Well, we should know by now that most popular hiking trails near Zurich are VERY popular on a nice Sunday, because the city folk don't have to travel far, and I must say, we have never done a hike where there were so many people on the trail. But we did luck out just the same with a spot at a table in the restaurant (although service was understandably slow, due to the masses of people), and aside of the cold wind that blew across the ridge, I rather enjoyed the trail because there were no paved sections, only mountain and forest trails, and we had surprisingly far-reaching views along the entire trail in all directions, from Lake Constance in the North, across the Toggenburg region to Mount Säntis in the East, and Lake Zurich and the Eastern Alps in the South.
The real downside (besides the hazy air) was realizing this was a hike we should have done on a week-day, and we should have gone into the mountains South of us instead, where the sky was so obviously cloudless...
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| You can walk up to the start of the hiking trail, but using the chair lift saves an hour walking uphill. It was rather peaceful going up, although somewhat cold, and no indicator of how many people we were going to run into. |
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| From the chair lift looking South into the Glarus area of Switzerland, where we wished we had gone to instead. |
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| View across Lake Zurich on the way up on the chair lift |
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| This is the popular Atzmännig round tour, a very nice panorama tour but with many people on Sunday as the area is close to the city of Zurich |
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| Near the chair lift, as we started heading North, we were shocked at how many people were on the trail. We should have expected it, though. |
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| Wonderful view to the East across the Toggenburg Region of Eastern Switzerland, all the way to Mount Säntis in the Alpstein Massif |
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| On the ridge at the left is the restaurant where we planned to stop for lunch. When we saw the number of people walking here, we called them to see if we could make a reservation, but they don't take reservations on Sunday! But they thought that there would surely be a spot for two people |
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| Usually it bothers me to hike with so many other people on the trail. But we had expected more people than we were used to, so had already prepared mentally for this |
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| View Southwest toward Lake Zurich |
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| Even the forested part of the trail was very pleasant to walk. |
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| Another look to the South into the Glarus Alps where we regretted not going, as nice as this hike was. |
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| Another view East toward Mount Säntis |
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| The Toggenburg Hills. Below is, I think, the town of Wattwil. |
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| And there is a view from here all the way to Lake Constance and Germany to the North. I can only imagine how nice this would have been on a very clear day! |
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| Descending toward this farm we can see that there are trails coming up to this ridge from all directions! |
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| Here's the junction where people were streaming up from all sides! |
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| Close-up view of the large car parks at the bottom of the chair lift. By the time we got back there, the parking lot on the right was also full |
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| The outdoor terrace at the Chrüzegg Mountain Restaurant was packed, but we did find a shared table indoors to have our lunch of French Fries and Wiener Schnitzel. Which is better anyway, because too many people still smoke while eating outside.... |
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| Super nice trails for a Sunday afternoon walk in the low hills near Lake Zürich (this is actually in Canton St.Gallen) |
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| Heading back down to the parking lot where we started (with the chair lift) |
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| On the ridge it was cold and windy but down here pleasant and mild with good trails |
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| Still lots of people on the trail, but I survived! |
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| Back at the base of the chair lift, there are still lots of people heading up at 3 p.m, and the parking lots were full! |
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| Our 2.5-hour, 8 km hike around the Atzmännig region in St.Gallen, eastern Switzerland |
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