Go northwards past the parish church in Ruhpolding and continue towards the South West slightly uphill to Hinterreit. From there, keep following the roadway which comes to an end in Egg. The hiking trail that starts here leads westwards uphill onto the foothills of the Strohnschneid. After crossing the Strohnschneid, walk on northwards below the Poschinger Wand peaks until the trail opens out from the Farnbödenalm meadow. Head westwards then on to the Fellnalm meadow and over the eastern slope in steep hairpin bends to the summit of the Hochfelln, where a little chapel is situated. Somewhat below the summit stands the Hochfellnhaus refuge (it is essential to reserve for overnight accommodation) and the mountain station of the cable car (approx. 3h 15min). From the summit, the trail first leads westwards and then down over the southern ridge. Circumvent a very steep stretch of the ridge to the East, after which Via Alpina follows the path over the Thoraukopf (1,461m) to the track that comes up from the Thoraualm meadow. Keep to the right here and head towards the North (signpost for Eschlmoos), following the path downhill through the wood. After crossing the stream and the Weißgraben several times, you will reach a road through a meadow. Follow it downhill westwards until the turnoff of the hiking trail with the signposting for "Hochgern", and follow this trail to the Hinteralm meadow. Continue uphill to the South, keeping to the right at a fork in the road (left: turnoff to Ruhpolding) to reach the Bischofsfellnalmen meadows. Keep heading westwards here along the track until a path to the right winds its way up to the Hochgern (approx. 3h). From the summit of the Hochgern, a track that must not be missed leads to the Hochgernhaus refuge. From the Hochgernhaus, continue downhill along a roadway until the Agersgschendalm meadow. Finally, a forest road will take you to Marquartstein.
(Michael Kleider, Christina Schwann, OeAV)

As Bavarian King Maximilian II. wanted to see the mountains, he set out on a five-week journey in 1858 from Lindau at Lake Constance to Berchtesgaden. On his travels, he both climbed peaks such as the Grünten, the Wendelstein and the Riesenberg and visited villages, castles and other sights. The Maximiliansweg trail, established in 1991, allows mountain hikers to reconstruct the trail taken by the king and his retinue and mainly follows the E4 European Long Distance Hiking Trail. Via Alpina uses these two long distance hiking trails for two of its stages, allowing hikers to cross the most popular sightseeing mountains in the Chiemgau Alps, the Hochfelln and the Hochgern. Both peaks open out onto a marvellous view over the alpine chain (the Hagengebirge and Tennengebirge mountains, the Dachstein, Tauern, Zillertal Alps, and the Watzmann), the Bavarian plateau and the Inn district; on particularly clear days, you can even catch sight of the Böhmerwald wood. The Hochfellnhaus (1,664m), which lies directly below the Hochfelln summit, is the highest situated lodge in the Chiemgau mountains and stays open all year round, although it does not offer overnight accommodation. The miniature chapels standing on many of the peaks, such as the Hochgern, the Geigelstein or the Spitzstein, are a special feature of this part of the Alps. The Chiemgau Alps, situated between Saalach and Inn and bordered in the South by the Kaisergebirge mountains and the Berchtesgaden Alps, are full of meadows and woodland with some rocky outcrops. The “dark and beautiful woody mountains” (Helmuth Zebhauser) is said by botanists to be a flower paradise. The relief here is heavily influenced by the last Ice Age. The soft Flysch mountains were planed down by glaciers into hills, the Sonntagshorn (above whose peak the national border runs) standing at 1,961 metres is the highest elevation in the Chiemgau area and a much climbed mountain. Other products of the glaciers are the glacial cirques, moraine ridges (that can still be traced today as hill ranges over the terrain), with lakes and moors in the prealpine area. At the end of the Ice Age, the melted water from the glaciers filled the hollowed out troughs behind the terminal moraines – mighty boulders that had pushed and dammed up the glaciers before them – thus giving rise to e.g. the “Bavarian sea” – the Chiemsee lake. It has lost vast areas in the South due to silting – once it reached as far as Marquartstein.
(Michael Kleider)