Germany Day 18 - Heck Valley

There are some days where you just feel really fortunate. I've got my health, enough money to travel a bit, and a wife that will do things with me even though they terrify her (ask her about the time we wrestled anaconda in the Congo). Today is one of those days (the blessed thing, not the anacondas). We embarked on the most spectacular hike I've ever been on. When asked how she liked it Cris admitted that she was also present on the hike. Welcome to ... Hell Vallley:

The pictures don't do justice to the terrifying heights, powerful waterfalls, and awesome tunnel network. Back in the WW2 era the quite pleasant German army needed a lot of lead so they created tunnels along this gorge and mined like crazy. There were a bunch of pictures in a little museum of miners carrying wooded ladders and bridging across crazy caverns. Luckily, there's a bunch of volunteers that maintain the rickety bridges and slippery tunnels for danger-hungry folks like Cris.

I usually try to be nice and not give Cris a hard time about her fear of heights and this place was genuinely scary in places. However, there was one point where a girl (in pink in the below pic) was heading back hugging the wall and Cris was going the opposite direction also creeping along. They had to pass each other on this little walkway and I couldn't help but laugh. Pink girl's boyfriend was guiding her along while I watched and laughed as Cris shakily passed them on the scary side of the path.

There were a bunch of places where there was still snow over the river and at one point it made a really slippery bridge across.

It was a long, uphill hike but eventually we made it to the wide-open vistas where deer were frolicking. Like most hikes in Germany there was a beergarden on the top of the mountain which was packed with people. Seriously, every hike we went on there was at least one restaurant along the hike that was miles from the nearest road. Gotta stay hydrated on a hike with beer I guess.

The walk back was pretty easy but we were still exhausted by the time we got home.