MarSteCas.nl - Border markers

The border between Germany and Austria has a unique feature near the town of Jungholz, a lovely destination for a peaceful holiday. Jungholz is an Austrian enclave and is completely surrounded by Germany. What makes this particularly special is that the enclave border meets the rest of the border between Germany and Austria at one point. Such a bi-national quadripoint exists only in one other place in the world: enclave H2 in Baarle.

The location of this quadripoint is marked with border marker 110, in accordance with the numbering of the German-Austrian "main border".
It is not a stone or post, but a painting on the rock. The marker is located on top of the Sorgschrofen, where a Gipfelkreuz is also located.
I am visiting this place at August 26, 2025. It's a steep climb, but a beautiful place.

110

From here on, the border of Jungholz is also marked with border stones; these number from 1 (I) to 36 (XXXVI) The first marker you encounter after the Sorgschrofen is another rock painting, this time numbered I. This is located near the Zinken, a second Gipfelkreuz, which can be reached from the Sorgschrofen via quite a difficult (but fun) path.
Closer to the Gipfelkreuz is marker I/1, a stone plate on the rock face.

I/1

I climb all the way back via the Sorgschrofen. So I am arriving back at the western border with a large detour.
I don't know exactly where the stones are, so I follow the border uphill again, by chance, until, to my surprise, I come across another rock painting: marker II.

Now a series of intermediate stones begins, starting with number 1. Number 3 is reversed, weirdly enough.

II/1

II/2

II/3

II/4

II/5

II/6

After II/6 comes stone III, where a wooden cross rests against that number, making it impossible to read.

III

Now a long series of small stones follows. There is an old border wall made of stone as well here.
The markers are usually on the Austrian side of the border fence and wall, but sometimes on the "German" side too.
This series extends all the way to number 38 and is almost entirely downhill.

III/1 + 2

III/3

III/4

III/5

III/6

III/7

III/8

III/9

III/10

III/11 + 12

III/13

III/14 + 15

III/16

III/17

III/18

III/19

III/20

III/21 + 22

III/23

III/24

III/25

III/26

III/27

III/28

III/29

The landscape changes, we leave the forest and enter the edge of a meadow for a while

III/30 + 31

III/32

III/33

III/34

III/35

III/36

III/37

III/38

There we find stone IV, at a beautiful section of the old border wall. Just behind it is another intermediate stone, IV/1, but I don't follow the border any further after that, so I don't know how many more there are.

IV/1

I visited stone V the evening before, on August 25, 2025. It was quite a climb to get there from the village, and the stone was easier to spot from the other side than to reach.

Back on August 26, 2025, where I find two "Weiser für..." stones for the first time at boundary stone VI; these stones both point to the border point, which is located here in the Zimmerholz-Bach.

VI (north)

VI (south)

I expected stone VII to be at the spot where the aforementioned stream flows into the Wertach. That's not a very accesable spot, but it's a lovely place to sit for a while, even though I can't find a boundary stone. At the next road, I did find an unnumbered stone, which also appears to be a pointer. This could very well be border point VII.

VII

On August 25, 2025, I tried to find stone VIII, but I couldn't. I could find stone IX, on the Austrian side of the Mühlbach.
This is actually the place where I entered Jungholz for the first time, I walked here from Wertach.

VIII

Stone X is a bit further on, on the German side of the Mühlbach, which you can easily cross here. There's also an intermediate stone with number 1, which I didn't recognize at the time. Based on the placement this has to be a marker IX/1 actually.

IX/1

We pick up the border again late in the afternoon of August 26, 2025. This time, I'd walked towards the northern border, but where the path crosses the border, I couldn't find a stone.
When I followed the border eastward, I came across an intermediate stone. This turned out to be stone XIV/8. A little further on, there are also stones 9 and 10.
Some heavy forestry vehicles have driven through this piece of forest and stone 9 has been hit, unfortunately.

XIV/8

XIV/9

XIV/10

I arrive at stone XV. After this, the boundary crosses a stream, and so do I.
There's no path here. I continue from intermediate stone to intermediate stone, now only three. I might have missed a fourth one.

XV/1

XV/2

XV/3

Border stone XVI follows, and then another seven intermediate stones.

XVI

XVI/1

XVI/2

XVI/3

XVI/4

XVI/5

XVI/6

XVI/7

After stone XVII, I definitely miss a few intermediate stones, and you can see why. The vegetation here is lush. Still, I find five of the eight stones. It's still uphill, but there's a path again now.

XVII

XVII/2

XVII/5

XVII/6

XVII/7

XVII/8

After stone XVIII, the path emerges into a meadow. We're almost at the top of the Pfeifferberg.
Around the summit cross, I miss two intermediate stones. The KT stone at the cross is not an intermediate stone.

XVIII

XVIII/1

XVIII/2

XVIII/3

XVIII/4

XVIII/5

Gipfelkreuz

XVIII/8

XVIII/9

Now stone XIX follows, and we leave the alpine meadow again. From here, the path goes downhill again.

XIX

I follow the boundary until intermediate stone 12, but I do miss a few stones. It's getting quite late, and returning to the hotel for dinner is becoming a priority.

XIX/2

XIX/3

XIX/4

XIX/6

XIX/7

XIX/8

XIX/10

XIX/11

XIX/12

But a little further on, I do come across stones XIX/34, a surprisingly new 35A, and 36. Whether there's also an XIX/35 (and if so, where) is unclear to me.

XIX/34

XIX/35A

XIX/36

On the way to the hotel, I can't resist; I do walk past stone XXVII, at a noticable corner.

XXVII

The next morning, August 27, 2025, I leave Jungholz on foot, heading east. I cross the border again at a pair of "Weiser" stones; the numbers XXIX both point to the middle of the stream that forms the border here.

XXIX

A little further on is the "Weiser für XXX." However, I can't find its counterpart.
This is the place where I leave Jungholz again, I am walking to the German train station in Pfronten-Steinach

XXX

However, I did follow the last part of the border on August 26, 2025 already.
You will automaticaly pass this section while climbing to the quadripoint.
Stone XXXV is deep below me, I could get there with a detour, but wasn't interested in this for the time being.

XXXV

XXXV/1

XXXV/2

XXXV/3

XXXV/4

XXXV/5

XXXV/6

The last marker before the tripoint is XXXVI and the additional marker XXXVI/1 that I had missed at first.

XXXVI

XXXVI/1

In Augustus 2009 we photographed some border markers in the Alps, close to the Zugspitze.
Finding border markers was not my hobby yet back then.
I'm not sure about the numbers of the last two stones.

AT-DE 295/10

AT-DE 296/9

AT-DE 296/11

Finally the border ends at a tripoint with Czechia. I visited this mountain already in 2013.

AT-CZ-DE