Reset search
Not All Who Wander Are LostNot All Who Wander Are Lost
SatelliteEdit route

Not All Who Wander Are Lost

January - March 2020
A 62-day adventure by Jeremy Read more
  • 36footprints
  • 4countries
  • 62days
  • 117photos
  • 0videos
  • 23.4kkilometers
  • 12.0kkilometers
Follow Calendar Share Bucket list
Date ascending
  • TravelerNot All Who Wander Are Lost
    Day 22

    AOK Bewhungsinsel am Olympiapark

    February 6, 2020 in Germany ⋅ ☀️ 4 °C

    The sun shines. For the first time in four days the sun shines!!!!

    I am so excited that when I finish school, I ride home, change clothes and start running. When I start, I don't know if I am going to Nymphenburg, to English Garten, to the Isar, or simply around Olympiapark, but after three days of rain and class and people I am tired of staying still. Perhaps staying still is harder than running around - whenever I sit for too long I get tired and hungry yet when I run or hike or move in the sunshine I get happy, more fit, and relaxed.

    So instead of deciding, I simply run. I like running near Olympia park. It has hills if you choose, flat if you choose, and a fitness-area, or a playground for fitness, or maybe it is called an adult playground. I can't tell. I don't care, because I run straight to it so I can play on the adult-sized monkey bars and slackline.

    I'm running because I signed up for a Sparta race in Mallorca on March 8. I'm running because I signed up to run 50k in Switzerland this summer. I'm running because I want to feel my body move. I'm running because I love how the sun shines to make a new beautiful day.

    I am growing to love the feeling of my body in motion. My body isn't entirely sure about it, yet I decide that I don't want to slow down today. I've been reading "Natural Born Heros" by Christopher McDougall, the same author as "Born to Run", and over and over he talks about how our bodies can do incredible things - how they were made to do incredible things - and how it doesn't require total absolute strength training, but joy and enthusiasm and a desire to move your body in natural ways. I run to the fitness-garden, grab the monkey bars and swing - from one, to the next, to the next, to the end, and turn around with my hands and go back. Monkey bars are hard for me, but I try reaching every-other bar. I try to cross a third time. I fail and land on the rubber mat.

    Instead of a pause, I get up and head to the slackline. This comes more naturally. I like agility and balance more than strength. I cross the line. I do it again. I do it a third time and fall. I do it a fourth time and fall. I don't care to stop moving, so I change to the back-stressor. I'm not sure what it's called in English, but it's a reverse situp, where you start laying forward and pull you back tight so your chest goes off the ground. I do this until I can't. Then I go to pull ups. I play without resting - or rather I let muscles rest when I use others. When I can't move my arms or my stomach anymore I run.

    I run in intervals, a jog for a time, then a sprint, then a jog. I run around Olympia-lake and when I get back to the playground I play again. Then run again. Then play again. and again, and again, and before you know it 2 hours have gone by and I'm filled with endorphins and kissed by the sun and thirsty for more, and for water.

    I've run about 20km, with pauses between for playing. It's taken me over two hours, which is about right. I'm running faster and faster these days, but still slower than others. I like when my week is filled with motion and sunlight on brisk clear winter days. These are good days but I cannot rest too long. I have to go to German-practice book-club after dinner!

    I'm especially excited today because tomorrow I go wandering with Franz and Ooli - I am skipping Friday class to join a hike in the beautiful weather. Just when I think my day will not get better, I read an email invite to another hike on Saturday for snow-shoeing with my next host; Garnot. I call Garnot and make plans with him while he quietly chats from his work office, planning non-work things.

    I am excited.    Read more

  • TravelerNot All Who Wander Are Lost
    Day 23

    Hockplatz nahe Staff-Alm

    February 7, 2020 in Germany ⋅ ☀️ 3 °C

    Franz is excellent at picking mountains.

    I love hiking with Franz. I learn so much without understanding so many words - where great hikes are, how to find them, the joy of a good view and how to nap in mountain nicks and crannies.

    Today's lesson includes a steep walk to an Staff-alm, where benches let visitors enjoy the sunshine. Ooli is recovering from a cold, so we pause to rest on the way, and I'm happy to share the pause after yesterday's run. We are heading to a peak, a nose near the top, yet to get there we need to go up, then down a gully, and up even higher and steeper. We pass an instrument of wood with a hammer, where you can play woodpecker and ring the wood out. Each species has a different tune. Ooli knows how to play a few tunes with them :)

    Franz guides us through a river gulley where the shade is so dark and the temperature so cold I have to put layers back on. I hate layers - when I am moving I am always so warm that I take most layers off, removing sweaters and jackets until I am at a shirt and pants only. This feels most natural to me, and I love it, yet I return the laters reluctantly in this cold shade, only to remove them 5 minutes later when we return to the sun. The peak of every mountain has less trees and more sun. If you're lucky, like today, there is no wind. The rocks and few trees that exist are warm to touch even while the snow stays ice-cold.

