Hiking in Switzerland – Gabrielle and Urs

February 27, 2026

Another Section of the Reuss River Trail in the Freiamt Region (Canton Aargau)

Friday February 27, 2026 -- Third day in a row of warm weather and lots of sunshine, and I didn't want to pass up the opportunity of another walk, especially as one should have had good views of the mountains again.

I had arranged for a walk with a hiking buddy, and we settled on a rather uneventful riverside walk along the Reuss River near where we both live. We had nice views of the river and some cool forest trails on small paths, but nothing exciting to see, really, which is OK as we used the opportunity to catch up on news since our last visit.

I chose this stretch of river because it was a "missing" piece of the riverside trail in my attempt to walk the whole length of the Reuss River (one of Switzerland's major rivers). Unfortunately, even though the day started quite cool, it soon got exceedingly hot and we were both overdressed. The final 20-minute section along a wide dam trail before the town of Mühlau near what is called the Maschwander Allmend (a marshy region with lots of birds and flowers in summer) was hot and exposed and the "hardest" part of the walk!

Visibility is pretty good this day as my train heads up the Freiamt Region to Muri at 10:30 a.m. (I left home at about 9:50, for the 1-hour trip to Muri).

I met my friend in Muri and we took the bus together to our starting point here in Althäusern, at about 11 a.m. This region of southern Canton Aargau is called the Freiamt.

View south to the Alps as we make our way down to the Reuss River.

On the way to the river, we pass through this lovely farm, which I had seen once before when Urs and I did a hike in October 2020 (starting in Muri) where we headed northwards from here. (Today we are headed southwards).

View of the Alps to the south as we get close to the Reuss River.

This is called the "Reuss Canal" (looking north), an "artificial" watercourse running parallel to the Reuss River. There is a walking trail here too, but it's on a wide road and too hot to walk today! So we continued on right to the riverside trail.

This easy walk along the Reuss River to Mühlau was almost 12 km, which turned out to be a bit too long as the final stretch before Mühlau was exposed to the hot sun, and was on a wider trail. But this was a missing part of the Reuss Riverside Trail which I am trying to complete, and was one of the only ways I could complete it!

The first hour of our walk along the Reuss River heading south, was actually quite a comfortable walk.

For the first half of our walk we had nice walking paths next to the river.

Looking behind us at the path next to the Reuss River.

Features of the Reuss River.

At 12:30 we found the perfect spot to stop for our picnic lunch. This is near a vehicle bridge which crosses the Reuss River at a community called Offenbach. At this point we only had covered just over one-third of our planned walk!

A great place for our picnic lunch!

Searching for my visor, which I thought I might have lost along the way. Turns out it was lying in the leaves behind the bench!

After a 45-minute rest stop, we crossed underneath the bridge at 1:20 p.m. and continued on our southward walk.

We are following what is called the "Reussuferweg", i.e. the "Reuss Riverside Trail". The sign does warn us, though, that if the water level is high, or if it has rained for a long time, one must use the alternate "dam" trail.

The lovely Reuss Riverside Trail. Here walking was comfortable, and even though the afternoon temperatures now are expected up to 14 degrees (and it WAS warm), the shade of the trees makes it comfortable.

We saw recent beaver activity! I wonder if the hard-working beaver was aware that there wasn't a lot of "tree" to be felled on the left! On the other tree (right photo), they'd have more luck.

After another 30 minutes of walking, we got to the next bridge at the community of Rickenbach. From here we still have to walk over an hour to the Mühlau bridge, near the end of our hike.

This bridge over the Reuss River was built in 1971

Looking south along the Reuss River from the bridge at Rickenbach.

Now we are getting some nice views of the mountains again.

Still enjoying some comfortable trails.

Because we were chatting, we missed the place where the Lorze River flows into the Reuss River! It is just toward the back of this photo, and the trees on the other side from the triangle piece of land between the two rivers called the "Rüssspitz". Back in April 2020, Urs and I did the riverside walk on the other side from here, up to the junction of the rivers, and back again.

