Hike Report – ‘Murgseen Rundtour’ (SM 933)

Description

The ‘Murgseen Rundtour’ (‘Murg Lakes Circuit’) trail in southern St. Gall features an ancient roman stone road, a nature reserve with protected Swiss stone pines (pinus cembra), a beautifl mountain lake crested by mountains, and close up views of Sardona-esque Ruchen and Mürtschenstock peaks.

This mountain trail is a loop starting at a parking space reachable by either car, or special bus.

Impressions

This was the first real (mountain) hike in a long time for my wife Jenny and I, having only done some long walks in the past years. Though she was certainly very active in her (even) younger years and even did some horse-trekking in Russian winter, I had only done some light hikes as a child and teenager with family.

Well, I wish I had started hiking on my own (or with a partner) sooner, because I immediately fell in love with it. Though I’m certain the intense beauty of this particular route we chose as our debut hike had something to do with it as well.

We went in the opposite direction as the official recommendation, doing the Roman road and nature reserve first and the steep descent through the forest last. I’m not sure why, it just felt right. I’m not unhappy with the decision, but when the forest is as humid as it was when we went, you have to be cautious of the slippery wooden steps in some places. We survived.

Though this may have been an ambitious hike for two largely untrained people, and our feet were more than a bit tired at the end, we enjoyed ourselves immensely. Of course my old hiking boots that I hadn’t worn in years didn’t help the matter. I soon bought new ones for our future trips.

As for highlights, Oberer Murgsee (‘Upper Lake Murg’) certainly takes the crown (though my poor pictures do not reflect it well), but the Roman stone road was very interesting to ascend, and the nature reserve with its protected trees was beautiful, as was the view on the way home. We just enjoyed all of it. Bruised feet or no.

Absolutely recommended hike. Do visit 🙂

Stats & Info

Basic

Trail

Route Gallery

Note that these images were shot on my old HTC 10 phone, before I finally bought a “real” camera. Nonetheless, full size images without watermarks are available for licensing to interested parties. Check romans.pictures, or contact me for details.