About a week ago, my brother-in-law Aaron and I decided to get out and stretch our legs on a nice hike. He ended up taking me to this place very close to where we live near a little town called Irrel. I was eager to discover some hiking trails since I love that kind of thing, and this place certainly blew me away! Known as Devil's Canyon, or Teufelsschlucht (don't ask me how to pronounce that), the area is abundant in porous, jagged sandstone. It's covered in green algae and riddled with streams and had at least one river that I saw. The area is also host to an abundance of mice and birds. Aspin, Aaron's dog, made vain attempts to hunt down some of the mice. All he ended up with was disappointment though, as the mice were too swift and they taunted the poor dog before darting beneath a thick layer of leaves and foliage.
To get a better idea of the place, I put together a quick (and albeit somewhat cheesy) video/slideshow of the hike. It was done using Microsoft Movie Maker so don't expect to be wowed by the quality :). Here it is:
Devil's Canyon Hike
This hike definitely reinforced the desire for me to want to keep learning Deutsch, as we passed a few groups who attempted to talk with us. One group of hikers (for lack of a better word) were just chilling out on a hill along the path while drinking beer and laughing rather loudly. As we passed by I could barely understand one of them. I think he was asking about Aspin and what kind of dog he was. Another person offered us beer from a bag he was toting. As tempted as I was I declined the offer and said hello, then carried on. Another thing that's weird to me is how nobody cares when or where someone drinks. Anywhere's fair game.
Another group we passed had a dog of their own and again were inquiring about Aspin, asking "Ist das Mรคdchen?" I knew enough to realize they were asking if he was a girl, but not enough to really carry on a practical conversation. Luckily they knew some English as well, but boy does it make me want to strive to learn as much of the language as I can.
After all was said and done we must have hiked for about 4 hours. The trip down the canyons of the hills was easy enough, and the river at the very bottom was the perfect cherry on top. However, getting back to our origin proved to be a more grueling effort. I definitely will be revisiting this place soon, and hopefully discovering more like it.
