ALLGÄU ALPS OF GERMANY
VIA ALPINA DAY 32 – THURSDAY 23 JULY 2026
WEISSENBACH am LECH – PRINZ – LUITPOLD – HAUSE
DISTANCE HIKED: 25.25 km
ELEVATION GAIN: 1,610 m
TOTAL DISTANCE HIKED: 812.40 km
TOTAL ELEVATION GAIN: 41,160m
The hotel stay felt like total luxury, making it really hard to get motivated to get going this morning. We knew we had a big day ahead with most of the climbing at the end of the day. It was tempting to stay another day but the European Visa deadline looms large.
We left the hotel just as the churchbells tolled for 9am. We had a huge breakfast. There has been no hiker hunger pangs on this trail but I’m still surprised by how much we can eat when there is food in front of us.
It was a reasonably nice day, we were on a paved bike trail following the fast flowing Lech river upstream. It is reported to be the largest wild river in Europe. We had a pleasant couple of hours in Naturepak Tiroler Lech seeing the changing shape of the river valley.
From the paved cycle path along the Lech River, we turned west on a gently ascending forestry road. It was a nice hiking temperature with the sun at our back. It was quieter on this section of trail with only 2 mountain bike riders and a Mercedes station wagon passing us heading in the same direction. We had heard that this area was patrolled by rangers at all hours. So camping is strictly forbidden, as we were warned by several signs along the way. So it was not surprising when we were passed by two rangers in a jeep. First rangers we’ve seen since we’ve been on trail. However, while camping is prohibited it seems that hunting is OK, judging by the number of hides we’ve seen, and of course cows grazing is fine also as is timber logging. I don’t want to labour the point but the logic is not clear to me.
I was experiencing slowly building anxiety for what I expect to be a difficult ascent to the Prinz- Luitpold-Haus . Hammer was more pragmatic – ‘don’t worry, just wait till we get there’. Its not the climb that’s making me anxious but the route finding which I’ve heard could be problematic.
And just as I feared finding our way up the slope was not off to a good start. The dirt road ended abruptly and we were directed to steep grassy slope with occasional glimpses of footprints and a vague direction to follow. Of course the cows blocked anything that looked remotely like a trail. We stuck to the route we had mapped and slowly through a grassy slope made our way to a brand new trail sign pointing to the Prinz-Luitpold-Haus. It was pointing in the opposite direction to our mapped route. We followed the map rather then the signage and ended up on a great trail that from here was well marked and for the final very steep ascent had cemented rocks for stairs and wire cables for handholds on the steepest parts. The fact that the trail was so well marked after the cows grazing fields made me wonder if the farmer did not want a trail or any markings on their property.
Once we passed the summit of the climb at Bockkascharte at 2,162 m we were back in Germany. Apart from a large rock cairn there were no discernible border markings. The mountain bikers we had dinner with a few days ago explained that Austrians and the Bavarian Germans in these parts always got along with each other so didn’t drawn distinctions.
The hut was visible from the pass, it didn’t look that far away. We didn’t linger here for long as a freezing cold wind was blowing. I thought we’d get to the hut fairly quickly and didn’t want to stop to put on a jacket. I relented when I realised that the hut was further away then it looked.
The day ended in a geologists dreamscape. The mountains surrounding the hut have these incredible folded strata in just about every direction you look. It is such a contrast to what we’ve seen on our way here today. And we were also surprised to find the hut was almost full. The manager explained that the route we came from is not all that popular. Most hikers come from the German side. She managed to find us a bed in an 8 person room. Always nice to get horizontal and rest our feet.
