As you know I am in the area of the Bavarian Alps for some weeks exploring the surroundings with my dog Chapo. Today I take you on a circular route around the lake "Riegsee" - one of my favorite tours in this area.
The Riegsee measures about 18 m at its deepest point and has a size of 1.8 square kilometers (2.4 km long, 1 km wide). Like many lakes here, it is fed by several streams and springs. The lake and shore are protected landscape areas. This ensures that the Riegsee is preserved in its natural character and diversity.
I started the circular route at the village Riegsee, which is named after the lake and is located right next to it. The municipality of Riegsee is located between Munich and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, at an altitude of 650 - 700 m in the Upper Bavarian foothills of the Alps, one of the most beautiful areas in Bavaria.
The village is easy to reach by car or bus. There are signs along the path, so you can not miss it. In German the circular route is called "Riegsee Rundweg" and is about 9km long.
After about 15 minutes walking through the little town, you find yourself already on a path surrounded by flowering meadows.
The mountains are not right on the doorstep here, but just far enough away that on sunny days you have a wonderful view of the mountain range from the Benediktenwand in the east to Herzogstand and Heimgarten, the Estergebirge and Wettersteingebirge with the Zugspitze to the Ammergau mountains. And yet the mountains are so close that you can even reach them comfortably by bike.
After the first 2km of walking, you reach the first access to the lake. It is a small place with two benches to sit down. A perfect spot to take a break, drink something and take a swim in summer.
From there we followed a really nice path through the hills with a wonderful view towards the lake and the mountains. The weather changed all the time from cloudy to sunny. The clouds just looked amazing being that close.
Flora & Fauna
The Riegsee and its shore are under landscape protection. The northern bay, which you can see in the pictures above, with the adjacent reed area is a bird sanctuary. This area is not allowed to be entered by boat or food at any time. From the walking path, you can observe the bird life and hear them pretty loud.
Animal lovers will find that the area is home to a number of rare bird and waterfowl species, some of which are threatened with extinction, or stop off on their northbound and southbound migrations.
The surrounding meadows and pastures were created by grassland farming that has been practiced for centuries. These areas alternate with extensive forest and moor areas.
Following the path at some point, we reached the street and walked by it for a while, crossing two tunnels and a small village.
We followed the path for about 2 km until we reached the camping sight "Brugger" right next to the lake. It is the perfect spot to take another break. Here you even find a small kiosk and restaurant in case you didn't bring food and drinks with you.
Crossing the Camping sight, we followed another short way and then crossed two villages: Egling and Froschhausen. Those villages are quite small and cute. They are located right next to the lake so we still had a great view. The houses are mostly old and quite big. Here you find everything from farm yards to big villas and old small castles.
At Froschhausen you can see another lake just in front. The circular route leads you along the street between those two lakes. So we passed also Lake Froschhausen before we moved on walking along Lake Riegsee for the last 2 km.
The last part of the circular route is my favorite, as it is right at the water. Around every corner, there is a way into the water with a beautiful view of the lake and also some of the floating islands.
The floating islands are a unique phenomenon in the Bavarian Oberland.
The Riegsee is with an area of almost 190 ha and a depth of 15 m one of the most nutrient-rich lakes in Upper Bavaria. That´s why a wide siltation zone has developed. The silted-up areas consist mainly of cutting reeds and large sedge stocks. In many cases, birch and black alder trees have also settled.
This silted-up vegetation is the habitat of many rare plant species, but also the breeding ground and habitat of waterfowl and reed breeders (reed warblers, coots, great crested grebes, little grebes, little bitterns, and many more). The same applies to fish, which need such silting-up zones as spawning areas and habitats.
The fen and swamp complexes that accompany these shores often protrude far into the surface of the lake as "floating balconies". As a result of strong waves during storms and fluctuations in the water level, this more or less closed silting belt gradually dissolves. Small islands are formed, some of which grow together again in the course of further siltation activity and then break apart again.
It becomes critical, however, when larger vegetation complexes become completely detached and land anywhere as wandering islands. This has happened several times over the past 20 years. In September 2002, such a 100 m long piece of shore came loose on the north-west bank and drifted across the lake several times as a floating island, including its tree population, and finally ran aground on the north bank, where it was anchored with steel cables.
Entering the island is life-threatening because the subsoil is not consistently stable and people can fall into gaps in this swinging lawn complex and, in extreme cases, drown. So don´t touch - just watch ;)
After that last part of the path we finally entered the village Riegsee again.
As always it was a great walk. I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did :)
Cheers,
Liz