Finally… More Swiss Hiking!

Saturday, June 9 & Friday, June 15 – Saturday, June 16  2012

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again – some of our favorite trips over in Europe have been our Swiss hiking adventures.  We made it an absolute priority before we left Geneva to take a couple more hikes. 

The first was on Saturday the 9^th with our favorite hiking buddy, Andre and our good friend, Jana.  We stuck to a one-day hike because Dave’s aunt Michelle and cousin Hannah were coming into town that evening.  We needed a close and accessible hike in order to make it work – and were happy to find the perfect fit – the last leg of the Via Alpina trail (the hiking trail that stretches across Switzerland and 6 other Alpine countries).  This leg of the hike started at the top of a peak called Rochers de Naye, just a few miles from Montreux, Switzerland.

We took a cogwheel train up in the morning and once we reached the top, were greeted by Marmottes Paradis (we’ll let you translate that one yourselves).  Yes, this was a marmot attraction at 2,000 meters elevation.  Why not?  It put a smile on our faces before we started our decent. 

While it was a little cloudy at the top, a couple hours in it cleared up and we had gorgeous views of Lake Geneva below.  We also came across a launch point for some paragliders and enjoyed watching a few of them take off.

Halfway through the hike we passed through the cute town of Caux – it was an ideal spot for a picnic lunch. 

Shortly before Caux we stumbled across something really interesting.  See these pieces of wood sticking out of the ground?  Apparently this is how people propose the location of a new house.  They build the outline of where the building would stand (more importantly what view the building would block) and people have a certain amount of time to complain or else the construction will continue.  Seems like a pretty clever and considerate way to do it. 

The majority of the hike was downhill and after a while it really started to take a toll on our joints!  We were begging for any chance to go uphill and took advantage of random reasons to rest along the way - check out Ang's new friend.   

Toward the end of the hike we passed through what looked like a tropical rain forest, right in the middle of Switzerland.  It seemed so out of character for that area (there is actually a highway running right through it - check out the concrete pillar below)!  It was unfamiliar landscape to us but enjoyable all the same. 

Right before we finished, we stopped by the home of a close friend of Andre’s, Paroma Basu.  He and Paroma went to high school together in India and both happened to move (separately) to Switzerland in their adult years.  Small world!  Paroma was a delight to hang out with—and spoiled us with after-hike tea and snacks.

We made it back to Geneva with time to spare as Michelle and Hannah’s flight was delayed a couple of hours (more on their stay in the next post).

The next weekend we took our good friend Peter on a hike, something he hadn’t done much of in Switzerland and was eager to fit one in before he, too, moved back to Seattle.  Our first overnight hike last year was such a memorable experience that we tried to replicate it.  Not wanting to veer too far away from our comfort zone (Andre wasn’t with us this time, so Dave had to play navigator), we again chose a section of the Via Alpina trail, with a couple of variations.  Because it was still early in the hiking season our desired route up and over Sefinenfurgge Pass was still snowed in.  Dave, however, already had his heart set on staying at Rotstockhütte, a hut at the base of the closed pass.  We decided to alter our path a little bit to hit both the hut and some highlights of the Interlaken/Lauterbrunnen region. 

Yes, less than a month after our canyoning trip, we returned to Interlaken for another outdoor adventure (we couldn’t get enough!). :)  This was actually Peter’s first trip up to Lauterbrunnen and the Jungfrau area so we’re glad he could make it before moving back (it would be a crime to miss this area if you’re ever in Switzerland with clear skies). 

We set off Friday morning by train and were in Lauterbrunnen before noon.  Our hodge-podge hiking path became even “hodgier” when the first section was closed due to a recent storm that wiped out part of the trail.  We were secretly glad about this because the first leg was practically straight uphill – instead we took the cable car a couple hundred meters up to Grütschalp station and started our hike from there.  :)

The stretch from Grütschalp station to Mürren was a good warm-up - nothing too steep or challenging – and the views were fantastic.  When we reached Mürren we decided to venture off our route down to Gimmelwald because of the time gained by taking the lift. 

Gimmelwald may sound familiar to you from the trip we took with Dave’s family back in October of last year.  The town was pretty much deserted back then and felt pretty much the same this day.  We stepped into this interesting shop called “The Honesty Shop”, a self-serve store where you pick what you want and leave the money you owe in a deposit box.  Afterward we admired some farmers while they filled their silo.  We also took an opportunity to try out the community slide before continuing on. :)

As dead as the town was, the real magic is the view – so stunning! 

