways with the Ridge Trail. My destination for the evening was Rumburk, to the northeast, and then Herrnhut the following day, while the Ridge Trail was heading east to Krásná Lípa and then south to Jedlová.

Although I wouldn't head back into Germany until the next day, I had now left the Boehmische Schweiz behind. Villages became more numerous, often with charming houses and gardens.

I walked uphill through the woods and emerged behind a somewhat dilapidated church on the western edge of the tiny village Sněžná (population ~30), a little north of Krásná Lípa.

Beyond the church was an even more dilapidated schoolhouse. Further down the road, the village itself is more optimistically bucolic.

Past Sněžná (can you tell I like the name Sněžná?), in and out of fields and through the woods...

Berglandschaft in Böhmen, ca. 1830

...I eventually arrived at Dymník, a recreation area outside Rumburk.  

In addition to a restaurant, Dymník has a "Stone Tree of Life" based on "geometry" and "Zodiac signs." A gaggle of exuberant elementary-school kids was released into the field just as I arrived, so I didn't explore it up close. 

Up the adjacent hill, Rauchberg,...

...is a late-19th-c. lookout tower. Czechia, it turns out, has more lookout towers per capita than any other part of the world. Most were built during the past two centuries by either aristocracy or tourism-oriented hiking clubs.

I first learned about the Dymník tower when I was planning my route on Komoot, so I knew in advance that I wanted to go inside and photograph its spiral staircase. There was a guard selling tickets just inside the door and listening to every step I took up and down the stairs, so I didn't linger on the staircase too long, but I did take a bunch of photos, edited them to be black & white, and felt very artsy.

From the tower, it was just a few more kilometers into Rumburk, where I was warmly greeted by the welcome committee.

Rumburk was a blend of charming and depressed--like Hřensko and, a further to the east, small German towns too--and consequently shockingly inexpensive for this American tourist.

Ta da! Most of the day's 14.4 miles (I accidentally shut off my Garmin at the Dymník lookout tower), 2,000' up, 2,000' down.