Tripreport 2 - Border crossing over the alps Germany/Austria

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Border crossing over the alps Germany/Austria - Kranzhorn

I remember being a kid growing up near the alps in south Germany closed to the border to Austria, my parents always "forced" me to go hiking with them in the mountains every few weeks. At that time I never really wanted to hike with them as it just didn't seem like fun and it was quite exhausting as well. The older I got the more I understood what it means being out in the nature.

Now, when ever I go back home to my hometown I'm super excited just looking on the mountains and always plan as many hikes I possible can do during the time I stay there. I learned to appreciate the vegetation of the plants and trees and also having the amazing fresh air what you get on the mountains a lot more in the past years, especially when u live in a city its the most refreshing thing you can do being in the nature.

So a couple of weeks back I went home to visit my parents and I planed to do a hike which starts on German ground and goes over the border to Austria when you get near the peak of the mountain. That's actually pretty cool crossing a border while hiking over a mountain.

The hike itself is not really hard as the peak is on 1320m and the walking ways are quite solid on the way up. In total I hiked for around 2 hours with some stops for taking pictures until I was on top.

Kranzhorn, West of the Chiemgauer Alps Germany/Austria

I started the day quite early and woke up around 07:00 AM to have some breakfast and enough energy to start my hike at 08:00 AM as the air was still a bit fresh at this time and the forecast already announced a very hot day with 34°C + so I tryed to avoid hiking in the strong midday sunshine.

Startpoint with the view on the Kranzhorn from Windshausen, an very small village where I grew up and spend the first 7 years of my life.

The hikng way was really smooth on the beginning, just stony roads which weren't to steep. The only houses what you see on the way up are farms which mostly take care cows on the grass fields of the mountain.

One of the Farms which had some area inside for the cows to stay in during the winter time.

You can find hundreds of different plants and herbs on the way up. My mother has a lot of books about the "Alp Herbs" at home and told me what you actually can do with them. It's crazy as you can use most of the herbs for heal a lot of different kinds of health issues. Its all growing up there and its for free to pick.. Really ridiculous thinking about our health system where people go for every small health issue to doctors and pharmacies to get chemical medicine which often makes your body weaker then it was before. We all should study our plants and herbs more and use them! U also can cook with them or make tea, plenty of possibilities.

The view already got better the higher I got and I decided to walk up aside from the actual track to make the hike a bit more interesting :)

I started walking just up the grass hills where I passed some cows, sheep's and also horses.

Around 20 minutes before I got to the peak I found a very small church on the side of the road and had a quick look inside.

After a really nice hike for about 2 hours I was on top of the mountain and the view was just incredible. The air and the silence were just priceless and the best way to calm down and just being super relaxed and full of joy.

After staying at the peak for about 30 minutes I walked back down for a few minutes to have some lunch and a cold homemade apple juice in the mountains restaurant which was pretty busy already and loads of hikers and bikers enjoyed some food there.

Now after all the years I really do understand my parents why its so important to stay in the nature as often as possible. Our life is getting more hectic and chaotic so we sometimes need to find some time to just relax and turn of our heads and living for the moment being out in the nature and enjoying life.

Thanks for reading :)

Best,
Chris