From the Raten Pass to Morgarten along the Aegeri Valley Panorama Trail

Sunday January 5 -- On Sunday we finally had a beautiful, non-foggy day locally, so we slept in, then traveled only one hour to the next lake over, Lake Aegerisee, where there is often no fog anyway. From the Raten Pass (not very high, just over 1000m) we walked 20 minutes to a small mountain restaurant we had seen on the map (St.Jost). Didn't expect it to be so tiny! In fact, this would be a typical mountain restaurant we would find high up in the Alps, no electricity, everything done on a gas stove, so basically you can eat expensive soup, sausages, or Fondu! Even the coffee was clearly from freeze-dried!

The little chapel next to the "restaurant" has a history....A hermitage since 1654, the Chapel of St. Jost is the highest point (1150m) on the pilgrim trail from the Aegeri Valley to Einsiedeln.

From there we continued for another 90 minutes on the Aegeri Valley Panorama Trail, alternating between paved roads, muddy meadow trails, and serene forest paths. The air was mild, at places almost too hot in the sun. And on one hill over (Mostelberg) was the annual hot air balloon festival, and even though we didn't see them up close, we counted 13 floating by as we headed down to the lake, to the town of Morgarten, where the historical Battle of Morgarten was fought in 1315, in which 1500 Swiss Confederates using rocks and logs ambushed and defeated the army of the Habsburg, and sealed the Swiss Confederacy.

So a nice Sunday afternoon stroll for us, lots of sunshine, views, mild temperatures on this January day, AND we were back home by 3 p.m.¨!

From the Raten Pass you can see Mount Rigi and Mount Pilatus

The bus brought us right up to the Raten Pass, from where we hiked about 20 minutes uphill to St. Jost

The walk to St. Jost was on the shady side of the hill, and therefore a bit chilly!

I was surprised when the chapel and "restaurant" came into view. That restaurant was WAY smaller than I expected!

Still, inside there was room for 30 people. The owner told us they have no electricity here and must cook everything on a gas stove. There was not a lot of selection. Soup and sausages and Fondu, cake and coffee for dessert.