Dear Westweg Pt. 2,

Stage 7: Hausach - Brend 33km
Or something like that. I told myself I was done walking more than that day's stage, but I lied. I reached the end of stage 7 around 2:00pm and didn't feel like stopping. So I continued on. This stage started out straight up. When cycling I generally enjoy climbing and tend to think of it as something I'm decent at. New roads with new climbs would often get me a bit excited. Since travelling I've seen and walked on quite a few roads that made me wish I had a bike. The start of this trail was wide enough for cycling, but I didn't wish for a bike. In fact I wished I was somewhere else. The grade was at points outrageous. My nose was almost in the grass in front of me. And it continued like this continued for many kilometers. Eventually flattening out and weaving through the Schwarzwald dairy land. It was a nice change of scenery from the trees that had become the norm.

That night I'd make it to a hotel found in the back of the Westweg brochure gifted to me by the two friendly Israeli guys. The Goldener Rabe. If I could read German my brochure may have said something like "Warning: may contain vampires." It's a large old yellow building that looks friendly enough from the outside but was dark on the inside. I opened the front door and walked into an empty dining area with no lights on. A door to my left slid open and a woman with dark circles around both eyes came into the room. I'm not sure what century she's from but it pre-dates the USA as she looked confused when I said that I'm from the United States. She did however speak a bit of English and soon I was being taken through a dark stairwell down a dark hallway to my room. I opted to pay a few extra euros for the one with a toilet and shower attached so I could stay in the safety of my own room. The next morning I came down to the dining area for breakfast. Population: Me, an orange cat that licked my butter, an old black lab, and the vampire and her sister.

Stage 9: Brend - Titisee 30km
I set off at a good pace eager to put some distance between myself and the Goldener Rabe. While it was nice enough, I couldn't shake the gloomy feel. Once again I'd walk a little more than I had too. This stage was fairly uneventful aside from a lovely family that offered me sweets along the way. Some sort of cakes, whatever they were they were delicious. I'd make it to Titisee, after getting lost for a bit, and settle into a small guesthouse. The night before I didn't have much for dinner so this night I treated myself to a whole pizza. And it was so good. I'd go to sleep full and happy to know that I only had three more days of walking left.

Stage 10: Titisee - Wiedener Eck 35km
Titisee was about 5km from the real end of stage 10 so I had some catching up to do. But not until I bought some bread and cheese to help me through the day. 5km into the hike I met a feline friend who I stopped to talk with for a bit. He followed me a while before the trail met a road and the cars scared him off. Hope he is well out in the world. The halfway point of stage 10 is the top of Feldberg, highest point in the Black Forest, at 1495m. The hike up was much easier than expected and was a well populated area. I ran into a friendly group that asked me if I was Irish. I'm an American in disguise over here. They were however happy to hear that that is what I am. And one from North Carolina too, a state they had just been talking about. They let me know that they had met very friendly folks in the states and wished me the best of luck on my journey. After Feldberg I found a much appreciated resting spot. It was a large tree that had been cut down with places to lay down added on. I sat there for a while before continuing. Just before reaching Wieden I'd run into another man from Israel. We'd finish the stage together. He was hiking with his brother who got tired and took a bus ahead to the end. In Wieden we parted ways as I attempted to find another guesthouse. The first I found wasn't open but the owner let me take a short cut into town through his goat herd, even cutting off the electric fence for me. In town I'd find Haus Barbel where a friendly lady and I battled through the language barrier to get everything in order. After dinner in town I returned and after getting inside after believing myself locked out I hopped into bed to prepare myself for the second to last day.

