Yesterday was not a nice day. I pretty much did not leave the House, except for a short walking round in the evening. And I had planned a nice Hike for the day.
So, after checking the Weather Forecast and finding out that the Weather would still be not suited for Hiking in the Location I had originally planned, I quickly planned a new Route near Elend. And I got three Stamps on that Hike.
On the way to Elend, I stopped in Braunlage once more to get yet another Stamp, numbered 18 in the Wandernadel System, which takes my total up to four for today. And I did not even have to pay parking for that once, because it took me under 30 Minutes to get that Stamp.
In Elend then, I had to find a Parking Spot for my Car. Sadly, most of them are Paid Parking, even on Sundays. Luckily though, I found a small Hikers Parking Lot that was free of Charge. And I got the last available Spot.
For the first Stempelstelle, the Path went uphill all the Time. It also crossed a major road twice. And People in the Harz usually drive like lunatics. Luckily, there was little traffic today
Just after I got that first Stamp, numbered 21, a Guy on a Motorcycle drove past me in the Forest. And off course he drove like a lunatic.
After that encounter, I started on the first downhill portion of my Hike. And it was steep, full of roots and stones, and generally not to nice to Hike down.
After about one kilometre though, that stopped, and I got to walk on even ground for a while. I also crossed a Bridge over the Kalte Bode, which was actually quite cool.
I then had to climb a part of the so called Teufelsstieg. That path even featured in Goethes Faust. And I can definitely see why. It is a very mysterious place.
After that final climb, I reached the second Stempelstelle of today’s Hike, the Schnarcherklippen. Those also feature in Goethes Faust. The Stempelstelle there is numbered 14.
From there, it was pretty much downhill for the rest of the Hike, except for a short bit right at the Klippen and a bit in Elend that I had to Hike to get to my Car without getting soaking wet feet.
And it was a steep descent. I am actually happy that I had to Hike my Route in reverse, or I might had given up right there and then.
As it was starting to get dark, I did not get any Pictures at the third Stempelstelle of today, numbered 20 in the System, but the view over Elend was still really nice.
Because it was getting dark, and because the Path was so steep, I actually had to put on my headlamp to be able to see what was on the Ground. I did not want to fall and hurt myself on the final stretch of today’s Hike.
I had a great Time on today’s Hike, even though I thought of taking a shortcut after the first descent. I still ended up taking one just after the Schnarcherklippen to avoid a last steep Climb.
And maybe next week, I can take the other Three Stamp Hike that I had originally planned for yesterday. Oh… Elend actually stands for Misery in German.
Robin Ho Fotos 