    Near the top, we pass two other climbers. They have settled for a closer peak, not so high, that is right in front of us, yet it is not the top and that is not our goal. Franz eggs us on while Ooli leads.

    The higher we get, the worse the slope is. we must use our hands, grasping the snow for balance as our feet slip, even though there is nothing in the snow to grasp except twigs and thin branches. At the very top, it is too steep for snow to hold. The rock is too warm for snow to stay, and we scramble to the very peak. It's not long before we hear the other climbers following our steps. By the time they reach us we're already lounging in cracks and crevices in the rocks absorbing sunshine and having tea.

    The rest is nice, yet even nicer is the return back and the stop-off at the Staff-Alm. We have beers in the sunshine, and I eat a pancake-sandwich filled with plum sauce and covered in powdered sugar. This is a Bavarian dessert, a treat, that no one can translate to me, and nor can I to you. It's not really pancakes. Perhaps a frenchtoast sandwich? yet no eggs the way French toast has. Either way, it's delicious and goes well with the beer.

    We continue down to the car, passing a launch for paragliding. I love the idea of flying in a parachute, and Ooli and Franz simply smile and encourage me to find a way to do it. On the way down, we pass a young man with a large backpack going up, and Ooli points at him and tells me he's a paraglider. You can tell by the huge backpack and no hiking gear.

    The way up was steep to start, which means the way down is also steep. I've been running so much now that going slowly down a hill is hard, and so I half-run, half hike down the hill ahead of everyone else. I'm in hiking boots on the mountain and it feels like running in clogs, or in ski-boots, compared to my normal barefoot running shoes. I am clumsy yet still I love moving quickly down the hill.

    Quickly that is, until I see a parachute above us! the Paraglider is soaring! I stop! it's wonderful and incredible to see a person floating through the air with nothing but silk holding them up. Ooli see's it too and shouts! Franz just smiles as I shout out that I see it too. The paraglider floats for what seems like forever as the paraglider kidnaps all my attention yet only a moment has passed and they are already hidden behind trees, floating down more and more.

    By the time I'm back to my senses, Ooli and Franz have caught up. We're on our way back to the parking lot, arriving just in time to see our paraglider packing up his car to drive off.

    We pack up ours too, and then we're also driving off, back to the city, where I eat and head out to an international-friends meetup to meet whomever I may meet.    Read more

  • TravelerNot All Who Wander Are Lost
    Day 24

    Setzberg und Wallberg

    February 8, 2020 in Germany ⋅ ☀️ 3 °C

    Sunny Saturdays are amazing. This one has another hike and new friends. Garnot I met on couch-surfing, a website for .. Couchsurfing. He likes hiking and the outdoors. So do I, so we match well.

    After his surprise invitation on Thursday night, I am excited to meet him. All I know about him is that he's got a good sense of humour and he checked my fitness level before officially inviting me for today, which I used to take as slightly rude, yet now I take as a sign of a good hiking guide.

    I arrive a the Hauptbahnhoff early, knowing there's an hour train ride ahead means I want a coffee to take with me. I love train rides for the fact that you can have a coffee and a nice chat before the hike - and rather than have a nap like last time, I choose a quick coffee stand and pay too much for a cup and head over to the meeting-spot.

    When I arrive, Garnot is unmistakable: tall and looking for someone. He's laughing as I arrive, shouting "I found him!" to a group of strangers who he just invited to come along, thinking one of them was me ;) He brings me round to meet Conny, who is joining us today. Both are full of smiles and trying to figure out how much German I speak - or don't. They're both full of questions as we board the train, and I am too. They joke and make fun of each other, themselves, and me as we ride to Tegernsee, and it feels a little like coming home. There's a way of making fun of yourself, and your friends, that emerges here and it reminds me of favourite moments of home with friends on our way to, from, or on an adventure. I smile.

    The train arrives late, and Garnot is checking his watch. The bus schedule is tight, yet it appears we will still reach the one we need - until we are actually at the bus stop and we realize the one we want doesn't run today!

    Luckily there are many paths to the mountains. We get on the bus that many others are getting on, and many people have snowshoes or cross-country skis with them. We must be getting on "a" right bus.

