The Murgsee Lakes Round Trail in the Unesco World Heritage Tectonic Arena Sardona

July 16, 2019 -- Vacation Week 2, Day 2:  While our guest Rachael went off to discover the largest glacier in the Alps, Urs and I did a very long hike which we have been humming and hawing about doing for a long time: The Murgsee Round Tour in the Unesco World Heritage Tectonic Arena Sardona.

For people like us who use only public transport, it is difficult to get up there, but there is a private taxi service that we can arrange to get us to the starting point of the hike, or in our case slightly higher so that we could shave off 40 minutes of walking on this altogether 6-hour hike. As there is no cell phone reception whatsoever in this area, we had to order the pick-up ahead of time. Starting at 9 a.m., we arranged pick-up for 17:00, which at first I thought was way too much time but as it turns out, our final descent was steep and slippery and we otherwise didn't take too many long breaks, and yet we still made it back to the pick-up point with only 10 minutes to spare! 

This text I found on the unesco-sardona.ch website describes the area: 

"Ancient Swiss stone pine forests and moors in a terrassed landscape shaped by glaciers. The blood-red Verrucano rock makes the soil impermeable to water. The result is a unique marsh landscape with streams, lakes and waterfalls. Copper and silver were mined here mainly in the second half of the 19th century. The lower Murg lake with its ancient Swiss stone pine forest has been included in the Federal Inventory of Landscapes and Natural Monuments."

It indeed was a very special landscape. The soil underfoot and in the stream beds was red, and the very clear water had a slight turquoise tint, possibly from glacial minerals. Hiking weather was absolutely perfect, and I didn't even have pain in my feet after 5:30 of walking. And of course, we really enjoyed the cows!

At 9 a.m. the taxi driver dropped us off here at this parking spot (pick-up was going to be lower down) and that saved us 40 minutes of uphill. People who come by car have to do the entire round trip and walk back up to their cars. From here, it was a 2-hour uphill walk to the main lake, in the sunny green spot in the middle of the photo.

This is the special Alpine Taxi that you can request to bring you the 7 or 8.5-km up into the mountains, to start your long hike. We thought the 40 SFr. price was reasonable (or 10 SFr. each if more than 4 people book at the same time). Although we had to pay a tiny bit more to go further than the regular starting point.

Most people who do this tour start at the little lake and walk the steep portion to Gspon first. But that means about 3.5 hours to the highest point, instead of 2.5 hours the way we did it. The last 40-minute descent was steep and slippery though (recent rains) and we barely made it back to the meeting point on time. 

Even the way we did the round-tour hike was steep. This was like an indoor climbing wall

We were glad it was early morning and shady on the 2-hour climb to Lake Murgsee

Finally a bit of a level section. 

This is the lower Murgsee Lake with its ancient stone pines and is one of Switzerland's natural monuments

The Lower Murgsee Lake. You pass high above it. They don't want campers or picnickers down there as it is a protected area

Finally reached the Middle Murgsee Lake, and behind it the official Murgsee Lake.

We had a bit of a break here (lake is behind the waterfall) but everywhere off-track was soft ground and wet

Imagine how far these cows have to come up from the valley bottom (following the trail we took)  to graze at higher alpine levels. But here they have the run of the mountain.

Our first stop was a detour to a small hill from where we had hoped to get a better view of the valley we had just ascended. It was hard getting up here because of the soft, boggy ground, totally furrowed and trampled up by the cows.

A good spot for our lunch break 

Looking down on the Lower Murgsee Lake and the valley we just came up (2 hours)

All of a sudden all the cows moved in on us. Not sure what they were looking for!

VIDEO:

Urs isn't taking any chances with all those horns so close by....

The cows took over our lunch spot on the top of the small rise

From our lunch spot, a view down to Lake Murgsee. On the left is a restaurant and hostel for people hiking the "Sardona World Heritage Trail" which passes through here

Below you can see the red silt deposited by the stream as it enters the lake. Next part of our hike: 30 minutes up to the saddle called Murgseefurggel. 

These small mountain children have to help mow the meadows, by hand, with scythes.

View of the middle and upper Murgsee Lakes

We took a good long break up here at the highest point of our hike. The clouds had moved in and we waited for an opening for a nice bright photo.

The highest point of the hike: Murgseefurggel. The sign reads "2 hours 15 minutes" to Merlen, the lake where the taxi was picking us up at 17:00. It was 13:50 when we left here, and we made it to the taxi at 16:50..... with only one small rest stop along the way.

The landscape on this stretch was stunning, and the lighting kept changing. Lots of shrubs, alpine roses, rivulets, marshes. We took our time and enjoyed it tremendously

The red soil was evident everywhere, and the clear water had a light turquoise tint where it moved rapidly

Looking backwards where we had come down from the saddle on the left. Lots of alpine roses and ferns here, very lush.

All kinds of variety in the landscape made the time pass quickly and kept me from thinking about my feet.

In the mountains South of us you can see how at some point millions of years ago, the layers of earth buckled. The nearness to this phenomenon is the reason this is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Mürtschen Valley (236 Hectares of Nature Reserve with old stone pines, some hundreds of years old, also spruce and pine), so comfortable to walk. 

Here is the only 10-minute break we took on the way down. (This spot is called "The Forest on the Red Blocks"

Descending into the Lower Mürtschen, also very marshy here.

Not long now and the steep descent begins!

But first an introductory waterfall.

Then another long flat stretch suitably prepared for hikers to be able to cross the marshy soft ground. (This is looking backwards to where we came down from. The steep descent starts now, on the left).

The final section, a steep 40-minute descent to the back of the lake (Merlen, where the taxi will pick us up). It was very strenuous, the rocks and steps on the trail were slippery as well as steep. In the very back is Lake Walensee and the Churfirsten mountains. The alpine taxi will take us down to Murg on Lake Walensee

Finally at the meeting point with our taxi. We got here with 10 minutes to spare. Looking back to the area where we spent the day, we can see exactly where we descended from the high place on the right. Most people start the hike by walking UPHILL here, it takes about an hour to get to that place.

Heading down the narrow valley in the Alpine Taxi on winding roads to Murg on Lake Walensee.

Back down at lake level on Lake Walensee, we got here just minutes before the train pulled in.

The full round tour doing the steep uphill first, is supposed to take 6 hours. We chose the steeper portion as a descent, and started higher on the hill, and it took us about 5 hours 30 minutes.