Stage 11: Wiedener Eck - Kandern 33km
What a day. This stage also started out steep and hosted some of my favorite views of the whole Westweg. It was however also fairly uneventful. At Haus Barbel I drank my first cup of coffee in years and I credit that to helping the first half go quickly. Unfortunately though the last 10k would probably be the hardest of the Westweg as I hit the wall and had to hobble into Kandern. Quite literally hobble as my left leg decided we were no longer friends. In Kandern I stuffed myself full of kebab and pizza in one of Europe's wonderful kebab and pizza places. They seem to be widespread like fast food joints and very well priced. Afterwards I'd limp about in the rain searching for the cheapest place to stay that I could find. It was however the most expensive place (and least nice) I'd stay the whole hike at €45. In my room I'd find a pair of pants left behind with €70. Was it immoral for me to take the money? Probably. Do I feel bad about it? Honestly, not too much.

Stage 12: Kandern - Basel 26km
This stage was... well... extremely uneventful. Almost downright boring. Also it rainded hard the first 13km. My leg was also still very much not on good terms with the rest of me. In Basel the trail was not very well marked and often I wondered if I was still following it. Eventually, and not soon enough, I'd find myself in Basel outside a train station. There I was unsure if I had really completed the trail until seeing a small sign that let me know I was at the end. No grand finale, no applause. Inside the station I'd find my friend, Cedar, and his brother Thunder. I don't remember their names, only the English translation. We shared similar thoughts of being underwhelmed at the finish. Cedar believes only 6-7 stages were really worth doing and looking back on it maybe he's right. But here I am in Basel with the trail behind me. And glad to say it's something I've done.

Upon arrival I sat in the station and ate a lot of food. Eventually I'd make my way to the tram station and head for a campsite just outside town. Currently I'm sitting on a bench somewhere in the middle of town writing this. Soon I'll head back toward the campsite. On Sunday I've got a flight to Budapest to see my friend Camille and the city. While I'm excited to do so I'll first be enjoying my time here in Switzerland, or at least a part of it. Basel is lovely so I'm sure to post about it soon.

Goodbye Westweg! Goodbye Germany!

Sincerely,
Zeb

Dear Westweg Pt. 1,

What's the Westweg? You might not know so I'll give you a bit of a description. It's a 285km (177mi) trail that runs through the Black Forest here in Germany. It starts in Pforzheim and ends in Basel, Switzerland. Elevation change can be a bit drastic as it runs from the valley up onto the ridge and then back down. In the final stages you cross the highest peak in the region at 1410m. While not a well known trek internationally it is a local favorite and over 100 years old. And that in brief is what the Westweg is. But I'm not good at being brief so allow me to go into some detail. If I'm going to be honest, which I should and will be, the Westweg is an old man's trail. Most days so far have been a bit like what a long walk through the woods to your grandparent's house would be. It's friendly and charming with a bit of coziness on top. And I love it.

When Ennio first told me about it I knew it was something I'd like to do. But in line with my plan for this trip, which is to have no plan, I found myself winging it right from landing in Munich. About all I really knew was that the trail started in Pforzheim and that that's where I needed to be. So I hopped on a standing room only train to Munich central station and was soon standing at a big red automated ticket booth looking for Munich to Pforzheim. To my dismay the 23:50 train I had been in a hurry to catch cost €75. The 3:30 train was only €29. "Time is money", or something like that. At 23:50, as the train departed, I was sitting on a bench eating a cheese and tomato baguette watching it go. I found myself with 3.5 hours to kill. Most of this I spent eating but eventually I felt brave enough to peak outside the station. What I saw were many intoxicated individuals, a few police, and a lot I wasn't ready for. So I returned to the safety of the station and plopped down on a bench at platform 19 to wait on my ride. Around 2:30 it pulled in and soon after I hopped on. This train would take me from Munich to Stuttgart where I had 8 minutes to hop on the train to Pforzheim. That's how I found myself at the Pforzheim station, a bigger city than expected, wondering where exactly the Westweg was.

