The next day we had a later start than normal as it was pretty foggy when we woke up. We took our time eating breakfast and drinking our tea and then eventually headed out to Grainau for the Höllentalklamm hike. This was yet another trail that I didn't have on my list to do, that I didn't find anything about when searching best hikes in the area, but the campsite we were staying out gave us a brochure for things to do in the area with photos from this gorge and it looked nice. Plus it was forecast to rain the entire time we were in this area and people said hiking in the gorges is a good plan on rainy days as you will get wet anyway. I did have the gorge trail on my trail app, but it was listed as difficult and went up to a Hütte which I thought was way above where the gorge was and would be a steep uphill climb. I figured we would see what we could see then decide if we wanted to hike up to the Hütte or not. When we got to the parking lot there were a few clouds to start...But it was actually a really gorgeous day!
Like I said I thought the gorge was down lower, but it was a pretty good climb to get up to the entrance. 500m/1,640 ft elevation gain in 3km/just under 2 miles. Not bad, but most of the height gain is in .5km/.3 miles
Taking a quick break to eat some food and drink some water and get our raincoats on before entering the gorge
The water was so pretty! And so loud! Like we couldn't really talk to each other because the water was so loud
There were a lot of small tunnels to walk through
With small holes to spy out
This gorge had lots of water you had to walk through! There was no way to stay dry without raingear
We had only put our raincoats on before walking through and...by the time we got to the other side our packs and pants and everything else was completely soaked. It was also super cold in the gorge and my hands were icecubes, but we had so much fun!! I really loved it. We took a break to take off our wet things and try and get a bit drier and take a look at the map. The Hütte was only 2km/just over a mile farther with only 200m/650ft elevation change so we said why not? We are here, it is not even lunchtime yet, let's hike up to the Hütte!
The hike to the top was not a bad climb and then suddenly you are in this valley that was unbelievably beautiful!!
I don't think these photos do it justice. It was so nice! And we weren't expecting it. This was our second favorite hike of the trip, but another hike only just barely won out over it.
Eating lunch and marveling at the giant mountains surrounding us
After lunch we decided to get a drink at the restaurant because again why not? We hiked the whole way up there and we had time. It was cold though so I had some hot tea.
Another little chapel
After our break it was time to head back down. Normally if there was another way to go we would have taken that, but the only trail signs were black, technical trails so it was back the way we came. Which was really fine by me as then we got to walk through the gorge again. Plus the views are just amazing!
When we got back to the top of the gorge we changed into all of our rain gear (coat and pants and put our pack covers on) before heading in. When we were hiking down we kept getting stopped by people going up who asked if we went to the Hütte and if it was worth it. I always said YES!! 1,000 times yes it is worth it! It is so beautiful! Plus you have done most of the work getting to this point you might as well finish the climb! It is not that much farther. Then they would ask if you have to come back the same way you go up and I said I think so as all the trail signs showed black trails the other ways...and then people just turned around and went back down! I was like no, it is totally worth it! It is beautiful! But I guess having to go up and back on the same beautiful trail was too much for them? It was odd. And they all missed out.
I thought it would take a bit longer to hike down through the gorge as the trail was very wet and mostly made of slippery rocks, but it wasn't that bad. Raymond and I both hit our heads in the caves, but other than that we had no issues.
It was such a beautiful day! Perfect weather, got to walk through a super fun gorge, got to eat lunch in an incredibly beautiful spot, it was amazing. As I said one of our favorite days of the whole trip and I would highly recommend it to anyone who likes hiking. Prior to going on the trip most of the things to do in this area said to go to this other gorge, Partnachklamm which we went to another day, but I didn't find anything talking about this one. After hiking Partnachklamm as well I got why so many people talked about that one. It is a super easy slight incline walk with paved paths through the whole gorge and anyone could do it. This was more of a hike just to get up to the entrance so that could put some people off. If you like hiking though this was amazing. Loved it. Can't recommend it enough. Fitbit recorded 20 km/12 miles.
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