We don't often go into the Jura mountains, which is a low mountain range along the French border in the western part of Switzerland, because mostly the trails there are forest trails, and it's too far for us to travel for something which we have plenty of near home. The weather forecast was for beautiful everywhere, but it had snowed, and we are always wary of North Slopes in the mountains after snow (as I found out on my Aletsch Glacier Hike the weekend before) so we thought we'd be safe in the lower hills, and with spendid weather you get nice views of the Alps from there.
What we hadn't anticipated when we got to Mount Chasseral for a 4-hour "ridge hike" in the direction of Neuchatel was the strong icy winds blowing up there. The first 30 minutes along the ridge were so nasty and uncomfortable, that I didn't think I could keep on like that. Second disappointment was that even though the skies were clear everywhere we could see, just below us thick clouds sat above lakes Biel and Neuchatel, so that we basically got no view in that direction. Westward was OK, and the forests were colourful, so at least we had that.
But speaking of forests, the ridge trail (which consisted of well-worn slippery rocks) soon turned into a forest trail (at least no more wind), so for the next three hours we saw nothing but forest and trees, an no view until shortly before we reached the destination of Chaumont.
So even though this was a big disappointment (the hiking suggestion we found in the Internet claimed this was a superb panorama hike) as far as hikes go, the pictures are pretty. But it hurts to see the final view we had from the view tower in Chaumont to the Bernese Alps, and to think we could have been walking there instead....
 |
| Mount Chasseral with its recognizable tower. For a supplementary fee, there is a bus that takes hikers to the restaurant up here. The windsock is horizontal, which shows how much the wind is blowing! Also, all that low cloud, right here only, over the lakes |
 |
| To the West is the road we came up, and the view is great. Maybe all the windmills are an indicator of how much the wind blows here! |
 |
| To the East we can see the Alps. Which is, of course, also fantastic. Except there are no clouds and fog over there, and probably no wind either. I wished we were there. |
 |
| Heading South along the ridge. It was icy cold and very uncomfortable. |
 |
| Looking back to Le Chasseral. It would have been nice if there had been no wind! |
 |
| For pictures, it looks pretty |
 |
| The fall colours at least added some variety to our day |
 |
| Hiking along the Jura Ridge |
 |
| The restaurant Métairie de L'Ille was closed. We wanted to use their tables to have our picnic lunch, but the fog made it uncomfortable, so we kept on until we had a sunny break. |
 |
| Finally some sun. Far and wide no clouds except on Mount Chasseral! |
 |
| The large Maples were beautiful |
 |
| About two hours' worth of the trail was through forests like this, with detours around farms who didn't want the trail going through their farms any more. |
 |
| After about two hours of walking through the forest, we finally got our first views of the Alps near the end of our hike |
 |
| Close-up view of the Bernese Alps |
 |
| The most exciting part of the tour was at the end, at Chaumont, where we took the funiculaire down to near Neuchatel |
 |
| Next to the Funiculaire was this view tower, which gave us the best views of the four-hour hike |
 |
| Looking down at Lake Neuchatel |
 |
| Lake Neuchatel and a nice clear view of the line of Bernese Alps |
 |
| Looking South along Lake Neuchatel |
 |
| In the look-out tower |
 |
| The little Chaumont Funiculaire |
 |
| Bottom station of the Chaumont Funicular in La Coudre, just a short bus ride from Neuchatel |
 |
| It was a LONG 4-hour hike, at least half through the forests, although it seemed like a lot longer, and lots of cold wind and fog. Not my favourite hike! |
No comments:
Post a Comment