From the Klausen Pass to Unterschächen via Stauben Falls

Sunday July 17, 2016 -- FINALLY a perfect day for hiking! Not too hot, not too windy, not too soggy, not too much uphill, not too many people (considering it was a gorgeous Sunday) blue skies, sunshine, cows, views.... and only 70 km from home.

The fastest way to get to the Klausen Pass is down the Reuss Valley and by bus from Flüelen (from the West side), but this time we took a train into the Linth Valley (via Glarus) and approached the pass by Post Bus from the east via Urnerboden, which is the largest alpine meadow in Switzerland, where about 1200 cows spend several weeks in summer between higher pastures, and winters in the lower valleys. 

The air was so clear and the temperature perfect for hiking, and made this one of our most memorable hikes... 

Start of Klausen Pass bus ride at the back of the Linthal Valley

Ride up to the Klausen Pass along the Urnerboden Valley, the largest Alpine Meadow in Switzerland

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Riding the bus up to the Klausen Pass

View down to Urnerboden Pastures

The bus ride is a favourite of Sunday travelers as it continues over the Klausen Pass (1900m) into the next Valley over, the Reuss Valley. The winding road itself, on both sides of the Pass, is also a favourite of motorcyclists and regular cyclists alike (although our bus driver said that the best cyclist is one who loads his bike on the bus and stays off the road altogether)!

The Klausen Pass road is a favourite of motorcyclists and other travelers

We got off at the Klausen Pass for our planned hike, which was approx 1.5 hours to Oberalp from where we were going to take an old open cable car to the valley bottom to see the large Stäuben Falls. A wonderful and fairly level hike later (still lots of snow from the recent very cold weather) proved to be too short for us, so instead of the cable car we hiked down along the base of the massive cliffs and across the top of the source of the water falls.

Original plan was to walk from Klausen Pass to Oberalp and take the cable car down to the Falls, but we decided to walk it!

What's a hike in the Swiss Alps without cows on the trail? And goats on a roof-top!

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A cow came to walk with us

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Typical Swiss View (westward out of the Schächen Valley) including Bernese dog. Only the flag is missing!

Later we walked down to the valley bottom below this cliff

Klausenpass road on the other side of the Valley

Incredible the amount of snow at this elevation still, for middle of July

Approaching the Oberalp, our original destination where we were going to descend with the cable car

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Panorama view of the Schächen Valley

Looking down at the Oberalp pastures

Near Oberalp

Instead of taking the cable car down to the valley bottom, we watched other people ride it, as we had our lunch break near the cable-way. We felt the walk to here was too short, so we decided to walk down to the valley bottom. 

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Watching the Oberalp cargo cable car!

Starting our descent below the cliffs and above the waterfalls

Lovely alpine flowers everywhere!

This landscape reminds me a bit of British Columbia

View down the Schächen Valley as we reach the bottom of our hike

Stäuben Falls 

At the bottom of the valley we still had an hour to walk out to the village of Unterschächen to rejoin the Klausen Pass Bus. The total 12-km hike took us 4.5 hours with a total descent of 1100m from the highest point to the lowest.

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The majestic Stäuben Waterfalls, 

and Aesch at the back of the Schächen Valley

Walking to the village of Unterschächen 

From the village of Unterschächen you look into the Brunni Valley (We did our first real mountain hike of the year in this valley, in May 2016 --> Those photos are HERE)

This was an almost 12-km hike with a large amount of downhill section, but a fabulous hike with best temperature for hiking and fantastic air clarity