Lenggries to Brannenburg, Day 2: Buchsteinhuette to Rottach-Egern / Tegernsee

On Friday, we set off down from the Buchstein hut and then up a series of low peaks. We paused in a flat notch in front of the Schwarzentenn Alm, to unzip long pants legs, and watched three frolicking young cows playfully butting heads and chasing each other through the meadow--a reminder to love animals, not eat them.

We headed uphill. As we passed an Alm below our first peak, Hirschberg, someone called out to us to ask if we knew where we were going. S assured them we had maps, and they replied, "well, you can use a map, or you can ask the locals what the best way up is." He directed us off trail, up through the field ("it's closed earlier in the summer for nesting birds, but they're done now, and I've mowed a path for kids and barefoot people"). So of course, we took the recommended route.

Komoot had warned us that our intended trail was currently closed, but the host at the Buchsteinhuette had called the forest service, who confirmed it was open--yet we saw a sign as we approached the peak asserting otherwise. (A sign lower down prohibited skis and snowshoeing; the sign at the top included hikers as well.)

From the top of Hirschberg, we had fine views of the Tegernsee.

Der Wanderer ohne Nebelmeer

We headed back down the hill, eventually pausing for lunch at the Hirschberghaus, then continued past the Kratzer Gipfelkreuz and began a steep descent, supported by somewhat floppy cables for hikers to grab onto. Had we been ascending, the acrophobe would have been speedy; descending, with constant views of the steep drops below, made the acrophobe slow and chatty.

Eventually the trail joined up with gravel-paved forest roads, followed by another steep descent through the woods to a radio tower, where we had another fine view of the lake.

From there, we descended past Duke Luitpold's 1912 fairytale castle Schloss Ringberg, now owned by the Max Planck Institute...

C' had accompanied V at a conference here, years ago

...and into Rottach-Egern, our destination for the evening. We were happy to finally reach our Gasthaus for the night and drop our packs. 

S needed to catch a train in Tegernsee, and the quickest route involved taking a rowboat ferry across the southern end of the lake. The boat stopped operating at 6pm, and we had 13 minutes to get there. Kudos to C', who speed-walked 0.86 miles and arrived just in time to hail the rower, who had just left the dock. He turned around, and we enjoyed the ride across.

We had a little time to be tourists as we headed toward the Bahnhof. We stopped inside the Schlosskirche, St. Quirinus...

Passing one of several ferry docks, we discovered that C' and I could still catch the last motored ferry back to Rottach-Egern. Since S had some time before his train left, instead of walking him all the way to the station, we aimed instead for a gelato shop and ate sorbetto next to the ferry dock before parting ways. S was heading back to the U.S., while C' and I still had three days of hiking ahead.