From Fischenthal to Bauma in the Zurich Oberland, and Peacocks!

(This post was published on November 3, 2023)

Saturday April 30, 2016 -- Finally, a nice spring day after a long cold period. Actually it was supposed to be bad weather, so it was definitely a surprise to wake up to sun and blue skies. We took advantage of this and traveled less far to get in as much of the day as possible by the time the bad weather moved in late afternoon.

This area East of Lake Zurich is called the Zurich Oberland and consists of loads of rolling hills and the walking was not strenuous. We started in a village called Fischenthal and ended in Bauma where there is an old railroad storage hall (originally located in Basel in the 1800's and ultimately transported to this location). The highlight of the outing was the restaurant where we stopped for coffee (Sunnehof), which is actually a family-run farm, where they had the largest flock of peacocks (it's called an "ostentation") that I've ever seen, and they gave us some great displays of their amazing tail feathers!

On our way to the starting point of our hike, we get some nice views of the snow-covered mountains to the south

Our hike starts in the village of Fischenthal, which is in the region between Zurich and the Toggenburg. We started here at about 10:30

As we climb up the hill, we still get a view of the mountains in the south

A lovely place for our picnic lunch!

The first section of the hike was uphill to the restaurant called Sunnenhof where we stopped for a cup of coffee and to admire the fabulous peacocks. (We took a shortcut through a meadow, and made it to Sunnenhof in 1 hr. 20 minutes). From there it was mostly downhill toward Bauma, with a very nice section near a waterfall

At the Sunnenhof farm, looking for a good place to sit to enjoy a cup of coffee.

This peacock is showing off his fantastic feathers from both the front and back!

One of nature's many marvels: The colour and detail of peacocks' tail feathers...

These are the peahens whom the peacocks are trying to impress!

Of course, there is a lot of peacock noise as well!

A beautiful blue colour, and what is with the small crown of feathers on top of everything else?

VIDEO:

A peacock trying to impress the peahens, but also showing off to the other peacocks!

The time provided for getting to Bauma is too tight. At minimum one hour. We took the alternate trail through the Lochbachtobel Ravine, and that was 90 minutes.