Goldach Water Trail from Untereggen to Horn on Lake Constance

Sunday February 17, 2019 -- We were invited to visit friends who live in Arbon on Lake Constance (Northeastern Switzerland), so being as the weather has been so wonderful lately and the area near the lake is first to be snow-free, we wanted to do a walk before our visit, and so we studied webcams and maps to find a suitable hike of the kind we prefer: Through meadows and forests and farms and along streams, interspersed with asphalt if necessary.....

In the Internet we found a description for a 7-km walk at low elevations (from Untereggen near St.Gallen to Horn on Lake Constance) that had as a theme all kinds of things to do with water, from something called Kneipp Therapy (alternating hot and cold water), to various mills, a fish ladder, and a walk along the Goldach stream.

Even though the snowy mountain landscapes that we experience in winter are stunning, this little "walk" was so much more our style. Little villages to discover, cows to greet, lots of variety and something new around each bend, and colours other than white....

Often when we come back from a hike we also learn of things we missed. For example, on this particular hike, not far off the trail, is something called an earth glacier, which I have never heard of before. A section of ground (in this case 600m long and 200m wide) gets worked on by the water and shifts and moves at 2 to 8 m per year. Over decades the area fills with leaves and dirt, and shifts and changes, and like regular glaciers forms clefts up to 2 meters in depth, where frogs breed and hide. Trails and bridges along the way have to be repaired regularly as a result.

We plan another trip in summer, now that we know this exists....

The Goldach Water Trail starts in the village of Untereggen with a Kneipp-Therapy. Well, we pretended.

So nice to walk through farmland again! We are heading North. In the background is Lake Constance (Bodensee)

Looking back at the village of Untereggen where we started our walk.

Sure sign of spring, when cats sun themselves on the window sills

The cows on this farm contribute to the fabrication of the delicious Appenzell Cheese!

Here was the start of the Earth Glacier. We didn't have time to explore it, so will come back in summer some time.

Walking along the Goldach stream, we passed under both this freeway bridge and a railway bridge

This house was kind of cool, seems to have been converted into apartments

Up ahead is the railway bridge

Passing under the railway bridge

I totally didn't see the "Fish Ladder", but this canal creates a waterway around the mill up ahead, where the trout from Lake Constance can move upriver to spawn.