Autumnal Hessen and Bayern

The colours of the German autumn somehow seem more striking in 2025. We explored using a combination of feet, bus, train and small car—while Toru took a rest following our recent journey into eastern Europe.

Coordinates

• Frankfurt am Main
• Rettershof
• Munich
• Kreuth
• Rottach-Egern
• Schliersee

Hessen

We revisited Frankfurt’s Naturmuseum Senckenberg, with a focus on evolution. Seeing Tupaia tana | the large tree shrew (📷1) reminded us of Scrat from Ice Age and of an essay The Cosmic Orphan by Loren Eiseley in Encyclopaedia Britannica 15th ed. Propædia:

You are a changeling. You are linked by a genetic chain to all the vertebrates. The thing that is you bears the still aching wounds of evolution in body and in brain. Your hands are made-over fins, your lungs come from a creature gasping in a swamp, your femur has been twisted upright. Your foot is a reworked climbing pad. You are a rag doll resewn from the skins of extinct animals. Long ago, 2,000,000 years perhaps, you were smaller, your brain was not large. We are not confident that you could speak. Seventy million years before that you were an even smaller climbing creature known as a tupaiid. You were the size of a rat. You ate insects. Now you fly to the Moon.

Mind-blowing! Speaking of brains, a new permanent exhibition considers the evolution of human—and other—brains (📷2); we both recall neuroanatomy as being the most difficult subject at uni. The museum is renowned for its bird collection, although this Procnias alba | white bellbird never existed quite like this; a taxidermist mistook “leftover” skin for a horn (📷3), but in reality a stretchable skin appendage (wattle) hung from the side of male beaks. Some species, of course, exist no longer—such as these moa from NZ (📷4), which had been hunted into extinction prior to Cook’s arrival in 1769.

When autumn in Frankfurt is in full swing, leaves are flushed with shades of red (📷1) and gold (📷2). It’s also the peak season for fungi. We spotted this Chondrostereum purpureum | silverleaf fungus in Ostpark (📷3); it’s a native pathogen, attacking most species of the rose family Rosaceae (including cherries and plums) and is often fatal. One type of fungus that’s eluded us for years is the stinkhorn. Acting on a week-old tip-off, we drove to look for a fence line beside a fishpond near Rettershof in the Taunus Hills (just outside Frankfurt). We found it, in an advanced state of decomposition! Incredibly, our AI species identifier was still able to identify it as Clathrus archeri | Devil’s fingers (📷4); indigenous to Australia and NZ, but introduced in Europe. We got the same ID from a photo of it in prime condition, as shared by the discoverer. The search continues for a fully-formed example!

There was a lot of activity in the Wood-Wide Web this autumn; during our ~7km/ 2.5h walk in the forest from Rettershof we encountered more variety and instances of fungi than on any walk we’ve undertaken. With the help of the “Seek” and “Flora Incognita” apps we identified many new to us, including these four. This Laccaria amethystina | amethyst deceiver was in the “deceptive” process of loosing its violet/ purple hue due to ageing/ weathering (📷1). Clavulina coralloides the white (or crested) coral fungus stands as a sad reminder that many of the ocean’s coral reefs are blanching as they die (📷2). The often solitary Macrolepiota procera | parasol mushroom can be found in temperate regions worldwide (📷3). Hypholoma fasciculare | the sulphur tuft, however, is apparently into group hugs (📷4); it’s also known as the clustered woodlover. All four are native species.

Bayern

We joined family for a break in Rottach-Egern at Tegernsee, nestled in the foothills of the northern Bavarian Alps. We woke to a light snow dusting on the hills around us and a glimmer of sun briefly lit the well-advanced autumn foliage (📷1). A walk to the adjacent village of Kreuth for lunch began in drizzle, but on the return leg, mostly blue skies compensated for a chill wind (📷2). A view upstream on the Weißach; the outcrop in the centre is the Leonhardstein at 1,452m, remnant of an ancient coral reef that formed some 200 million years ago (📷3). Looking downstream towards Riederstein, a felsdorn | rock spire upon which there sits a small chapel (Riedersteinkapelle) at 1,207m (📷4).

Light sleepers may struggle to ignore the cacophony of cow bells coming from the field adjacent to our guest house during the night:

As it was wet at Tegernsee, we caught a train into München | Munich, Bavaria’s capital. The twin domed towers of Frauenkirche | Cathedral of Our Dear Lady are a city emblem, seen here behind Marienplatz, the city’s best known public square (📷1); on the right is the Neues Rathaus | New Town Hall with integrated Glockenspiel. Weißwurst | white sausage is a local delicacy available on the open-air Viktualienmarkt | food market or in restaurants (📷2); it’s made from veal, pork, onions, parsley and other herbs boiled in pig intestine. Traditionally consumed with sweet mustard, a pretzel and beer, it is “properly” eaten before midday, in uneven numbers and without skin; you suck the meat out! A maypole on the Viktualienmarkt commemorates the city’s Reinheitsgebot | beer purity regulations of 1487 (📷3); beer should contain nothing other than barley, hops and water! We escaped the cold wind inside the Deutsches Museum, one of the world’s largest science and technology museums. Seen here are the half-glider, half-rocket Messerschmitt Me 163 B Komet and the Flugbombe Fieseler Fi 103 | Fieseler Fi 103 flying bomb, or V1 (📷4). S recalls high voltage lightning demonstrations in a large exhibition hall and even an accessible mine in the museum’s basement. Sadly, these seem to be closed at present. There are windows into the laboratories of eminent scientists. Many new “up-to-date” collections of music, mathematics, medicine, agriculture and communication are encouraging children of all ages to widen their horizons.

