November turned out to be a weaker month for hiking, for reasons I mentioned in the monthly summary, and the weather wasn’t the best on both hikes, but I tried to bring back some pictures worth sharing.

The first hike of November seemed fine at first, with a bit of sunlight in an otherwise often gloomy month. And it was a hike a bit farther from home for this late in the year. The month tried here and there to show its charm.

Mostly through the still-colorful woods, but also through fungi.

That said, the day wasn’t too warm, and the passing cloudy made it a gloomy sight at times.

Here and there, we saw some edible boletes as well, which isn’t as common in November, and it is strongly advised not to consume them if the night temperature drops enough for them to freeze. Thus, I only took pictures but left them be.

When the sun shone, the yellowing larch trees were quite a sight I thoroughly enjoyed.

I took a slight detour to a ruined castle where several sections of the walls were still preserved.

After that, I returned to my original direction, where I could enjoy further colorful views of the nearby woods.

As I neared my destination, I caught up with my sister, who took a shorter trail (bypassing the ruins), but the clouds also caught up with us, and a light rain started, so we sought shelter in a restaurant when we reached the town. We were joined by our mother, who took an even shorter trail, and instead headed for the town cemetery where her grandfather (who died almost a decade before I was born) is buried.

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The second hike was two weeks later. Originally, the forecast was dire and threatening 15cm of fresh snow on Friday, but the snow ended up delayed, so all we saw was a sprinkle, with the main snowfall coming on Sunday.

Instead, the weather was damp and foggy, something that has been a common occurrence since then, more so in the lowlands. This made for a small set of gloomy photos on a calm trail where we saw few hikers outside of our group.

The snow- and frost-covered trees were something I admired for their harsh beauty, though it’s hard to take photos of them outside of clearings. And those, given the clouds, didn’t provide the lookouts I had hoped for.

The trail was otherwise easy, weaving gently, and we made brisk progress, aided by the lack of landscape to admire.

And this hike signalled the end of the 2025 hiking season, with only one club hike – the epilogue in early December – left, and uncertain plans for solo hikes in the rest of the year, given how unpredictable the weather can be.

But there’s still almost a month left, and I’ll hold off my judgment of the year’s hiking for when it’s truly over.