Hiking in Switzerland – Gabrielle and Urs

Wednesday May 27, 2026 -- Today was one of the few days this week which started overcast, but that was OK as it was already getting to be a hot day, even though we started early.

There is a small side valley (where the Grosse Entle River flows down to join the Kleine Emme River) in the Entlebuch Region with a road that leads up to the Glaubenberg Pass, but there are few buses, and in spring or fall it is either too early or too late for us to head up there. So now with this heat, no problem to start early.

By 8:20 a.m. (having left home at 6:45) we were in the village of Entlebuch, but had a 30-minute wait for the 8:53 a.m. bus to Gfellen (end of the line for now on the road to the pass), so we walked up to the Entlebuch church and back to the train station. After a 15-minute bus ride, we started on our hike just after 9 a.m.

The trail out of the valley took us via a protected moorland, a gorge, a ravine, and a lovely water channel diverted from the Grosse Entle River, back to the town of Entlebuch. A lot of the walk was through forest so we were once again able to beat the heat. A big surprise along the way was a tram-car in the forest set up as a picnic hut, apparently the very last tram which ever ran in the city of Luzern before they converted from tram service to bus service!!!

It's only a 90-minute trip to Entlebuch (near Luzern) but the way the bus schedule works for the 15-minute ride into the side valley, we had to wait 30 minutes either in Luzern or here in Entlebuch. As it was not yet hot at 8:20 a.m., we did the short walk from the train station up to the village church.

Village church in Entlebuch.

Details of the inside of the village church, another typical Baroque build. The date above the door reads 1778.

View to the hills of the Entlebuch Region to the south, from the terrace in front of the church.

Another view to the hills in the north as we head back down to the train station again.

A particularly cute house.

This one is also very pretty!

Back at the train station at 8:42, and our bus is already waiting. Departure is at 8:53 for the 15-minute ride to Gfellen, on the road to the Glaubenberg Pass. (Starting on the coming weekend, the bus will continue on to the pass as well).

Views of the rolling hills of the Entlebuch, as the bus heads up the valley.

View from the bus

More views from the bus.

End-of-the-line at 9:05 at a restaurant in the little hamlet called Gfellen. Urs is checking out the pizza vending machine!

There is a mountain here called the Schimbrig, a geological wonder which was born 135 million years ago, with origins further south from here. But as the area was all covered in water at the time, the limestone, sand and clay layers dissolved and built up, then was pushed further north when the African tectonic plate pushed up against the European one, creating folds in the earth and pushing up mountains such as this one.

This is the hill that the locals called the Schimbrig.

A first short stretch along the paved road before we climbed up into the meadows. A cat came running toward us, but for a change did not wish to stop for Urs to pet it!

Starting in Gfellen at just after 9 a.m., we hiked up into the Fuchserenmoos Nature Reserve, then through Finsterwald village, down the Burggraben ravine, and ultimately reached the Grosse Entle River, where we followed a canal back to the town of Entlebuch. We caught the 14:05 train there for the 90-minute trip back home.

The nice trail starts below at that house on the road. This is a look back down to the vehicle road as we start our hike up the hill. Another nice view of Mt.Schimbrig on the left.

A nice stretch through the forest on the way up the hill. Lots of memories of when we were here once before in April 2018 after a major storm where many of the trees were downed in this forest and we had to climb over several tree trunks.

Starting off on this hot day with some lovely cold water in the pasture fountains!

Probably another Linden Tree. I'm looking forward to them flowering soon!

A look down past the Grosse Entle Gorge to the Schimbrig. With this long stretch of hot weather, the farmers are busy mowing the meadows again.

Down below is the farmer mowing the pastures! Behind me is another small mountain called the Farnere, which we climbed up to in October 2023.

The massif on the left is called Schafmatt, and the smaller peak that just came into view is called the Fürstei (or Fürstein), which we also hiked up to once before, in October 2022.

We then reached the Fuchserenmoos nature reserve, but the trail through this part of the moorlands is off-limits to walkers. Which surprised us, as we had walked through here last time we came this way, in April 2018. There is another official trail through here, though.

After a regular forest road we reached the new "entrance" to the Fuchserenmoos nature reserve. Here we are permitted to walk!

As usual, we are very pleased with wooden bridges!

In the moorlands was a little lake where we sat on the bench for a break and admired the water lilies!

