A Walk to Lake Cauma near Flims, and a look into the Rhine Canyon

(This post was created on January 25, 2025)

Friday October 30, 2015 -- We are having some very beautiful late October weather here and lots of opportunities for some sunny fall hikes with all the lovely lighting and colors. 

On this Friday we hiked from Flims (a popular winter ski area) to Tamins in the canton of Grisons/Graubünden, first to the magical turquoise lake called Caumasee, and then along the ridge above the Rhine Canyon. (We walked at the bottom of this same Canyon back in April, photos HERE). The views down into this canyon, where the Rhine River has carved out some fantastic cliffs after one of the largest rock falls in the world 10,000 years ago, were spectacular.

In all, it was a fairly easy 14 kilometer, four-hour hike, and almost too warm for the end of October!

A view of the bell tower of the Evangelical Church in Trin, as the bus heads from Chur to Flims.

And now, as the bus rounds a corner, a view over the village of Trin Mulin, another little village between Trin and Flims.  

Castle in Flims Waldhaus, the starting point of our hike. (This is a hotel offering vacation rentals). 

The signs indicate a viewing platform called Conn, 50 minutes from here. Lake Cauma is a 15-minute walk. We started our hike here at 10:50.

The beautiful colours of Lake Cauma (Caumasee). 

The beautiful colours of Lake Cauma (Caumasee). 

The water is so still, and the reflection is perfect. 

Lake Caumasee

Lake Caumasee

Lake Caumasee

Lake Caumasee

Starting at 10:45 in Flims Waldhaus, we first walked around Lake Caumasee, then went to the look-out tower above the Rhine Gorge, and then continued along Trail no.43: "St.James Trail Graubünden" to Tamins, where we caught a bus to Chur at about 4 p.m. In all, about 4 hours and almost 15 km walk. 

Near the look-out point, a good place for lunch break at noon. 

Down below, the Glacier Express Panorama Train passes through the beautiful Rhine Canyon. This is the section of the canyon which you cannot pass through on foot, only by boat or by train!

A look-out point where we can see down into the canyon. 

This is the large viewing platform at a point called "Il Spir". We got here at 12:40.

The view from the platform

Down below, the Rhine River makes a loop. This is 10,000 years' worth of carving... 

Fantastic view into the Rhine Canyon, and into the Safien Valley 

Continuing now parallel to but further away from the canyon, we are enjoying the fall colours and the great visibility. 

We run into lots of cats on our hikes, but this was probably the prettiest!

Along the way, we get this view to the north to an interesting massif called the Flimserstein (Flimser Rock). 

Beautiful fall colours!

It was too warm for pants, so I put on these little shorts I had along, which are actually just a pair of undershorts!

The trail we are following is part of Trail no.43: "St. James Trail, Graubünden", and also Trail no.85: "Senda Sursilvana", both trails that go along the entire Surselva Valley from Chur to the Oberalp Pass. 

Those concrete blocks are all over the Alps, remainders from the war, to prevent tanks from crossing.

Up above us is the village of Trin, which we passed by bus on the way from Chur to Flims on the main road above. There is also a tower of a fortress ruins. 

As we get closer to the village of Tamins we crossed another ravine (a side river which enters the Rhine River from the north), and saw this fabulous concrete arch bridge for the Autobahn. 

Entering the village of Tamins, where we had a quick look around before catching a bus nearby. 

Heart of the village of Tamins

14 km, 4 hours, walk from Flims to Tamins along the top of the Rhine Canyon.