Panorama Loop Trail in the Motor-Vehicle-Free Resort town of Braunwald

(This post published on November 2, 2024)

Saturday November 7, 2015 -- Our fantastic weather is still going strong... and we are taking advantage of it, with five hikes in just one week! It is a bit of a problem to find good hikes to do at higher elevations because all the cable cars are usually undergoing revision starting mid-October, in preparation for the ski season. So on this Saturday we were lucky to find that they were running the cable cars in Braunwald this weekend as an exception because of the great weather. We can easily reach the motor-vehicle-free vacation town by funicular, and from there took a cable car up to our starting point called Grotzenbühl, to walk the 9-km long Panorama Loop Trail (Although it was so nice that we just continued right back down to the funicular station in Braunwald, making it a 11-km walk). It still required a good uphill climb to the first lookout point, but well worth it! It is awesome that we can do a high-alpine style tour at this time of year. And in shorts and T-shirt to boot!

(It has been such a long and warm Indian Summer, that the ski resorts are starting to get nervous about the start of the skiing season. They are not even able to MAKE snow, because the weather is too warm!)

The dominant mountain here is called Ortstock. We had to walk 15 minutes to the cable-car station, which would take us to the start of our hike at Grotzenbühl. Right now it's 10:15 in the morning.

It's nice that the cows can still be outside on these mountain pastures this late in the season!

The cable car is running as an exception on this beautiful November weekend!

We are so happy that we can get up higher in the mountains with a cable-car.! Usually they end their runs middle to end of October, and get their revisions in November, preparing for the skiing season. We started here at 10:30 a.m. 

As we head uphill on the northern section of the Panorama Trail, we first have a long stretch on a wide dirt road through the forest. Then we get the first look into the Linth Valley below, and the lovely Lake Oberblegisee

It's so warm now that I had to put on my shorts!

Mild November weather that we can hike in shorts!

The air was also so fabulously clear that we could see quite far into the Glarus Alps

Now we are walking along the upper portion of the High Trail. What a view!

This crest is called the Seeblengrat

A view to the south up the Linth Valley from the Seeblengrat ridge. 

These high trails are the best kind for walking. Nice, dry, small paths and fairly level. 

This section of the trail is even through a tunnel. There is fancy artwork on the "ceiling"!

At this point is the summit station of the other cable-way called Gumen, and there is also a restaurant here. This view is into the mountains to the East, the UNESCO Sardona Tectonic Arena, and the main peak that we see here is called the Hausstock, which is at the south end of the Sernf Valley (Elm). There were many other people out enjoying the sunshine on this lovely day!

Continuing along the Panorama High Trail. 

Even the paragliders are out enjoying this beautiful weather!

We found a great spot for our picnic lunch at 1:15 p.m., away from the crowds in Gumen. 

Silver thistles are always a sure sign of late autumn. 

A look above us at the fantastic cliffs as we now head down the mountain. The high trail passes along the base of those cliffs. 

At 13:45 we were at the mountain hostel called Ortstockhaus. From here it's 30 minutes back to the cable-car station at Grotzenbühl, and a little over an hour back to the funicular station at Braunwald. Since it was such a nice day, we decided to walk back to the funicular station. 

A lovely little upper moor lake. 

Instead of taking the cable-car back down from Grotzenbühl, we walked all the way back to Braunwald to catch the Funicular. (No motor vehicles allowed).

Here we are back at the funicular station for the 4 p.m. ride back down into the Linth Valley. 

What our hike looks like on Google Satellite Maps. 

From the funicular station to the cable-way we had to walk 15 minutes (just under 1 km), so altogether this was about an 11½-km hike, and almost four hours of walking!