Snowshoe tour in the Harz Mountains 2016

Since the members of the hiking group have now doubled and they come from all over Germany, I always try to find destinations that are easily accessible for everyone. So it made sense that our next tour would go to the Harz mountains. Since we were a large group again, I quickly bought a house with 3 holiday apartments in Benneckenstein rented. When we arrived on Friday evening it didn't look like a snowshoe hike as everything was green, but I still had a hiking alternative ready in a pinch. However, on Saturday we were surprised by a white splendor that fell overnight, which was really great. So we quickly packed our things and off we went to Schierke. There we met with the Catherine Karen agreed, who should be our hiking guide for this day. She gave us a warm welcome and equipped us with the equipment. It looked kind of funny and none of us had ever been out on snowshoes before. You had to try a few steps before it really worked. Katharina had picked out a great route for us, where we trudged wildly through the forest and she was able to tell us a lot about flora and fauna and also the history. At noon we stopped at a ski hut to warm up with a typical Schierker flint. After that it slowly went back to normal Schierke and in the late afternoon we had a little drink in the hut before we said goodbye. It was a great day. In the evening I had booked a torchlight hike in Braunlage and then a table in the restaurant. Unfortunately, the torchlight hike was literally flooded, because it was pouring rain, but we made the best of it. After that we were definitely looking forward to a warm seat in the restaurant and a hot tea. However, some of the group did not want to go back to their accommodation after the meal, instead they went to the known one threshing floor to dance. We held out there for quite a long time, because it was a great and, above all, funny end of the day. When we got home we had a nightcap and then we went to bed. On Sunday there was an extensive breakfast and by the time everyone was fit again it was almost noon. Since the weather wasn't that great, we hiked for an hour in the remaining snow in Braunlage Ski bar “the toboggan house“. There we drank a hot chocolate and after we were back in town, we started our journey home. Despite the bad weather, it was a great weekend.