What a cute bench! This was on the way to the village of Finsterwald. In local dialect, the text reads "Im Fischterwaud schynt d'Sunne i dis Härz" which translates to "In the Finster Forest, the sun shines in your heart". ("Finsterwald" = "Finster Forest")

One of the few sections which we had to walk on a paved road, into the village of Finsterwald.

A few impressions of the village of Finsterwald.

This small village has a very large, modern-looking church. For a change we didn't go inside.

Across the road, before rejoining the trail, we passed this HUGE storage building full of wood chips. These are used in the local district heating plant, the first such innovative system in Canton Luzern, developed here. The wood chips provide heating for 27 properties in Finsterwald, including the school and the church.

Shortly afterwards, we reached the forest called "Chilewald", where there was an exhibition about the use of the wood chips in the district heating, how it works, and how modern building construction now allows for much less use of wood for heating purposes.

As it was now getting close to noon, we were hoping to find a nice place for our picnic lunch. This surprising site in the Chilewald would have been a perfect place, but it looks like a large group of hikers had already taken up all the available spots, including a cute little shelter created by a tram car. The city of Luzern used to have an electric tram service (now totally replaced by buses) and this was the very last tram in the city, which a volunteer group transported here to this place in the forest to create this and set it up like a tram stop!

We continued down through a small ravine called Burggraben, following a small stream (Rigelbach) with rocks all overgrown with moss. It was a bit warm here as there was no wind. We are looking for a place to stop for our picnic lunch!

More bridges, how lovely!

Even more bridges! It was a very nice trail here through the small ravine.

Can you see me?

This would have been the perfect spot to stop for our picnic lunch (at 12:15), and in retrospect we should have stopped here, but according to our map and trail markers, after a 10-minute uphill hike from here might be a fortress ruins (on the map it reads "Burgstelle", which means "site of a fortress") and the fortress chapel, so we took a risk in the hopes of finding a picnic spot up there. (The text on the bench translates to "Over every small stream is a small bridge". How very fitting!)

It was this sign that made us think there might be a fortress ruins up by the fortress chapel. It turns out that these are the ruins above the town of Wolhusen! (Seat of the Barons of Wolhusen who ruled this whole Entlebuch Region from the 12th to 14th Centuries).

It only took us five minutes to get up to the "Fortress Chapel", but there was no fortress, and no shade either (the bench in front of the chapel would have been perfect, but it was in the blazing sun), so after a look inside the chapel, we continued on down the steep forest trail on the other side. Furthermore, this chapel is new, built in 1975 at the site of an older chapel

The trail from the chapel through the forest and down to the Grosse Entle River was quite steep, but consisted almost totally of steps such as these. (At the top near the chapel was a sign warning that the trail is steep).

Looking down at the forest trail, steep but safe and not difficult to walk down!

No problem at all getting down the steep trail to the valley bottom.

At 12:44 we reached the Grosse Entle River

The water from the river is diverted here into a side canal, which runs into the town of Entlebuch, where earlier the water power was used to operate a saw mill and textile factories.

This canal was a pleasant surprise for us and made the last leg of our hike quite enjoyable.

A canal diverted from the Grosse Entlebuch River.

What a relief to finally find a place (in the shade!) to stop for our picnic lunch, as it is now 12:50! But first I washed my face and hands in the canal.... it was so lovely and refreshing!

A look back at our picnic table as we continue on our walk at 1:15 p.m.

Continuing along this very lovely section of the trail.

When the canal was built in 1865, they had to make a tunnel here at this place, in the hard sandstone cliffs. Urs is reading information about how the tunnel was built at the time.

A tool such as this one was used to create holes in the sandstone cliffs to place dynamite powder when the tunnel was built in 1865. One worker held the iron tool and another hammered on the end. Then the tool was turned 1/4-turn for each blow.

At this end of the canal is this warning: "The canal trail is used at your own risk. During certain extreme weather conditions, the trail cannot be used. Beware of the following: Rockfall, falling trees during a storm, and black ice"

This is a display of a Girard-Turbine which was used here to run the saw mill from 1894 to 1905. (This hydraulic turbine was invented by French engineer Louis-Dominique Girard and was pivotal in the development of hydro power.)

Our trail now heads to this lovely wooden covered bridge over the Grosse Entle River.

The bridge is called the Obflüebrücke, and was originally built across the Kleine Emme River (1852), but due to not being able to carry enough weight, a concrete bridge was built at that location, and this wooden bridge moved here over the Grosse Entle River in 2004.

Final few steps before reaching the train station.

And here is that very pretty house we saw from the site of the church earlier in the day (you can also just make out the bell-tower of the church from here).