August has truly felt like summer! With an abundance of sunshine and few rainfall, it was a brilliant month to enjoy the outdoors. Notably, I made the decision to cut back on my social media time, instead immersing myself in reading books. I do not regret this choice at all! I particularly cherish diving into fantasy novels and exploring different worlds through literature.

Activities

Despite this newfound focus, we kept ourselves busy this month. One might assume we were on vacation, but we simply utilized our weekends very well:

• We embarked on a delightful bike and hike into the Karwendel mountains. Although we didn’t capture epic photos, I finally walked a trail I had long wanted to explore. We faced quite a bit of rain on the way back, but thanks to our great equipment, it turned out to be a good hike nonetheless.
• I also dedicated time to a longer photography session at a nearby waterfall. Spending several hours there allowed me to learn a lot. While I’m still uncertain about the quality of the photos, the learning experience was undoubtedly valuable.
• Another highlight was a mountain biking tour to the local Seekarkreuz. This route remains one of my favorites; coupled with the ~100m elevation walk at the end, it provided a rewarding summit experience.
• An adventurous day awaited us when we joined a colleague and his family on the first part of their trans-alp hike, traveling from Innsbruck to Schönberg. It was a sunny and hot day, yet very enjoyable. I even gave my hiking umbrella to his wife for sun protection for the rest of their tour. I purchased myself a replacement the following day and was glad that I was able to help.
• On a bank holiday, I finally decided to bike and hike to the Vorderskopf, another summit in the Karwendel. However, this turned out to be a difficult hike for me due to the heat, insufficient water, and having to reroute multiple times. – okay. To be honest, it probably was one of my worst mountain experiences ever.
• One Friday after work, we explored a nearby trail with only 200m of elevation. Having walked it several years ago, I wanted to scout it with the intention of returning on my mountain bike. The trail looks promising, and I’m curious to see how it will play out.
• August brought several blistering hot weekends. One weekend, we enjoyed a pleasant cycling loop along a shaded river for a couple of hours, followed by a relaxing Sunday in the sun.
• Unfortunately, my wife has been struggling a bit with her back. So we opted for a smaller local walk without much elevation gain, which proved to be the right decision. During this outing, we stumbled upon a new photography spot that I definitely want to revisit; a blog post about it may come in the future as well.
• On the last Sunday of the month, I had intended to undertake a larger bike and hike, also to test a new backpack. However, I had to cancel after two hours on the bike as I felt really really unwell. Instead, we enjoyed a wonderful walk around the nearby Osterseen, during which I discovered more potential photo spots!

Photography

August clearly leaned more towards activities than photography. The hikes we completed did not yield epic photos, and the footage from the waterfall photo tour is still awaiting processing. I see this experience as more about the learning process than the final outcome.

I organized a giveaway for one of my prints, which had simply been sitting in my cupboard waiting to be replaced. It found a new admirer, and I’m hopeful it will find a good spot on someone’s wall.

The remainder of the month involved extensive post-processing of photos captured during our Schwarzwald vacation … which leads us to the next section:

Blogs

Speaking of the Schwarzwald, I’ve successfully completed and published the final posts from our Blackforest vacation and also the according gallery page! However, I must admit writing the blogs turned a bit burdensome towards the end. Perhaps I should reconsider my approach, writing less and posting more photos instead? It’s something I’m currently pondering. Moving forward, I plan to be more cautious about launching a blog series during our next vacation.

I’m also keen to share more about the adventures mentioned above. However, I must remind myself to manage time wisely… Let’s see what the coming weeks bring. Stay tuned!