    Garnot tells Conny and I to sit and relax. He checks his phone looking for a plan B. Always in Germany is there a Plan A and a Plan B or more! Sometimes even a Plan Z. Garnot decides on the new plan, and by the time he tells us what it is, it's time to get off the bus and start walking.

    The sun is shining brightly today, and at our stop only two other people get off. They carry sleds, not snowshoes, and head out first and faster than us. After a few minutes we put on snowshoes, even tho the trail is clear and well-trod. Garnot teaches how to use an avalanche-machine. The LFZ searching device, in-case someone is covered in an avalanche. There's low risk today, but Garnot says it's better safe than sorry. After wandering with Franz in a straw hat and beers, I think this is a bit elaborate, yet I also have no idea where we're going.

    Turns out we're taking the steep trail up. It hasn't been trod on at all, and it's so steep walking is as if we are hiking stairs, stairs in 2 or 3 feet of snow. We pace ourselves well. I practice my German and my listening yet many words are lost on me, yet the times I do understand Conny and Garnot are smiling and laughing at my jokes. It's hard to tell a good joke when you talk like a 3 year old, but it works. Strangely, the few Bavarian words I know come out clear and are entirely unexpected - shocking the two northern Germans I'm hiking with.

    After a few lost paths and sunny pauses, we reach a saddle along a ridge. We hike the ridge to Setzberg where we lunch. As always it is beautiful, offering a view of Tegernsee that everyone envies. When we finally reach the top, my legs are ready for a rest. This is my third day of sport with packed lunches. I wonder if I'm eating enough when I do this much sport, yet as long as I'm moving I have little need for food.

    We hike more, to the ski lift and butte at Wallberg, where many people enjoy the sunshine after arriving without hiking. assisted with the help of the lift. We gaze at a police helicopter parked nearby, yet have important things to do here: get a refreshment and enjoy the view.

    After our pause at the butte, we head down, yet Garnot takes us to the steepest slope, and proceeds to run down as if skiing with his snowshoes. Conny is quick behind and I follow, laughing as I fall with style down a mountain. Garnot calls out to make sure I'm ok, to find out if I've done this before. I call back, shouting happily that I have no idea what I'm doing and that it's so much fun.

    There's much more to the day, yet right now I have to head out as I'm late for a coffee. More later!    Read more

  • TravelerNot All Who Wander Are Lost
    Day 25

    Sunday Brunch & Brandhorst Museum

    February 9, 2020 in Germany ⋅ ☀️ 4 °C

    Sunday I wake up and there's no hike.

    Well, there was one scheduled, but last night I decided it was a bad idea. 20ish kilometers running + two 15 km hiking days, all in a row, and I'm tired. I suppose I could go - but this is vacation and there are sooo many things to do with a Sunday.

    This Sunday, I head to brunch and German practice. It's my second time coming to brunch, where for $3 you can have all the food and coffee you want while talking German to other people learning German. No one here will speak English when they hear your terrible accent - we all have terrible accents. We self-select into small groups, sip coffee and share our story of coming to Munich. Many stories involve travel, software programming, and adventure. My story, at this time of year, always brings questions.

    Today the questions are less, and the jokes are more. I can speak better than I could two weeks ago yet I still have far to go. We play "Taboo" - a group game where you must encourage the group to guess your word, yet you cannot say it yourself. Because we all barely know German this becomes a very silly game that requires everyone to share what words mean - or to guess terribly at what it might be.

    Afterwards, a few of us head to a cafe for more coffee and chats. I head to the Brandhorst with Jean Paul, a new friend, in tow. We enjoy Andy Warhol at the Brandhorst Museum - the collection is the largest in Europe. The whole museum is dedicated to Pop Art - everything from the 60's to today. I'm left wondering what art is today and how anyone can possibly know what is good or not until I see a new piece that takes my breath away: a wall of pills in front of a mirror. From a distance I can see myself and not the pills, yet as I get close enough for the pills to take shape, my own shape disappears. It speaks to me of medicine and human nature. Are we becoming something to be regulated with many pills for many things? Are we the thing in the mirror distorted by our medicine? I have no idea but the question is fun to pose to Jean-Paul.

    JP learned German from YouTube. in 4 months of intense YouTubing, he reach B2. I'm A2 and I'm not nearly as intense - but it's incredible to see what a person can do with dedication and no classes. Here JP is practicing his German and leaving me in the dust.

    We head to dinner and find some Pho nearby. It's delicious, yet after days of hiking and trail-food I cannot eat enough and add a beer to complete my meal. Afterwards, we split ways to do errands - meeting up again for drinks on a Sunday night with Couch Surfers.

