Friday, 26-July-2024


This isn’t your simple boring trail. This was a PREMIUM trail.

Said so on the signs, on Alltrails, and online… so it must be true, right? Right!

What does a “premium” trail mean, you may ask? Well, dear reader, that’s a very astute question! I’m so glad you asked. You see… I have no idea.

Was fun, though.

Kika, visiting in from Poland, and I had come up with a plan – a day of hiking, then a day of hot springs. We perused the options for hikes, and found this absolutely lovely gem of a hike fairly close to Stuttgart – at least, easily accessible by train, which was the key. The adventure was a double-header, thanks to that – not only was it a hike-adventure into the woods, but it was also a train-adventure, giving me one more piece of exposure to this weird European thing called “safe and reliable public transportation”.

I’d gotten slightly used to major rail lines by this point, of course, but the local trains were a different beast – as was navigating them. Thankfully Kika was along for the ride to help me out, and we safely charted our way from Stuttgart, out into the wildlands of Bad Urach. It was a near-thing, with a very closely-caught train, but we made it none-the-less, and soon enough were setting boots to gravel and heading up the trail.

It was gorgeous. Good views, excellent walking, and a mystical quality that’s completely lacking from North American trails.

Not that trails in the States aren’t magical, but… this is different. The trails and views of the Pacific Northwest are the raw power of nature – Rock golems and mountain giants. The trails of Bad Urach were mystical, speaking of the fey, kobolds, and long-lost memories. I mean, just look at the staircase with a waterfall running down it, or the constructed pools and ruins of ancient huts. A castle, lying in rubble, up on a nearby hill. It’s a story of natured tamed, and nature resurgent.

In short – it was magical and lovely.