It was still a bit overcast as we began der Wasserfallweg | the waterfall path, gently climbing above the village of Kreuth (📷1). The path was wet and slippery from the previous day’s torrential rain (📷2), but on the plus side, the small trailside waterfalls flowed freely (📷3). We left this short loop walk to continue en route to Leonhardstein, gaining views across the valley as we ascended of the neighbouring peak of Buchstein at 1,701m (📷4); behind this is the Tegernseer Hütte and on the left flank is the spire of the Roßsteinnadel.

We didn’t make the Leonhardstein summit: slushy snow obscured the footholds and handholds (all limbs required) so we deemed the last few hundred metres too risky. There were nice views during our descent over the surrounding mountains and autumnal colours from beech and ash trees in the woods around Kreuth (📷1). Looking down to the village (📷2). A look back as we neared Kreuth; the snow on Leonhardstein was melting (📷3). Our hike was 9km/ 4h out-and-back from Kreuth, but we continued for another hour back to Rottach-Egern, admiring the sunlit forest as seen from the path beside the Weißach (📷4).

Our next hike was from Rottach-Egern to Riederstein. A steep ascent rewards with elevated views over the lakeside parts of Rottach-Egern (📷1). The 150m tall spur of the Riederstein provides a solid yet petite foundation at 1,207m for the white chapel that is readily seen from the town below (📷2). Riedersteinkapelle itself at ~5x2m has roughly the footprint of our camper van; the building evolved through wood into stone from c. 1841 to 1864 (📷3). From the chapel we enjoyed panoramic views over Tegernsee (the lake; the town is hidden) and into the Weißach Valley, with the distinctive peak of Leonhardstein recognisable above Kreuth (📷4). This leg was 2.8km/ 1h one way; we continued on towards Baumgartenschneid and Schliersee.

From Riederstein we continued climbing to a viewpoint at ~1,440m on Baumgartenschneid; here you can see the Riedersteinkapelle bottom right, with Bad Wiessee on the far shore of the Tegernsee (📷1). From here we also saw even deeper into the snow-clad Bavarian Alps (📷2). The hill was decorated with native Gentianella aspera | Rauer Kranzenzian, with a distinctive “hairy throat” (📷3). The descent from here was steep and muddy, until we intersected the dull but expedient gravel forestry road of the Prinzenweg, followed by tarmac into Schliersee (📷4&5). This leg was 10.4km/ 3h 20min one way to a bus station in Schliersee.

A full loop on „Rundweg um den Tegernsee” is 21km; much of the path runs beside busy road, but there are lakeside segments between Kaltenbrunn and the eastern shore to Rottach-Egern (there’s also a 33.6km „Panorama Wanderweg” further back from the lake). We took a bus to Kaltenbrunn and wandered clockwise, first into Gmund before reacquiring the lakeshore (📷1). Access to the water is fairly limited, but occasionally there are convenient public benches (📷2). The southern end of the lake is dominated by Wallberg at 1,722m (📷3); the peak is accessible by cable car and popular with paragliders. Schloss Tegernsee, formerly a Kloster | monastery, now incorporates the ever-popular restaurant and brewery „Herzogliches Bräustüberl Tegernsee” (📷4). This hike was 14km/ 4.5h one way Kaltenbrunn to Rottach-Egern, including lunch.

There’s a Biber | beaver dam in Kreuth, flooding a small area beside the Weißach between Bräunbichlweg and Wallbergstraße (📷1). Regarded as a rewilding agent by scientists, beavers engineer valuable habitats that enhance biodiversity, store carbon and help manage water resources. Certainly this duck, whom we briefly interviewed, seemed appreciative of the rare wetland environment (📷2), saying “You’d be quacking mad not to like it!”. But some locals feel otherwise: attempts have been made to trap and relocate these landscaping rodents, who are in conflict with landowners that disapprove of felled trees (📷3) and flooded pastures. On the hillside above the dam, human architectural designs are subject to different allowances. Begun as a vanity project by Duke Luitpold in 1912, Schloss Ringberg is now operated by Max-Planck-Gesellschaft | Max Planck Society as a “meeting place for science” (📷4). Can scientific reason and emotion find a way forward, for the health of the biosphere and all who share it? These approaches are stronger together:

Reason leads to conclusions, but it’s typically emotion that leads to action.

As part of a well-established tradition, winter follows autumn. Exploring with a van during winter is definitely possible, but it’s generally more pleasant under sunny skies in warmer temperatures. Where next, then, might we take the van? Indeed, need it even be the same van?

#2025 #bayern #germany #hessen #hiking #nature #rewilding #roadTrip #travel