As we were leaving town we looked up and saw this incredibly dramatic peak, but never in our wildest dreams did we think we’d get anywhere near it that day…

Apparently we had finished the warm-up portion of the hike because once we left Gimmelwald we walked straight uphill for at least an hour, sweating profusely the entire time (it was hot out).  We eventually connected back up with the Via Alpina, which would lead us to the hut. 

Of course we saw our beloved Swiss cows – although these were a little bit more aggressive than those we had previously encountered.  We happened to see a sign that said suckling cows are really protective of their young.  We’re glad we saw it because just 5 minutes later we were walking through a pasture and one cow in particular was getting very close to Dave and shaking her head around, showing off her horns and basically threatening him to stay away!  Without that previous knowledge from the sign, Dave would probably have gotten really close in order to pet her and been gored by a Swiss cow (that would have been embarrassing)!  We’re thinking that his red shirt didn’t help either. :)  We quickly decided to take a wide detour around the pasture as to not further disturb the group of mama and baby cows.

The white one wasn't very nice...

So, about that dramatic peak we mentioned earlier, before we knew it we were headed straight to the top!  It’s crazy how much distance you can cover in just a few short hours.

After we climbed up and over the peak, we arrived at the hut, which was perfectly nestled in the Alps.

Sefinenfurgge Pass, closed for business

The craziest part about this location was realizing the Schilthorn lift station/restaurant (that we visited back in October with Dave’s family) was right on top of us (see the photo on the right)!   We never thought that we’d see the Schilthorn again this soon, especially from this angle.

You can barely see the Schilthorn on the highest left peak
(you can see a little closer up in photo below)

We weren’t the only ones visiting the hut that night – we met a family of 5 originally from South Africa that lives in… you guessed it – Seattle!  Think about it – out of the 8 people who decided to stay in a remote hut up in the Swiss Alps, all 8 of us would be living back in Seattle in just a month.  Such a small world.  Things like that make life so enjoyable!  It was great getting to know them a little bit as we shared a couple of meals together.

As expected the facilities were basic—outhouses and no shower (which was really missed after such a hot and sweaty day)—but at least the beds were comfortable and the hut had a friendly dog and some chickens. :)

Alpine hen - breakfast! (The eggs, not the chicken)

Before bed we enjoyed the sun setting on the magnificent Alpine peaks.

We woke very early the next morning, had breakfast and mapped out our return journey.  Unfortunately the scenic route that was recommended by our hut hosts was closed because of that same storm we mentioned earlier.  In the end it turned out to be ok as we just improvised a different route to the same destination.  Below are some of our favorite highlights…

A huge triple rock spring...

A nice waterfall – a perfect refresher on a hot day...

A water-powered saw mill that wasn’t running (but still looked functional)...

And a bunch of amazing views along the way.

Another path washed out from the storm

By midday we were still feeling energetic so instead of following the path back to Lauterbrunnen we decided to take a detour up to another hut for lunch, called Obersteinberg.  This stretch of the hike was extremely difficult – the sun was beating down and we gained about 2,200 feet in just a couple of hours.  The reward was worth the pain though – this hut was in a serene position looking out over the entire valley below.  We enjoyed a relaxing lunch and an ice-cold Swiss beer while overlooking some of the most gorgeous and in-your-face scenery we’ve seen in our entire lives.

We had an even more bizarre animal encounter on our descent back to Lauterbrunnen.  We were walking across a pasture when out of nowhere we heard bells coming out of the trees.  Next thing we knew there was a random herd of goats headed right for us.  Assuming they wanted to pass by, we stepped to the side… but to our surprise they just waited right beside us.  Slightly confused we walked ahead and oddly enough the goats decided to follow.  We would stop and they would stop.  We would start and they would start.  It was both hilarious and slightly uncomfortable as one of the males had some big ol’ horns and we couldn’t exactly tell if he was friendly or not.  Additionally, one of them really wanted to either lick or nibble at our legs.  One of them had a big crush on Peter – you can see him fighting her off below.  This charade went on for a good 10 minutes until for some reason they stopped on their own and didn’t feel like following us again.  It was a pretty ridiculous. :)

We continued our descent and just a little while later we made it back to Lauterbrunnen—completely exhausted after covering 15+ miles over two days.  We caught the public bus back to the station and trained back to Geneva.  We are so glad we took advantage of the Alps a couple more times while we could and were happy to share the experiences with some good friends, too.