I now know that right from the station you can find and follow the Westweg's symbol, a red lozenge, to the start. Not knowing this at the time I instead decided to loiter about a bus stop and cause an elderly woman much anxiety. Eventually coming to the conclusion this was getting me nowhere I headed off and stumbled across a tourist information center. Here a helpful man looked at me and said "I'm no wanderer" when asked about the trail. Luckily the next man in line behind me stepped up and told me to head for Birkfeld. Which is then how I found myself at 7:20 in a sea of school children hopping on and off busses. After a short wait I managed to part the sea to board bus 717. After using my excellent detective skills, and a couple visits to the town map, I was finally off on the trail.

Stage 1: Pforzheim - Dobel 25km
What a joy it was to finally be in the trees. Iceland had next to none and our hikes in Norway didn't take us around many. What wonderful things trees are. Jazzed up on trees and excited to be on the trail I tried to not let my combined 4 hours of plane/train sleep slow me down. I promised myself some nice sleep somewhere. This part of the hike took me in and out of trees, outskirts of towns, and into Dobel. Along the way I would find apple trees for snacks and plenty of fountains for water. Often there were signs that potentially said something interesting, but in German. Some signs which were closer to Dobel I'm glad I could not read as they depicted witches, goblins and mean looking gnomes. One young kid, that must have read the signs, turned around immediately and ran to town at the sight of me. Once in town, after stopping at a market, I headed for the information center. Unfortunately it was closed but it was warm and had bathrooms and an electrical outlet. It's here I was sitting when an old man missing two front teeth shuffled in and slid into a seat. He began speaking to me in German but looked excited once he learned I spoke English. He to speaks a bit of English as he worked and lived in New York for two years. We talked for a while and I learned he collects currency so I gave him some from Norway, Iceland and the US. Pleased with my offering he offered to show me a bit of town. I had been thinking of walking on but I couldn't resist this opportunity. This is how Wolf and I became friends and I ended up staying in Dobel. After a visit to the market where Wolf bought a large quantity of beer for a 78 year old man we headed to his apartment. He showed me his wonderful collection of stamps, some as old as 1800s! I also got to see his currency collection which included many German bills predating both World Wars. One of these from 1914 he let me take as a souvenir. We'd eventually move on to a restadurant where I tried, and enjoyed, Flammkuchen. It's a bit like pizza. Before returning to my hotel room, which felt like a king's suite, I got Wolf's address. I've promised to send him a postcard from the end of the trail.

Stage 2: Dobel - Forbach 25km
I woke up early this day to head downstairs from my room and get breakfast. It wasn't the most exciting, bread cheese and jam, but it was free with the room. So I ate all I could and then headed out onto the trail. The walk to Forbach was very nice. Once again in and out of woods but this time with some elevation gain. My favorite part by far was towards the end as Forbach came into view. It is one of the most beautiful towns I've seen. The trail once again took me by some apple trees and eventually a small garden with benches. Sitting in that garden with the trees and flowers watching the town and hearing the church's bells will stay in my mind a long time. I arrived quite early though in town and had spent some money the previous day so passed by, after buying 3 Berliner donuts in a bakery. Exiting town my mind was set on camping in the wild to save money. This is of course not legal in Germany. However after going up and up and up I found a small hut which seemed somewhat inviting. It had a biblical feel with the crucified Jesus figure on the wall and a bible placed inside. It also had an upstairs which seemed fitting for sleeping in. So here I sat and waited until near dark before climbing up and placing a board with a log ontop over the entrance to prevent unwanted visitors. This night I woke up many times and each time I looked to see if my "door" was still in place. The rising sun was a welcome sight. Definitly after my realization that it had been a full moon that night.