Here there are fewer trees now on both sides of the river, and we have to walk on a dam trail on this side. On the other side is the large marsh area called "Maschwander Allmend", one of Europe's "Network of Most Valuable Wildlife Habitats". We also did a second hike through there in May 2021 when the lovely marsh flowers were blooming.

The final 20 minutes of our walk were the hardest along this dam, as the afternoon (by now it's 3:15 p.m.) had gotten hot and there was no shade here!

We got to the junction of Mühlau at 15:16, where we wanted to end our hike, but we would not have made it to the train station in time for the 15:25 train, and would have had to wait another hour due to construction on the railway line. Lucky for us there was an irregular-schedule bus running from Mühlau village at 15:40, so we headed there to wait. It worked out perfectly for us!

At the bus stop in the village of Mühlau, we still had time to have a quick look into the parish church.

Details of the little parish church in Mühlau. The two-storey high organ was pretty impressive!

Along the main road in Mühlau, where there was an extra bus running this day right at this time (there isn't usually a bus here).

This is what our 11-km walk along the Reuss River looks like on Google Satellite Maps.

My bus now heads south along the Reuss River toward the train station at Oberrüti. (There is construction going on, on the regular train line at this time). In the back are the Glarus and Uri Alps, past Lake Zug.

Cute little farm we passed along the way.

The bus dropped us off at the Oberrüti train station at 15:55, from where we transferred to the train for just a few minutes to the next station at Rotkreuz.

Beautiful view of the Schwyzer (?) or Glarus Alps from the Oberrüti train station.

This is an inconvenient little train station, as you have to walk a long way to the passage to Platform 2. There was barely enough time to get to the train. From here it was another 35 minutes to get home. (In all, a one-hour trip home).

These are all the sections of the Reuss Riverside trail which we have walked, between Mellingen and Root (nearer to Luzern) which we have walked so far. (To the north past Mellingen, there is still a 12-km piece that I have to walk to the place where the Reuss River enters the Aare River. But I'm not sure I can do that all in one stretch!)

February 25, 2026

Part of the St.James Trail from Menznau to Wolhusen

Wednesday February 25, 2026 -- On this, Urs' regular day off mid-week, he had previously made plans to meet up with an old friend for a walk in Lenzerheide, a popular ski region. But in the mid-level regions (i.e. not high up in the ski areas), the snow is sparse and the landscape is dirty, so I did not go along. Instead I preferred a nice long walk in the always beautiful (and snow-free) pastoral landscape in the Alpine Foothills, more specifically in the Luzern back country.

As we finally have a forecast of nice sunny days with temperatures from 10-14 degrees, this is a good time to walk sections of the Via Jakobi (or St.James Trail, the Swiss section of the "Camino de Santiago"), as this themed path follows a lot of paved roads hitting as many pilgrim churches as possible. Although there are wooded sections, it is still quite hot to do these paths in summer. In fact, even on this day it turned out I was dressed too warmly.

I returned to the town of Menznau, just an hour's trip from home if you catch the unofficial connections. I returned to the St.James Trail (National Trail no.4) where we had ended a hike back in May of 2023, and continued on to Wolhusen via a couple of cute farming villages called Geiss and Buholz, leaving the St.James Trail again in Buholz as we had done that section as well on another hike at the end of December 2022. Highlights were definitely the pilgrim church in Buholz, and the "Chapel of the Dead" mortuary in Wolhusen, with actual skulls embedded in the fresco paintings on the inside walls.

Most notably, the day started out very foggy in our region once again, but the fog cleared up just shortly before the train reached Wolhusen, which I had been aware of because I checked the webcams in the early morning....

After traveling for about an hour through the fog (which lifted just before Wolhusen), I started my walk here at the train station in Menznau at 10:20. (We have ended a couple hikes here). I didn't look inside the church this time, as I had time to do that while waiting for a bus connection on another hike I did in April 2025.

I first had an uphill section and passed a hillside with two of these interesting-looking sheep. I had never seen such ones before. They are obvioursly rams, and an Internet search seems to indicate that they are called Cameroon Sheep.

