A Walk down the Schöllenen Gorge from Andermatt to Göschenen

Tuesday Aug.27, 2019 -- The main hike of the day was an early start at 9:15 near the Furka Pass, hiking up to the Sidelen Hostel at over 2700m above sea level, and then continuing on to the mighty Rhône Glacier (an approx. 3.5-hour hike). The beautiful photos of this, one of our favourite hikes, can be viewed HERE.

Buses don't run often over the Furka Pass, and we had to be on the bus at 1:30 p.m., so the day was still early by the time we got back to Andermatt, so instead of taking the cogwheel train to Göschenen (the usual connection for our way home), we walked down the Schöllenen Gorge, adding another 5 km to our already eight.

The Schöllenen Gorge is known for its historical "Teufelsbrücke" (Devil's Bridge), whereby only the base of the original bridge remains. In the meantime, a newer bridge was built right next to the old one, and then the railway bridge, and later the newer motorway, both of the latter accessing Andermatt via Tunnel. The old road is locally known as the Old Gotthard Highway and now serves as pedestrian walkway and bicycle road. Parts of the walking trail are directly along the "roof" of the roadway gallery!

The Gorge also has a history of the Russian military crossing it under the leadership of General Suwarow, for a battle that took place here in 1799 between the Russians and the French. We stopped for Fries at the historical Devil's Bridge Restaurant as well, and admired historical photos of how busy this road was back in the 1950's!

From Andermatt heading home we usually take the little red cogwheel train down the steep gorge, but it was early in the day still, so we decided to walk the 5 km down the gorge, to get a different perspective

The new pedestrian walkway down the gorge now goes OVER the vehicle tunnels. This section is part of several national and regional trails including "ViaSuworow no.55"

The new pedestrian walkway down the gorge now goes OVER (i.e. on top of) the tunnel and exits at the main attraction of the gorge: The waterfalls and bridges at the old Devil's Bridge 

These waterfalls are what you usually see for about 5 seconds before the train enters the tunnel in the cliff face

Below is the "New" Devil's Bridge, i.e. the "Old" Gotthard highway. Above is the new vehicle road to the Gotthard Pass

On the far right, the railway bridge. Where I am standing is the "New" Devil's Bridge, i.e. the "Old" Gotthard highway. 

A view down the Schöllenen Gorge. On the left is the Old Gotthard Highway (now for bikes and pedestrians) and above it the new highway. 

Historical Devil's Bridge Restaurant. We had some time to kill, so had some Fries on the terrace behind the restaurant. 

Back in the "old" days (in this case 1950's), the Old Gotthard Highway was pretty busy!

Monument to General Suwarow, who fought the French here in 1799. This is hewn out of the rock face

Heading down the Schöllenen Gorge, the pedestrian walkway is on top of the highway, so you barely hear the cars

The Reuss River as it tumbles through the Schöllenen Gorge

Looking up the Gorge. Motorists like to use this road to cross the Gotthard Pass in Summer, instead of going through the 15-km long tunnel which often has long waiting times to pass

This is the Häderlis Bridge. The first bridge to cross the Reuss at this location is mentioned in a document from 1470. In 1649 the first stone bridge (made of superhard Gotthard Granite) replaced the previous wooden bridge. In 1987 that bridge was swept away in a storm and this one rebuilt in the same dimensions in 1991.

The Reuss River near Göschenen. It's 4 p.m. and we had more sun than expected. In the next couple of months there will barely be any sun here.

Here's the train we could have taken, got into Göschenen about 10 minutes before we did. 

Under the train bridge near Göschenen