First, the history of the Wallfahrt.
The yearly pilgrimage (Wallfahrt) on St. Bartholomew’s Day from
Maria Alm to St. Bartholomä began in the 16th Century. Even today
the hike remembers the pilgrims who died in 1688, when their boat
sank at the Königsee. The Wallfahrt begins at 4 am at the church of
Maria Alm in Austria, after a climb of 2 ½ hours the pilgrims reach
the south portion of the Steinerne Meer. At the Riemannhaus (7:30
am) there is a sunrise mass. The climb then continues to the
tallest point of the Steinerne Meer (over 2200 meters tall) and on
to the Kärlingerhaus, which marks the end of the Steinerne Meer.
The pilgrims then head down the path in small groups to the
Königsee. On the banks of the Königsee at about 4:00pm all the
hikers gather and dip their feet in the lake. Then they walk on to
St. Bartholomä, and then there is a mass at the church.
The cache
Before you start looking for this cache, you must decide what
you do. Go to Maria Alm, find the cache, and return to Maria Alm,
or walk the entire Wallfahrt, to the Königsee. If you choose this
one, you must start your journey early. There is another
cache at the Königsee, the King’s Lake cache! If you choose to walk
on, you must have a transport ready at the Königsee, otherwise
you’ll have to walk it back! You can also take a taxi or the bus,
but it’s very expensive (easily 50 euro or more).
The parking lot near the church of Maria Alm is located at N47°
24.393 E12° 54.248. You can hike or drive to the following
waypoint: N47° 26.320 E12° 54.363. From there, you must go to the
Riemannhaus (N47°
27.475 E12° 54.870), following route 425. The climb is very
steep, but is not too far (3.8 km). There you can eat some soup or
something. From the waypoint to the Riemannhaus took me 1h20m. From
the Riemannhaus, you go to the Steinerne Meer (Sea of
Stone). You must follow the trail, and eventually leave it in order
to find the cache. You can make the cache coordinates of the
following puzzle:
Outside the Riemannhaus is a sign, which says “RIEMANN-HAUS Erbaut
v.d. Section Ingolstadt im Jahre …” On the dots here, is a year in
which the Riemannhaus was built.
Is the year “1684”, then the cache coordinates are N47° 28.623 E12°
55.082.
Is the year “1898”, then the cache coordinates are N47° 29.978 E12°
54.823.
Is the year “1896”, then the cache coordinates are N47° 30.012 E12°
56.247.
Is the year “1901”, then the cache coordinates are N47° 27.989 E12°
55.656.
Is the year “1995”, then the cache coordinates are N47° 28.654 E12°
57.337.
Is the year “2177”, then the cache coordinates are N47° 28.994 E12°
56.715.
At the cache, satellite reception was very good!
If you choose to go on to the Königsee, you must
follow the trail to the Kärlingerhaus (N47° 29.725 E12° 56.231).
This is in Germany, so you've passed the border! And underway
you can spot some adorable little animals, Murmeltieren. They are
really cute! But please leave them alone.
From the Kärlingerhaus, you again follow the trail to St.
Bartolomä’s church (N47° 32.673 E12° 58.386). There you must take
the boat to Königsee (it’ll take you to the small village north of
the lake). Then, you must take your own transport.
The cache is white semi-transparent box with a blue cover in a
big black plastic bag.
Good luck on finding our cache and watch your step!