After clearing the first uphill section, I get my first view of Mt.Pilatus to the south.

To the north and east, the valleys are filled with fog, so I am lucky to have found this fog-free region to do my walk in today.

That large industrial complex below is the parent plant of the internationally active SWISS KRONO Group and is one of the leading international suppliers and the only Swiss manufacturer of decorative wood-based materials for interior design, furniture and shopfitting, as well as design and laminate flooring.

I am now headed to the large farmhouse at the back, past the traffic circle. That is where the St.James Trail (Jakobsweg or Via Jakobi) passes by and where I want to now rejoin, after we had walked the trail coming down the hill (back in May 2023) when we then headed back to the Menznau train station from here.

Cute goats enjoying the sunshine. The little white one quickly ran over to me for a few scratches on its nose.

There was a huge garden full of new flowers here next to this large farmhouse. I spent quite a while here observing a bumble-bee in the crocuses, and photographing as many different flouwers as I could find!

Bumble-bee busy in the newly-emerged crocuses.

These are all the different spring flowers that I could find in the large garden next to the farmhouse.

Here is where the St.James Trail passes by the farmhouse, and where we descended on our May 2023 hike from Willisau. (Photos HERE).

Trail no.4 is the official National Trail called "Via Jakobi" (St.James Trail, or Jakobsweg), the Swiss portion of the popular European through-trail "Camino de Santiago." This is a good time of year to walk sections of this trail, which are quite exposed and very hot to do in summer. I am headed next to Geiss, and ultimately to Wolhusen, which is near Werthenstein.

Starting at 10:20 in Menznau, I walked via Geiss to Wolhusen, with a detour to Buholz, a lovely farming hamlet which we had passed through when we walked the section of the St.James Trail to Werthenstein via Lake Soppisee at the end of December 2022. With some rushing, I managed to catch the 14:45 train in Wolhusen. This was a 3-hour, 11½ kilometer walk.

Now looking south, I am continuing my walk along the St.James Trail.

All the way on my hike southward I got great views of the Central Alps.

Heading out along the St. James Trail

Next stop: The village called Geiss. (Here I had to walk along the main road into the town).

The church in Geiss and several farmhouses with a backdrop of Mt.Pilatus.

These old granaries (usually combined with living quarters) are always interesting. I passed several of them this day, most with a date of mid 1700's inscribed into the frame above the main door.

A sign advertises that this town features along the St.James Trail (i.e. "Welcome to Geiss along the Jakobsweg"). The church is called St.Jakobus. The themed trail is laid out to pass via as many notable churches and chapels as possible.

Next to the church is a beautiful building: The Landgasthof Ochsen.

A few details of the St.Jakobus church in Geiss. In particular, the displayed bell is interesting. It was manufactured in 1621 (!) and hung in the bell-tower till 1968 when the "bell-ringing" was "electrified". The Baroque Church was dedicated in 1647. (Previously it was a Gothic build, but rebuilt to Baroque).

Next to the church was another of those granaries called a Spycher.

I was quite fascinated by this building, with the engraved date of 1759. It seems to be the town's library! (Usually I check the doors to see if they are open, but I can't remember if I checked this one. In any case, I did not look inside). It is the smallest public library in Canton Luzern!

Heading up the second stretch of my walk, with a look down at the town of Geiss.

As it was now about noon, I had to find a place for lunch. There were no benches along the trail, but this large rock will do!

View from my "lunch rock".

Far in the distance I could see the profile of the Alps past that beautiful tree (surely a Linden Tree). Even though it was off the main trail, I made a detour there, to get a better look at the mountains and Lake Soppisee on the other side.

To the north (zoomed view) you can just make out the church in Grosswangen (which lies along the lovely "Luzern Chapel Trail" which we walked in March 2021, but unfortunately did not detour to), and far in the back a rather modern long-stretched city called Wauwil.