Stage 3-4: Forbach - Alexanderschanze 45km
I woke up in my creepy hut ready to get a move on. Off I went. This time I felt more out in the wild than before. The feeling of isolation was a bit stronger. Either I really was out there or the previous night got to me. Either way I was still enjoying the scenery and my walk in the woods. Often it got steep as the trail went to Hornisgrinde, something like 600m above Forbach. It was around that point I began to notice more and more people. At first not an unwelcome sight until reaching Mummelsee on the other side of Hornisgrinde. At this point I had been hiking for quite some time and was quite tired. The mass of people at Mummelsee was overwhelming. I stumbled into a shop, bought a coke, and made it back outside to a bench. There I drank the coke and was revived. Fueled by soda and eager to leave people behind I pressed on. From here it was relatively flat and I made good time. Nearing the end of stage 4 I found a place to hide my tent and crawled in to sleep. Now I'm thankful to have completed those two stages that day. But, I don't have much desire to walk 26 miles while carrying a 30 pound backpack again. Not for a while anyway.

Stage 5: Alexanderschanze - Hark 17km
Stages 5 and 6 are shorter than must and usually the two stages that people combine to save time. I had it in my mind that I may combine these two also and get to Basel much eadlier. However upon encountering my first incline of the day I realized that may not happen. My feet were a bit unwilling to do much of an effort. It had also been a while since I had found a market so I was running a bit low on food. By the time I reached Hark I was thankful for a place to rest and eat. So here I fell into the lap of luxury in a guesthouse/dairy. I was the first to arrive and thought I'd be alone. Slowly though many Westweg wanderers began trickling in. My room was soon shared by a German and two guys from Israel. We all got along quite well and soon had made plans to go see about dinner together. And lucky for us we had a real German with us to translate the menu! On the way up we first had to pause and let the cows stroll by with their bells ringing as they headed into the barn. We joked that dinner was walking by, and in a way it was true. The cows produce some great milk for cheese. At dinner I learned a lot and had a great time chatting with three new friends. Some of my favorite things I learned about Israel are: They have great vegetables there, Israeli women are difficult (at least if you're an Israeli man), there's a mountain in Israel that gets a little snow each year, and when this mountain has snow people flock to it with shopping bags to use as sleds for their children. The visual I was given of the "snow", which is mostly mud, and kids being pushed by overzealous parents in the name of fun was hilarious. I'd love to see it one day. We all went to bed that night well fed and happy.

Stage 6: Hark - Hausach 20km
In the morning we parted ways as our Israeli friends were hiking Basel - Pforzheim. But not until after eating a wonderful breakfast with yogurt, milk and cereal. Burkhard and I would hike together until reaching Hausach. Along the way we saw of course lovely trees and the German smokey mountains. Mist rising up out of the trees gave it all a magical touch. The highlight of the stage however came from a small hut that we decided to see about resting at. As we approached I noticed the smell of breakfast and heard voices. Eventually we'd be greeted and asked to step inside. Thankfully I was with a German speaker or I may have missed this entirely. Inside this quaint little hut was a cozy atmosphere created by two grandparents and their granddaughter. They come up to the hut every weekend to spend time and greet wanderers. We were promptly offered cake, citron tea, and some liquour made of apples from the region. My German friend of course did most of the talking and I sat and enjoyed the environment, tea, and cake. Before leaving we signed the guestbook and got a picture in front of the hut. I've learned a lot about the kindness of people and this was another great example. When we reached Hausach Burkhard helped me locate a place to stay before heading to his own accomodation. I have his contact info but we'll likely see each other again on the trail. 5 days to go.

So here I am in Gasthaus zur Eiche, full from dinner and in a bed. No, I'm not exactly "roughing it" out here in Germany. I've done a bit of that and I'll probably do some more before the end. After all it saves money. But I will take advantage of these lovely guesthouses a few more times too. I get to meet more people, take a shower, and get breakfast in the morning. The Westweg can be pretty luxurious if you let it be. Onwards to Basel.

Sincerely,
Zeb

P.S. I know my last few posts have been huge, sorry about that. My access to internet has been a lot more infrequent and a lot happens!

