Murgsee circular tour or hiking with Instagrammers

“What a strange group,” some hikers may have thought at the sight of our group. Slightly wrinkled noses, we stand around at the Merlen parking lot on Sunday morning. “Unfortunately, it’s not photo weather today,” the 20 or so participants agree. «No photo weather?!». The sun is shining from the sky. Far and wide not a cloud to be seen. “Exactly”. When a group of Instagrammers meet for a photo hike, the participants secretly wish for mystical cloud images and mist-shrouded mountain flanks. Steel-blue autumn skies, there is unanimity, is boring. The invitation to this autumnal hiking excursion was Heidiland, which experimented with Instameets early on compared to many other Swiss destinations that have only recently jumped on the Instagram bandwagon. Last Sunday’s hike was also a bit of an experiment. Are people also enthusiastic about a longer circular hike with quite a few meters of altitude? Yes, let them. Although the Murgsee round trip is definitely not an easypeasy Sunday walk, far more people were interested in participating than the group size of 20 people allowed.

We also signed up for the hike. As luck would have it, we had reserved a free time slot for a season-ending hike for this weekend and the Murgsee round trip had been on the bucket list for a long time. So why not join a group of equally passionate outdoor photographers for once.

The glaring autumn light and the boring blue sky were also a thorn in our side. But we are used to taking the weather as it comes. For the blog posts, showing the variety of landscapes is still in front of the perfect light for the first-class shot.

And so we marched off with a firm step in Merlen and followed the Murgbach uphill. Chatting forward, the time until the first highlight flew by. Hiking guide @meyewi led us unerringly along a narrow path to the shore of the Lower Murgsee, which is located in the middle of a protected pine forest. After another 200 meters of climbing, we reached the plateau at the Murgsee hut, where we treated ourselves to a lunch break. Afterwards, another 200 meters of altitude had to be mastered in order to be rewarded from the Murgseefurggel with a panoramic view of the Murgsee and the fairytale Mürtschental with the striking Mürtschenstock. From here we went relatively quickly downhill, so that the time budget of 7 hours including photo stops is not exceeded badly and we find our way back to the parking lot without headlamps. Keeping up with time management with 20 Instagrammers buzzing around is not an easy thing to do. All the more astonishing that we reached our starting point shortly before dark, only 20 minutes “late”.

And what was this #Instahike like?

My conclusion is mixed. Scenically without a doubt, a fantastic hike that leads through the geologically interesting tectonic arena Sardona. And whether we had been in a group of 20 people or alone would not have mattered on this day anyway. Apparently, everyone flocked outside again this Sunday to fill the vitamin D store for the winter. There is no other way to explain the many people on the road. It’s also nice to finally meet people you’ve been following on Instagram for a long time in “reallive” and to be able to exchange ideas on outdoor topics. Among other things, there was @diamondliz, whom I have been following for ages and who can probably be found in the mountains even more often than me.

What I struggled with was the fact that everyone was photographing more or less the same subject. This doesn’t mean that the photos look exactly the same afterwards – especially the versatility of the resulting images was an exciting phenomenon of Instameets – but I still feel slowed down in my inspiration. I always think to myself “this has already been photographed three times from this perspective, so I don’t have to take it as well”. That’s why I can’t understand at all that some participants are waiting right behind you to take the exact same shot afterwards. Or even more caustic: ask yourself while you’re taking pictures if you could get out of the way. Doesn’t that have to do with respect for waiting in such a situation until the person who was there first has his picture in the box?

If we now generously overlook the unfavorable autumn light (no one can help it), umpteen times the same pictures (that was to be expected), inspiration blockade (my problem) and lack of respect (youthful ignorance), then all in all this it was a great hiking day with nice people who all share our passion. You can see the pictures of the other participants under this hashtag #InstAutumnHike.

Practical information and tips for the Murgsee round trip

The route can be found on the map below. The circular hike, which starts at the car park in Merlen, is around 14.5 kilometres long and includes an ascent of 900 metres in altitude and a descent of 900 metres in altitude. The pure runtime is around 5.5 to 6 hours. The starting point can be reached by car (parking fee 10 CHF) or by shared taxi (Taxi Walser, advance booking required) from Murg. I recommend hiking the hike in a counterclockwise direction and tackling the ascent via Mürtschental. It takes a little longer to reach the Murg lakes, but you have mastered all the altitude meters at the lakes.