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The following has been transcribed directly from the journal that I kept while hiking in Europe.

Saturday, October 2nd, 2004
We wake up to a dry morning. We are extremely happy that it is not pouring rain like it was when we woke up yesterday.

We cook breakfast and pack up in a relative rush just so we can make it into Garmisch by noon . While we are eating, a logging truck stops next to our camp and we both look at each other like we are in trouble now. However, the drive comes over to us and is apparently lost…so lost that we can't even show him where he is on the map he has. Tim talks German to the man and gets him on track to where he needs to go. We finish packing, clean up the area and are off by 9:30am .

The hike is a pleasant downhill stroll to the highway below. We round a corner, the trees part and standing before us is the Zugzpitze – the tallest point in Germany at just over 10,000 feet. It was a crystal clear day and the snow capped mountain peek stands silently before us. We pause for some pictures and a few moments to enjoy the view.

We continue down and come across an older woman who is hiking up. She is in great shape and is full of conversation when she says, “Hey boys.” Awesome, an American! We talk to her about hiking in the area and based on her experience we ask her if it is ok to camp here. She says that although all the land belongs to farmers and herders, it is ok to camp as long as it is at the end of the hiking day. If you were to set up camp at noon and get drunk then perhaps someone would get mad but the way we were camping was totally acceptable according to her. I can't remember her name now, but she said if we ever needed any hiking information that we could ask about her on the American base in Garmisch and someone would guide us to her.

We continued to stroll down the hill and were deposited onto a paved trail next to the highway. We enjoyed our hike and very soon entered the city of Garmisch ! We stopped for a picture at the sign for the city limits then continued on into the gates of the American base – Artillery Casern and then to the PX. We dropped our bags outside the PX and went inside to get a Subway sandwich. I called Stef to tell her we made it then called Fred to see where he was at. Fred was driving down and was going to be our ride back to the car in Fussen. Our plan was to stay the night in Garmisch then drive back on Sunday.

While we waited for Fred, Tim and I looked at everything in the PX. They have a great assortment of outdoor clothing and gear. We kept busy for an hour until Fred arrived. We also saw Rob Howell and Derrick Young – two crew chiefs in C Company with me. They were camping in the campsite for the night.

Fred showed up at 1:30pm and offered us a ride to the hotel but Tim and I wanted to finish our hike all the way to the hotel before stopping. We got directions, plotted some coordinates in the GPS then off we went for another 2 mile hike. We walked through the town center. We passed a Festival that was going on so we got a heffeweisen beir (wheat beer) and walked with our glasses in hand. During fests, you get a beer in a glass. You pay a small (sometimes large) fee to use the glass and then when done you get a refund for it. However, if you don't bring the glass back, no refund but you get a cool glass! We wanted to keep our glasses so off we walked. We checked out a book store and found a few good maps of the area for our next planned hiking event.

We arrived at the hotel at 3pm and took a shower then headed out to the Edelweiss Lodge for dinner. There we saw Rob and Derrick and spent the rest of the night eating dinner, drinking beer and exchanging stories. It was a nice night.

Today's total: 8.7 miles or 14 kilometers
Trip total: 29.9 miles or 48.1 kilometers

Sunday, October 3rd, 2004
We wake up around 8:30am and leisurely make our way down to breakfast. We have made to order eggs, bacon, hot cocoa and an assortment of breads and jams. It is a very hearty breakfast.

After eating we pack our gear into Fred's car and drive back to Fussen and to the base of Schloss Neuschwanstein where we find my car just as we left it – except, the battery is dead. Luckily I have a spare battery in the trunk area that I carry with me. Actually end up using Fred's car to start mine and off we drive, through detours that keep us in Austria a bit longer than we needed, but we get home at a decent hour. I drop Tim off in Stuttgart by 4pm and arrive at my house by 5:15pm . I am greeted by my family and tell them about the trip. The weather is hot and sunny so I take all my wet gear and lay it out in the sun to dry it out before putting it away for the year.

Enjoyed the hike and had a great time finally getting on the trail with Tim again! Can't wait till we can plan some more trips together…of course, in the meantime I would like to get back in shape and to acquire some lighter gear to help in the process!

* Update:  Found out a week or so later that all the cool fortunes we had were placed there by Stefanie.  She secretly replaced all the fortunes with vulgar ones she found on the net.  Glad she did--it helped us get through the evil growling noises!

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