Dear Aurlandsdalen,

You're what I imagined Norway would be like. And you've left a great last impression. Ever since watching "Troll Hunter" with Will Freshman year at App I've always thought of Norway and trolls together. And if they did happen to live here, Aurlandsdalen would be a good home.

Our adventure started first in Oslo. Anna and I got off the bus and had some time to kill until Cinthia arrived. We first occupied La Baguette until told that it was closing time. We would eventually return after employees left for their electrical outlets since Burger King's didn't work. Out in nature we never felt odd but being in the city we often felt a bit... homeless. It was also in the city that I noticed a larger number of folks in need of some sort of assistance. Whether by their own actions or misfortune they had fallen on hard times. It made me feel thankful to know I have family out there that will one day take me back in after my adventure comes to an end. And of course this same feeling came with a bit of sadness as I wished that these folks could also have that.

Cinthia would arrive via Flytoget train from the airport around 11pm and we were there waiting. Once again there was the odd feeling of seeing a familiar face in a strange place. Last time I saw her was in Boone and I certainly hadn't expected our next meeting to be in Norway. But here she was. We bought tickets and hopped on the train to Lier, a small town outside Oslo where we'd stay at Havard's house. Havard is a friendly man from AirBnB that rents out his living room, and camping gear, to folks like us. We arrived late but he was up washing some dishes waiting to greet us. Havard seemed hopeful about our planned journey and after some good rest, showers and laundry we were on our way.

After a quick grocery stop we walked, very quickly, to the train station making it 10 minutes before departure. We'd be going from Lier to Drammen to catch another train up to Finse. Finse is the highest stop on the Norwegian railway at 1,222 meters. The only way to reach the "town" is by train, bike or hike. It's home to the location of Hoth from Star Wars. We of course arrived by train and left by foot. That first day we didn't make it far as we showed up in Finse late. The 1.5 hours spent repairing the train did not help but did get us 50% off our tickets. After finding a nice spot between rocks we settled down. It was of course very windy, rainy and cold. That night would be the second night of snow here in Norway. Waking up to a frozen tent isn't the best. Once on the trail we found ourselves continuing up the mountain for quite some time. It was a barren landscape filled with rocks and old patches of icey snow. In a couple of areas the best way to travel was to plop down and slide your way across. Careful of course not to gain too much speed for the rocky landing. The only other person we'd see was a guy and his foxlike dog that nearly gave Cinthia a heart attack. Our half way point would be a DNT compound closed for the winter. Here they had the biggest rabbits I've ever seen. Hopping around and eating old loaves of bread. We spread our frozen tents out in the sun to let them dry while we snacked and rested. That afternoon we'd make it just under an hour short of the next hut and most importantly out of the snow. Our campsite for the night was up on a ledge looking out over a river falling down below. I believe this was the night we had tomato soup rice with taco seasoning, great meal.

Following some nice dry sleep we'd wake up to head as far as we could get towards Vassbygdi where the trail ends. We cruised on by another closed hut to head up alongside the valley's wall. It felt a bit like being a mountain goat. Clinging to the side of the valley along a narrow up and down rocky path all while the wind blew at our backs. We walked like this for close to 4 hours before reaching Østerbo. There we were able to sit inside in some warmth, use flushing toilets, and buy ice cream or coke. I opted for a Diplom-Is giant cone. A small plastic innuit figure waves these in your face outside of most gas stations and I had finally been taunted enough to buy one. Once our brief visit with luxury ended we tried to put as big of a dent as we could in the remaining 19km. To me this was by far the prettiest part of our hike. They call it a hike thru the valley but it seemed more like a gorge. And we were finally back to walking in the trees. Our path was up above the river but you could always hear and see it. The water was blue and you could view all the way to the bottom. At this elevation it was truly fall and the trees were a mix of yellow and orange. Ideal hiking weather for an ideal hike. Every now and then we were surprised to see little houses clinging to the side of the gorge with precarious bridges leading to them. I'd love to have met one of the folks living there. Maybe they'd have good troll stories. The campsite we found for the night was down below and on the opposite side of the river from one of these houses. The view was grand and I was able to put my tent between some small trees out of the wind. That night I couldn't help but laugh as I crawled into my sleeping bag with thoughts of how magical the whole place was.

