Drying up on Drachenkopf

During the outing to Drachensee I've been to recently, the original plan was to gather a small group with hikers from Nuremberg and explore the lakes on a chill social hike. That time the trip fell through so Stanislav joined my by himself. The original participants reached out to him again to organize another trip there, and he reluctantly agreed.

Stanislav warned me that the hike will start very late due to transport issues. I didn't see the point in repeating the same route trail-for-trail, so I looked in the area to expand my route. Surprisingly, most of the via ferrata routes had alternatives that required no equipment, so I chose Drachenkopf (2303 m) as the easies peak. Then, I could meet the other hikers on the way down and descend together with them.

The first section of the hike was the same as last time, with me running across Hoher Gang. I did the whole section in around an hour, way faster than before, and without resting at the nice picnic area. This time I recorded the via ferrata section, but even back then I already knew blurring all the faces would take ages.

Once I got to the valley near Seebensee, I started feeling quite tired. Knowing I still have a lot of time left, I got a stupid idea to visit multiple summits on this hike, so I rushed further. Soon after, passing the first lake and reaching the slope towards the next, I got my first cramp. I stopped in time and avoided the biggest harm from it, but where one comes, others follow.

The route to Drachensee wasn't that big of a deal. It takes longer than you'd assume, but the route is nice and easy, and there's tons of people around at any time of the day. The lake itself looked nice as usual, but I had no time to rest, and I didn't rest for long.

It took me a bit to figure out where to go from the hut towards Drachenkopf (2303 m), but eventually I found the right trail and set sail. The start of this section is a nice dusty trail uphill onto the valley between Drachenkopf (2303 m) and Sonnenspitze (2416 m). I've met a group of young fellas hiking up and was tagging behind them, trying to take it easy because of the cramp. They had a really weird pace, running up and taking long breaks, so I just overtook them and kept going, slow and steady.

Around half-way up the valley I looked back and saw the last glimpse of Seebensee, with numerous hiking groups passing by it. It was a nice vista, especially with Schneefernerkopf (2874 m) and Zugspitze (2962 m) in the background. Soon after, they disappeared behind the rocky slopes and neighboring peaks, and I started the real ascent.

I also got a good look at Vorderer Tajakopf (2450 m) and Hinterer Tajakopf (2407 m), hoping to visit one of them after my current goal. The rest of the mountains in the area, like Schartenkopf (2332 m) or Hinterer Drachenkopf (2410 m) all require rock climbing, preferably with a partner and a rope, so they were a no-go for me.

When I reached the bottom of Drachenkopf (2303 m), I was mortified. I was told by Stanislav a while back that the route to the top is a T4 hike, but I wasn't expecting to see an actual cliff without any safety cables, especially in such a popular spot. The other guys hiking up with me decided to turn back and not pursue the summit. I, on the other hand, looked closely and saw a lot of people at the top, all without any safety equipment. This reassured me and I went on climbing.

The first section was quite easy, with a visible trail leading up. I went through it quite fast, knowing I'll be able to do the same on the way down. I also saw a bunch of flowers growing in cracks between the rocks, making for a nicely decorated trail to follow. Then, the sections got steeper, the rocks got more loose. Even the better-kept sections with an actual road were steep and covered in tiny rocks, making everyone slip on the way down. I knew I'd take a long time to go down from there. Together with my cramp issues, I made a decision to skip other peaks for this day and focus on one and only Drachenkopf (2303 m).

The climb lasted around 30 minutes, and eventually I saw the cross and the hikers taking photos there. Despite the sun blazing from above, it was cool and windy enough there to enjoy our stay. I stayed in the queue to take a photo with the cross for a bit, texted some people (the summit was the only place with internet connectivity in the area), and started going down.

The people hanging around on the top decided to descend roughly at the same time, so I took my time taking photos of the surroundings. Once I started descending, my worries came to life. The route down was taking a long time, I kept taking wrongs paths down, climbing back up, slipping on wobbly rocks.

A few people passed by, a few were struggling like me, but eventually we all arrived at the bottom. There, I met a fresh group of hikers trying to go up. An older guy climbing down behind me tried giving them advice, but the youngsters were visibly scared of the climb, so both of us advised them to turn back. Some of them did, the others continued to the top.

Meanwhile, I kept going down and very soon after got my second cramp. I sat down and started applying pressure to my leg, looking at others slowly catching up with me. Eventually I felt good enough to continue, and started walking down the trail back to the hut. On the way there, I met a group of mixed russian-Ukrainian hikers from "Horod" (garden in English). The Ukrainian-speaking people told me they knew Stanislav, but haven't seen him since the train station, so I said my goodbyes and kept going down.

I reached the hut at 14:00 and checked my phone. I estimated the rest of the group should reach it by 15:00, so I got a non-alcoholic drink and enjoyed the view. After I was done, I started going down at a slow pace.

When I was about to reach Seebensee, on one of the numerous winding trails between the lakes, I came face to face with Stanislav. After a quick greeting, he asked me to go back up to Drachensee with them for some group photos, so I did, squeezing the last drops of power from my body.

We got there, took our photos and started heading down immediately after, as the last bus from the route was at 17:45. Coming down later was not an option, since the others needed to catch a connection all the way to Nürnberg. As we were practically running down, I was told that there was a mother with her 12-year-old son waiting for us at Seebensee. They took the same Hoher Gang via ferrata route that I did and were too tired to run to the upper lake and back.

Once we reached the lake, though, they were missing. We had no cellular connectivity and were tired ourselves, so everyone started worrying. I suggested walking around the area and looking for them myself, while others would walk down. As we departed, we caught some internet and called them. Turns out, they were worried about missing the bus and headed down themselves without any map or equipment.

I ran forward in front of our group to find them and direct them. At that point, it was already quite late, and we had to take the Immensteig via ferrata to make it in time for the last bus. Although I didn't know them personally, I followed the description others gave me and found them. After a small greeting, I suggested to them that we should start heading down, as they walked a bit slower than others.

When we reached the Immensteig via ferrata, we got another surprise. This time, by the quality of the route. The cable was barely fixed or too long in places, some of the poles were not cemented into the rock and would fall out when we grabbed onto the attached rope. Some steep sections were not secured at all, while others were blocked by fallen trees that nobody cleaned up. The woman was angry and upset the whole time, worried about her son and getting more and more exhausted as time went on. Still, both of them reached the bottom of the cliff, just as the rest of the group.

At this point we still had plenty of time before the bus, so we just took our time, came down, washed up, bought some drinks (my water ran out all the way back at Drachensee), and traveled home.

All in all, it's an amazing hike, despite some rough sections on the via ferratas and near the peaks. I would highly recommend it to everyone in the area, but make sure to reserve plenty of time for the route, as it can be very unpredictable.

P.S. I was eating Moser Roth 90% dark chocolate (not sponsored) while writing this post and I can highly recommend it.