2015-01 Off to the Harz
After wanderlust had been gnawing at me for the last few months, I thought about how I could put a bit of a leash on the whole thing.
More precisely, I let the saying “Just out the
front door, set off and experience adventure” run through my head. Why
should I not simply do it once?
The idea is good: knock off work a bit early on Friday
and walk as far towards the Harz as I can get, because there are
sights as far as the eye can see. Maybe back to the
Oker reservoir, or somewhere else entirely? Doesn't really matter, the main thing is
heading home again on Sunday afternoon, probably by bus or
train.
As my only preparation, I looked at the expected
temperature profile for the Lower Harz. At night it was supposed to get down to -3°C,
which is actually still too warm for my winter bag, but better too
warm than too cold. After all, I don't have to zip up the sleeping bag
completely.
On Thursday I went shopping: dried fruit, instant noodles and Ahoi fizzy powder. With that I wanted to have a sugary drink available
on the way. In the shop I must have looked for the stuff for a good 15 minutes. Some
intern had put it with the sweets, so I could search the
spirits aisle until I was blue in the face.
And so the trip began on Friday just after three. A quick drink, a nice wave goodbye to home, and soon I disappeared into the woods.
In the woods I immediately reached the first sight, the “Koppel”,
where we always used to sledge as kids.
The most important thing when sledging was stopping in time
or at least jumping off the sledge, because a barbed-wire fence was waiting down below.
Past the Koppel I continued on paths that were sometimes wider and sometimes narrower. A wonderful late-autumn atmosphere presented itself, and that at this time of year.
In the woods a shelter smiled at me. Now, who might have built that? Probably a few kids for playing. But this shelter seemed to have seen better days.
Be that as it may, the gorges around the ridge of the Lichtenberge had me under their spell.
Since my shoes consist of more mesh fabric than
solid or even waterproof material, my feet got wet now and then,
but never cold. And the wet socks would dry again within a few
hundred metres of walking. Who needs Gore-Tex with good circulation?
In the sleeping bag I have a second pair of clean and dry socks for the night, so this pair of socks can happily stay wet before going to bed.
Apparently it got colder the further I went towards the Harz. The puddles were partly more frozen than wet.
Every now and then I had to take a tarmac forest road for a few hundred metres, which was a real skating rink.
During the night there was black ice from freezing rain, and every tarmac surface was like a mirror.
Not only had the shelter seen better days, this “landscape protection area” sign by the roadside was anything but intact...
Just a few metres further on I could refill my water supply right away.
The first detour off the route led to a small, idyllic lake that I wanted to check out to see whether the spot could be used for bivouacking at some point.
On the other side I heard two anglers chatting, otherwise absolute silence. The spot will definitely be visited again later
!
After a good 20 kilometres I had already reached the end of the Salzgitter ridge and was able to capture a night shot. Far in the distance the first foothills of the Harz were already visible. I wouldn't make it there that day, because finding a camp had priority first.
Not even four km later I found a nice spot. Unfortunately right in the middle of a nature reserve.
– Grml, so a little further after all.
But only one more kilometre, because there I found no more nature reserve sign and besides, this stretch was used for forestry - two good indicators.
The camp spot was quickly found and setting up was done in a flash, but next time I'll have to do something differently again.
Small bivy - evil tongues even call it cling film: thick sleeping pad, Loftmonster sleeping bag and I just barely fit somehow.
Next time the sleeping pad goes under the cling film! It can't be,
that this 850g of down has soooo much loft, I'm delighted.
After I got into the Loftmonster in my boxers and quickly became toasty warm,
I loosened the draft collar and opened the zip at the footbox.
The thermometer says -4°C - you'd have to be warm then.
Before long I was sleeping soundly. At least until shortly after three, when I got cold and woke up.
What was going on there? Could it be because the zip wasn't just slightly open at the feet
but my feet had slipped out and were only protected from the icy wind by the bivy.
Since I was awake anyway, I might as well take care of business before crawling back into the Loftmonster. Of course not without closing all the zips and the draft collar a bit. Now I could finally get my well-earned 11 to 12 hours of sleep.
The next morning I got to find out two things:
1. The Loftmonster insulates so well that the hoarfrost on the cling film doesn't melt.
2. That it had become a bit colder than expected at -7°C. The Loftmonster had apparently passed the test.
Also nice how quickly you can raise the temperature by 2°C,
when you just pick up your watch to take a photo (and how many
attempts you need until the stupid phone focuses on the right thing).
Now I left a forest section again and headed across field paths to the next one.
The sky cleared up and I began to distrust the weather forecast
that said “2 p.m. – snow”.
And again the mountains of the Harz were already visible, you just had to
reach them.
Too bad climbing is banned everywhere here. On the other hand, with this easily yielding material, it might be the better option.
In between I had breakfast: noodles from Maggi, already seasoned with a friend's Tabasco. Very tasty, but apparently I'm two people, at least if I take the serving size on the packaging as my criterion.
On we went, straight along the path towards Goslar,
at least if I disregard the 1000 detours. Who can resist
such a view.
Here I realised that I was only a stone's throw from my best friend's parents' house. So I knew right away who I'd be paying a visit to.
After this short break I continued. This sign immediately made me think of the vandal who runs around barefoot, seasoning things with pepper spray.
In the forests before Goslar I found a beautiful wood carving, see for yourselves.
Then just through a water channel in front of which it said: “Enter at your own risk” - who can say no to that.
Three km later I was already in Goslar. Unfortunately the weather report had been
partially right. From 3 p.m. it started snowing, and the view of the mountains just a
stone's throw away was shrouded in fog.
Whatever, quickly on to Astfeld! It was about time I got from that uncomfortable rocky ground back onto comfortably walkable forest floor. A glance at the satnav told me the Grane reservoir was nearby. I'd just have to walk across Astfeld. The snow and the onsetting darkness denied me any more pictures. So I quickly set up my tarp, put the sleeping pad
on the ground and drifted off to the land of dreams.
Again I could only manage a short 10 or 11 hour nap. Lying out in nature like that,
when the snowflakes quietly settle on the tarp and now and then a few chunks come down from the branches,
is somehow calming.
In the morning, after a coffee boost, I went to Goslar station. From there I took the train home.
That was a good 50km of hiking within two days and I'm a bit knackered!
So now it's a quick bath and then I'll hit the books for my exam tomorrow.
Greetings from the foolhardy, er, the slightly worn-out kImpi
By the way, the packing list for this tour is here
Comments