Now I have detoured to the tree on the hill for this view down to Lake Soppisee and the Nidwalden and Uri Alps. On the far left is Mt. Rigi.

My attempt at a self-timed photo with the tripod!!!!

This self-timed photo worked out better. At the end of December 2022 we hiked around this lake (Soppisee) and passed nearby the place I am currently standing, on our way to Werthenstein along the St.James Trail via Buholz, where I am headed next.

I can't get enough of the beautiful pastoral landscape of Canton Luzern, with the backdrop of the snow-covered mountains.

This view is past the city of Ruswil, where we had started the December 2022 hike. On the far left in the east is Mt.Rigi

Down below to the south is the little village called Buholz, also along the St.James trail. Even though it is not directly on the path I am taking today, I am going to detour that way as there was a lovely chapel worth having another look at. This time you can see Mt.Pilatus in the background.

As I detour into the village of Buholz, I caught sight of a stork flying into that tree, and a closer look shows that there were two storks in the large nest up there! (The village of Buholz itself was first mentioned in documents from end of the 12th Century).

This building looks like a castle!

This chapel in Buholz along the St.James Trail is called "Kapelle St.Gallus & Erasmus". A chapel was first mentioned in documents of 1576, but this build here is the replacement from 1620-1622, and still remains in pretty well the original form.

The three altars inside the chapel date from the time of the build of around 1620.

Another lovely ceiling and soft pastel paintings on the walls.

Other details of the inside of the little Buholz chapel.

Most "impressive" are the two skulls displayed on each of the side altars.

There goes the stork I had originally seen fly into the nest. (I had the feeling this one was feeding the other, and heading out to find more food).

Between the "castle-like" building and the little chapel is another one of those granaries. This one is rather large! There is a display of bells and some older equipment for milling grain. This one had a date of 1734 inscribed above the main door.

And here is another one of those "honesty shops" (each one is so unique). Here they are selling walnuts, potatoes, apple juice and jams.

It's now 1 p.m. and I'm starting on the final stretch of my walk to Wolhusen. Here I leave the St.James Trail again. (We have already walked the section from here to Werthenstein.). I still have an hour or more to go, especially as I want to detour via the fortress ruins.

That's the final uphill stretch to that farm up there .

Reaching the farm called Buchen.

Heading south with Mt.Pilatus looming large ahead of me.

More pastoral landscapes with many many farms! My trail heads past those two farms below to the remains of the Wolhusen fortress on the hill on the right.

Aren't they just the cutest?

At one time there were two fortresses here, dating from the early 11th Century. This is all that remains, although the model on the bottom left shows what the two fortresses might have looked like.

After leaving the site of the fortress ruins and heading down into the actual city of Wolhusen, I first reached the cemetery with this little chapel called a "Totenkapelle", (i.e. a mortuary), where urns or coffins of deceased people are set up for friends and relatives can come pay their final respects.

The inside of the chapel was very impressive, with its frescoes depicting a "death dance". Most impressive and somewhat macabre is that on many of the heads of the depicted characters are ACTUAL skulls embedded into the wall. These paintings date from 1661.

Beautifully-painted interior of the "Chapel of the Dead" with REAL skulls embedded into the paintings.

Even above the main door of the chapel there are skulls embedded in the wall. Originally, the parish church used to stand directly next to the mortuary chapel, and churchgoers had to pass through the chapel to enter the church. This served as a constant reminder that death will eventually come to everyone.

Just around the corner and below the cemetery is the main parish church of St.Andreas, built between 1879 and 1881 in the Neo-Romanesque-Classical style. The architect, Wilhelm Keller, was one of the most important church architects of the 19th century. There was not a lot to see inside this very large building.

This is what my 11½-kilometer walk looks like on Google Satellite Maps, starting in Menznau and ending in Wolhusen. (The final stretch from the parish church to the train station I had to run, to make the 14:45 train to Luzern).

These are all the hikes we have done in the area around Menznau and Wolhusen, twice ending in Menznau, and three times ending in Wolhusen. Plus starting once in Menznau and once in Wolhusen.