Eagle's Nest

Ahhhhh . . . finally a gorgeous weather weekend in June! Let's get hiking! Okay, I meant that lightly, Jeff took it WAY too literally. We decided to hike to Eagle's Nest, (Kehlstein, auf Deutsche) also known as Hitler's hideaway. It was a bit of an adventurous climb: 2500 feet in 3 miles, but Jeff carried Will and I schlepped the rest of our stuff up the mountain. (I'm trying to write objectively. Can you tell?) The first mile of the trail was extremely steep and on a paved road where we kept getting passed by buses carting tourists up the mountain to our hiking destination. Did these people possess some sort of knowledge that we did not? No! They just lacked any sort of adventurous spirit . . . or so I had to remind myself every switchback.

My boys at the start of our climb. Can you see that tiny little building directly above Jeff's head? You can't? Yep. It was that far away and that's where we were going.

Me not even halfway through the climb. 'Nuff said.

Lunch break! Getting closer . . . .

We made it!
Thank goodness for an impulse buy of hiking poles a few weeks back.
Here we are at the entrance to the tunnel to the brass elevator that would carry us up the final 450 feet to the top. It was only while waiting for the bus ride down the mountain (What? You thought we were going to HIKE back down?) that we discovered a trail where you could hike up this final part as well. Darn! Next time, Jeff!
This trippy tunnel leads you to a candelabra-lit rotunda (reminiscent of the Haunted Mansion elevator!) waiting room for the 100% brass elevator that travels diagonally through the mountain to the restaurant/beer garden up top. So amazing!

Thank you, Mother Nature. You always make any hike worthwhile.
Thank you, Germans. Your beer also makes any hike worthwhile.

Up on top and still climbing? Will the madness never stop????
Can you believe there is still snow? I could. We were THAT high up!

Eagle's Nest

Here's a description I found online. I think it summarizes everything you need to know quite nicely!
Hitler's "Eagle's Nest" was designed and built for Adolf Hilter's 50th Birthday by his personal secretary and Head of the Nazi Party Chancellery Martin Bormann. The monument is called "Kehlsteinhaus" in German because of it was originally intended to be a "Teahouse" for the head of the Third Reich. This mountain-top hideaway played a prominent role as the main unit objective in HBO's critically acclaimed mini-series "Band of Brothers." The allied bombing and battles of World War II left the building intact and today the Eagle's Nest remains in its original state.

Eagle's Nest is only open from May-October. Being there at the beginning of the season allowed us to see a lot of repair going on. It must get a lot of wear and tear from the snow in its off-season, especially with the amount of snow we had last winter!

The fireplace in the dining room

All in all, hiking to Eagle's Nest was a wonderfully exhausting and beautifully rewarding day. Jeff and I agreed that this is a place to take out of town visitors . . . . Don't worry, we'll take the bus both ways!