After what was probably my best night of sleep in a while I got up and once again packed my home up. As we left the campsite we met a man with a rifle standing on the trail. Havard would later tell us moose hunting season had just begun. It made me think twice about my all green outfit but I guess the moose don't carry backpacks. The final 11km down to Vassbygdi might have been my favorite. It was such a pleasant walk and my eyes were always entertained. I was even able to take off my sweater as the temperature increased and we came across more green trees. This was the dessert at the end of a meal that you appreciated but found that you had to force yourself to eat some of. It had me feeling pretty good. But, soon we were off the trail and walking down a road by recently sheared sheep to the Vassbygdi service center. Here we plopped down in a picnic table and ate a well deserved lunch. The trail was no more and Aurland was still 6 miles away, part of that being a tunnel. As the bus was no longer running our options became a taxi or trying to hitchhike. A call to the taxi company to check prices and a brief conversation amongst ourselves we decided to go with the taxi. I'm so glad that we did. 300 NOK or around 45 USD seemed steep for 6 miles but we got so much more. Our taxi driver, Georg, is a viking. He's the chieftan of a viking village not far away that entertains tourists. He happily showed us a photo of how he looks when not driving and it was quite impressive. Coming up soon he'll be filming with Dreamworks for a "How to Train Your Dragon 2" promo for the Norwegian debut. He stopped the meter at 295 and drove us to the front door of the only pizza place in town. Our experience with him made me feel a lot better about the steep price.

We exited the taxi and wandered down to the dock where we sat for some time enjoying the magnificent view. We were right in the fjord. The town of Aurland was also a nice sight with the houses being all kinds of colors and an 800 year old church situated in the center. To kill time, the Doe's House wasn't opening until 7pm, we explored a bit of town and bought snacks at the local super market. The town also had it's own set of local hoodlums that enjoyed littering and shouting "Jesus!" at me. Something that often happened back in the US. People really aren't so different. That night we became a bit like trolls ourselves as we searched the hillsides for a place to call home. Here in Norway they have great "wild camping" laws that allow you to stay in a lot of interesting places. After stashing our bags we crept back down to devour a pizza before settling in for the night. It was tastey but didn't quite satisfy my troll-like appetite. Breakfast the next morning however was just what I needed. We woke up early to leave our camp and hang about town. The bus back towards Oslo wouldn't arrive until 11:55. Soon we'd find our way into the Aurland hotel where 75 NOK bought us access to the breakfast buffet. They only accepted cash and I was more than willing to run thru town in the rain to the ATM. Upon returning I ate until I was borderline sick. All the bread, cheese, eggs, cereal, yogurt and even hot waffles that I wanted. It was heaven. Too soon the bus was arriving and I was quickly eating my last waffle while walking out the door. I'd be full until we reached Havard's again later that night.

At Havard's we once again did laundry and showered, washing the wilderness off. This morning we were all refreshed and prepared to head back out into the world. Anna is off to her Reindeer/dog farm in Sweden, Cinthia back to Germany for her internship at Volkswagen. I'm also off to Germany but to hike 11 days thru the Black Forest. Currently I believe I'm the only one left in Norway. After leaving Havard's I went to Sandvika to replace my rain jacket that dissapeared at the Oslo train station. And after that I came here, to the airport. I'll miss Norway and my companions but I'm excited to be headed towards a new adventure. A huge thanks to Anna for doing the research that made what we did here possible and of course to Cinthia for adding to it. Hope the two of you have made it safely to your destinations! Looking forward to running into each other again some day. And as always, thanks to Norway, the country that made all this possible. Hope to see you again sometime too.

Sincerely,
Zeb