So... I have found myself living in a place where hiking in the Alps is nothing more than a few hours away by train. It's enough to make me believe in fairy godmothers! Also, the weather has been (apparently) unusually nice and sunny on the weekends. Hence, I undertook two hikes this weekend of totally different natures.
Saturday's Hike: Urnerboden to Linthal
On Saturday I got up early to take the three hour train ride to Linthal, where I caught a bus up to Urner Boden. My plan was to make
this hike on the Via Alpina, which is the next valley over from the hike that I did last week with Kris and Emily. The part of the trail that I was hiking on was super poorly marked, which is not normal for Swiss trails. (They even put signs out on frozen lakes in the winter for snowshoers and skiers!) I was continually lost, then stumbling across a trail, then lost again. But at least it was a beautiful place to be lost! One thing that I love about hiking in the Alps is all of the cowbells- it is actually sometimes hard to hear anything else besides the incessant clanging of the cowbells, since every cow wears one and is constantly moving. (See video below for an example.)
About halfway through the hike I met a similarly lost German woman; even though she had a map she still was just as lost (if not more so) than I was! She could speak English, so we joined forces and hiked around until we ran in to some local people who redirected us onto the path. This path was definitely the roughest that I have been on since arriving- it was fantastic! At one point we were climbing a hill that was as steep as a ladder- it felt almost like being on a climbing wall. We also had to shimmy along small the ledges of small waterfalls, holding on to conveniently placed cables for stability on the slippery rocks. (PS. By the way, I am now convinced that I need hiking boots, having already totally destroyed my tennis shoes only two weeks in to this trip.) I should probably mention that the woman I was hiking with was 71 and had 10 grandchildren! She was really incredible- although I had to slow down some to stay with her, I only hope that I'll be able to do these sorts of things when I am her age. It was nice to meet someone friendly to chat with, since I was basically on my own this past weekend. I ended up staying with her until the path ended at Braunwald, which isn't exactly where I was planning to go, but at least I got somewhere with a train station.
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| Linthal before catching the bus. |
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| I hiked down from the church at Urner Boden. |
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| Hiking along a river. |
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| I hiked up the hill- the river is in the valley below. |
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| I heart hiking! |
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| Hiking with the nice German lady. |
Sunday's Hike: Stafa to Rapperswil
On Sunday I opted for a hike a little closer to home- one hour by train instead of 3 or more- so that I could have a quieter morning. This meant that I was able to sleep in for the first time since arriving and also could take of some things around the house. In the afternoon, I made
this hike from Stafa to Rapperswil. I still managed to get lost numerous times, but the situation was a little less dire, since I was never far from civilization. I started from the Stafa railway station and had to climb up a very large hill to get to the trail, but the views made it worth it.
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| Scenes from the hike from Stafa to Rapperswil. |
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| Part of my path. |
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| And then I stumbled into a rose garden in Rapperswil. |
The two hikes that I took were very different, but enjoyable in their own way. The Sunday hike was through bucolic countryside along lake Zurich, while the Saturday hike was through the Alps. I have to say that I love the wildness and huge scale of the Alps, and it was by far my favorite of the two hikes. However, I think that the Alps are probably ruining me- I'm sure I would have been gobsmacked by Lake Zurich before, but really I just love the mountains now. That said, I was really glad to have a more relaxed day yesterday with less time on trains.
Today starts my first whole week at work, although this afternoon is technically a Zurich holiday. (This means that there is no coffee in my building- oh, the horrors!) The holiday today is
Knabenschiessen, which is roughly translated as "little boy shooting." Not to worry, little boys are not being shot- they are doing the shooting in a contest. And little girls are now allowed to shoot as well, so it is all very civilized. Oh, Switzerland!
