Along the Sihl River near Lake Zurich from Hütten to Schönenberg

(This post added on Dec.11, 2023)

Saturday February 27, 2016 -- We're not seeing a lot of sun lately and it's still snowing here (and mostly raining), also in the lowlands. We had hoped to do a much longer hike along the Sihl River (feeder to Zurich's water supply) but we ran into more snow there than expected (and it was quite shady at river level), so we ended after just two hours of walking. 

At least we didn't have to travel far (about an hour by train and bus) and we got some exercise and fresh air.

We took a bus to a place called Hütten where we started our hike, heading down to the river. This is what the landscape looked like across the Sihl River. We started at about 2:30 p.m. 

Snowy landscape across the Sihl River

We started at 2:30 p.m. in a village called Hütten, walked down to the river. By the time we got to the bridge at Finstersee, we realized there would be too much snow on the hiking trail, so we ascended out of the ravine and headed to Schönenberg (the nearest bus stop), where we ended the hike at 4:30 p.m.  

Walking along the Sihl River with just a touch of sunshine. It was cold. 

The Sihl River flows out of Lake Sihlsee at Einsiedeln, and runs parallel to Lake Zürich and through Zurich city to join the Limmat River just north of Lake Zurich. 

The moss-covered rocks are pretty

At the Finstersee bridge we decided to head back out of the river "ravine" in the direction of Wädenswil, to the town of Schönenberg, which had the nearest bus stop. 

Out of the ravine now, we can look at the village of Finstersee on the south side of the Sihl River. 

Close-up view of the village of Finstersee on the south side of the Sihl River. 

There are many farms in this pastoral area near Lake Zurich

Hahaha, that cow is funny, peeking around the corner of the barn door. 

We passed by the pond called the Teufenbachweier. Here we had to wade through snow as it is not a cleared trail.

From the pond, we still had about another 35 minutes to Schönenberg, which was the nearest bus stop for us. 

This is the first time I have seen this "weather predicter" and I got a kick out of this. (Later we often saw this on our hikes). You can predict the weather based on the condition of the rock: i.e. if the rock is wet, then it's raining, or if you can't see it, then it's foggy. 

In the town of Schönenberg near Lake Zurich

We ended our hike in Schönenberg at about 4:30 p.m. From here we took a bus to Wädenswil on Lake Zurich and a train back home. 

What our hike looks like on Google Satellite Maps

Not much view anymore on the bus ride back down to Lake Zurich

Heading by bus down to Wädenswil on Lake Zurich, from where we catch the train back to Zug. It's a short trip for us, just over an hour.