    We find drinks at Hotel Lux, a place better suited for a date than our misfit band of travellers. Either way, the drinks are good and the atmosphere is better. A great way to end a Sunday before another busy week.

    -Jeremy    Read more

  • TravelerNot All Who Wander Are Lost
    Day 29

    Ich schwänze fur Bergen

    February 13, 2020 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 5 °C

    Franz sends a text on Tuesday night - another hike with Ooli for Thursday morning! As always, I say yes. A good hike can only happen with good weather and school can happen during bad weather, so I decide to take another "Fridays for the Future" and improve my quality of life. Between Franz' text and our hike, I run Wednesday and again the morning of the hike.

    After my run, I meet Franz on the corner, and drive through traffic to meet Ooli. There's lots in Munich this morning. It's a bit unpredictable, I'm told. It takes longer to get through town and Franz makes up for it on the Autobahn, where there is no speed limit. We reach Ooli only 2 minutes later than expected.

    We head towards Tegernsee. Always to Tegernsee! There are so many mountains and beautiful hikes here. And Tegernsee ( and Bad Wiesse) always look adorable. Today the mountains are clear and beautiful even from the car. Driving through the towns always reminds me of fairy tales. I often wonder how many pictures good 'ol Walt took to make his American Disney cartoons so reminiscent of German villages.

    This time we drive past Tegernsee and into the mountains. The snow here is beautiful - it's still fresh on the trees. When we stop, the parking area, trees and trail are all covered in fresh snow. No one has been up the trail since the last snowfall and the blanket covering the mountain takes my breath away before we even start hiking. Ooli jokes that I need to take the lead. The young strong man should carve a path in the fresh snow. I agree and jump to it!

    Here at the base of Rosstein, the snow is already deep. There is no path and quickly the snow creeps deeper and deeper. I find steps by tripping on them as I walk up the hill. Soon the joke is that we're now hiking in our boots through snow deeper than when I had snow-shoes last week with Garnot - only it never ends! We hike and hike. We lose the path many times and I am constantly asking "Wechles weg? Richts? Links?" and always Franz is behind me point the way.

    Ooli comes behind, making sure we don't fall or lose our way. Maybe he's just taking it easy, but either way I push on. The snow is sometimes up to my knees, and several times I stumble and must crawl along. I get a few tips from the experts and try to stay where the snow is more shallow but somehow I always find just the right place to sink in. Luckily my steps show the others where to step (or not step) and we make it to the first hut at 1400 m - but it's closed! We've gone up 6 or 700m, and still have at least 400 more to go. After a short break we continue on. Walking for me is now is more like wading through water, trying to balance on wet spaghetti instead of my usual strong legs. When I stop thinking of it and take in the view all my exhaustion vanishes.

    We reach a false-peak on the way to the top, yet black storm clouds arrive before us. It's still 30 or 40 minutes to the top, and the clouds get darker as we stand looking at them. No one wants to be caught in 1 meter of snow with hours to hike down while it starts snowing - so we pause and head back to the closed hut. We can see the peak as if it's close enough to touch, yet today it will stay out of reach.

    The peak is one of two - Rosstein and Buchstein. Between them is a small saddle where Tegernsee hutte sits. It's also closed, yet I can only imagine the view. Just a few weeks ago we were on Fockenstein and this hutte was pointed out to me - and here we are with it in view! It's sad to turn back, but my stomach rumbles and my spaghetti-legs scream for rest. I regret my morning run.

    We find a nook behind the closed hutte we passed earlier. There's a sliver of sunshine and a pause in the wind where we can rest and snack. As we rest, the clouds begin to disappear and we debate turning back again to reach the peak. Time has moved on without us, unfortunately, and no one thinks there is enough time to go up and return before dark. Instead we pause a little longer and head down.

    There is a most beautiful bench in the sunshine on the way down. We pause again for water and to soak in the sun here, where there is no wind. It's so delightful that Franz and Ooli take the opportunity for a short afternoon nap. Today, I can't help but join in.

    We pass by other hikers - two women who are loud enough for a crowd. This is the new topic: hikers that refuse to enjoy the silence. It makes us laugh as we mourn how we did not reach the peak. When we reach the car, we all check our devices to see our distance. I am disappointed until Franz admits that leading the entire way through fresh snow is hard work, and that we would not have made it so far without me in the lead.

    It's a good compliment, reluctantly given, from Franz. Today I'll take it.    Read more

  • 2024© FindPenguins
  • Home
  • About us
  • Blog
  • Group Tracking
  • Press
  • Terms
  • Privacy Policy & Cookies
  • Support
  • Legal notice
  • English