Feeding your wanderlust

Story and photos by Bardia Khajenoori U.S. Army Garrison Stuttgart

The adopted English word “wanderlust” has come to represent a general desire to travel and explore. But in a time when traveling for pleasure is verboten, one can still satisfy that craving in a way that both complies with lockdown rules and runs closer to the term’s literal German language origin: enjoyment of hiking or wandering.

Roughly a third of Germany’s land is forest, and its people are the fifth most active in Europe, according to European Union statistics. Although renowned hiking destinations like the Black Forest and Swabian Alb lie close enough for a day trip from Stuttgart, the city and its surroundings offer numerous opportunities for residents to “take the air” without traveling too far from their front doors. This can make all the difference for resilience and well-being, especially under pandemic conditions.

Michele Stockdale and her husband arrived in Stuttgart last September, just over a month before Germany’s Nov. 2 introduction of partial lockdown measures. They began a two-week quarantine upon arrival, during which they could not even leave their hotel room. Since then, and through the introduction of a curfew and subsequent national lockdown measures, walks in the fresh air with their dogs have been both a welcome escape and a way to settle into their new community.

“The walking has been a lifesaver for us, and even though we can’t do much else right now, it’s allowed us to experience Germany,” said Stockdale. “It seems to me that a lot of people, when describing their country, describe nature. So for us to get out into nature kind of helps us feel the country, its culture and its heartbeat.”

Stockdale drew a parallel with the Japanese practice of “forest bathing,” an example of nature therapy. The term refers not to literal bathing, but rather taking in the natural atmosphere through one’s senses in a deliberate way.

“Being in nature can restore our mood, give us back our energy and vitality, [and] refresh and rejuvenate us,” wrote Dr. Qing Li, a scientist and expert on the topic, in a 2018 article for Time magazine. “Even a small amount of time in nature can have an impact on our health.”

To this end, Germans, in general, appear more environmentally aware and conscious of the health aspects of spending time outdoors, said Andy Osborn, Second Vice President and Trailmaster of the Stuttgart German- American Wandering Club 1972.

The club practices volksmarching, described by Osborn as “an organized social activity where the main event is walking; typically in the woods, but not necessarily.” A key part of that description is the word ‘social’, and coronavirus-related restrictions on gatherings have been a death knell for group outings. A calendar that would normally see a walk hosted almost every weekend has instead been stripped of nearly every event since March of last year, said Osborn.

“There are still ‘permanent’ walks in various areas which members can get credit for doing,” he added, but the restrictions have had a great impact on doing volksmarching as sport.

Osborn makes a conscious effort to walk at least 10,000 steps per day—city streets on weekdays for reasons of time, and local forests on weekends.

Even walkers whose routes are more exclusively urban can attest to the benefits of getting out and about.

Katie and Eric Carraway live in downtown Stuttgart without a car and regularly walk to destinations within the city center. While Eric works from home full time, Katie’s deeper dive into walking began at the start of the first lockdown last April as an attempt to plan how to get to work at Kelley Barracks if public transportation shut down. Although it never did, she was struck by the relative shortness of the distance and the pleasant, active start to the day brought upon by walking.

“The only reason I discovered it is because I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to get to work anymore,” she said.

Since then, the Carraways have employed a strategy of deliberate serendipity to diversify their routine.

“We’ve actually got a motto: ‘OSO,’ (pronounced oh-so) or ‘one street over,’ where we intentionally turn a different corner to get off our well-worn paths,” said Katie Carraway. “What’s been kind of nice in an unexpected way, with the lockdowns and not being able to travel, is that we’re getting to discover more of Stuttgart than we probably ever would have otherwise, even in the three to five years that we’ll be living here.”

The city has a “secret garden aspect to it with all the staircases,” she added, noting that climbing them serves as a good workout while gyms are closed to the public.

Stuttgart is, in fact, famous for its many urban stairways, or “Stäffele,” whose origins go back hundreds of years to a time of less urbanization and more extensive winegrowing. There are between 500 and 600 of them, depending on what is counted, according to the city’s tourist board. In addition, a corridor of about five miles of interconnected parks from the Schlossgarten to Killesberg, called “the green U” due to its approximate shape, provides an exceptionally long and contiguous urban green space.

The options are just as rich outside of Stuttgart, including the Schönbuch Nature Park south of Panzer Kaserne (which, alone, contains nearly 350 miles of trails) and Siebenmühlental, near Leinfelden-Echterdingen.

By way of encouragement for the hiking-uninitiated, and especially those who might feel hesitant to start outdoor activity in the middle of winter, Eric Carraway invokes a classic German proverb: “there’s no such thing as bad weather, just wrong clothing.”

Nor should beginners be too concerned about getting lost. Designated parking areas for hikers, or “Wanderparkplätze,” often have maps showing marked trails. Mobile apps can be useful, especially with GPS enabled during the journey. Each Stuttgart military installation has forests, trails, or other green space within walking distance.

“One thing I can say about Germany is that hiking trails [and green spaces] are more accessible; they seem to be near just about every neighborhood, so no matter where you are, you can access those green spaces,” said Stockdale.

Potential walkers should consider simply getting out there rather than agonizing over routes or timing. “Whether it’s 15 minutes or two hours, anything’s a plus in my book,” said Osborne.