Minimalist hiking

We were in Freiburg for two reasons: first, so I could give some writing workshops at the university, and second, so Elias could reconnect with friends. Elias had a swimming date set up for Tuesday afternoon, and my workshops began Wednesday morning, so we seized last Tuesday morning as an opportunity for what became our only long hike: 20km from our little Ferienwohnung, up to the windmills atop Roßkopf, through the woods, and down to St. Peter.

I became a minimalist shoe convert last year, after reading Born to Run, and even though I schlepped my hiking boots across the ocean with me, I thought, "the trails around here are so easy, so well-maintained, so flat, and so barely rocky: I shall prove that my feet prefer Stems to Stiefel."

Our apartment was about 50m from a trail head--one of the joys of staying in the Herdern neighborhood. Getting to the top of Roßkopf was mainly a matter of going up the hill and aiming in more-or-less the right direction, since for any hiking destination around here, there are usually ten different more-or-less parallel trails to choose from. Our choice shortly led us to this sign; can you believe we went left?

An hour or so later, we reached the top of Roßkopf and paused for lunch under one of the windmills.

Another few hours past scenic vistas and through the woods...

...and we arrived in St. Peter, where I had zero time to acquire any photographic proof because we had to run the last bit in order to catch the bus back to Freiburg for Elias's swimming date.

The result of the Stems experiment: ouch ouch ouch. Two days later, however, my feet had completely recovered, which suggests the first long hike of the year in Stems on well-kempt, soft, slightly rocky German trails is much like the first bicycle ride after a year of not riding: once the relevant tender parts are broken in, you're good for the long haul.