Many times as we take the train from Chur in Canton Graubünden, heading into the Rhine Canyon or into the Albula Valley, looking back behind the town of Tamins on the Rhine is a magnificent wall of mountains called the Calanda, and one day, just out of interest, I looked at a map and saw that behind those mountains is a valley that we could access via Tamins over a mountain pass called Kunkels Pass, from where you can walk down the Tamina Valley toward Bad Ragaz. So this is what we tackled this day, over 13 km and about 4.5 hours of walking, of which the first two hours were all uphill!
At the pass, the owners of the farm up here have been able to continue to offer grilled sausage and other items as "take-away" out of their farmhouse, so we supported them with buying nice hot sausages (the wind was very cold up at the pass)... and the farmer gave me a little bouquet of heather, of which the hillsides abounded! (I was so surprised, I thought heather bloomed in late summer..) This is the first time I have seen these flowers in the mountains; I kept seeing them afterwards on the rest of the approx. 2.5 hours and 9 km it took us to walk down the valley to the bus in Vättis.... all along the foot of the magnificent Calanda Mountains.
Another point of interest: This valley is just on the edge of the UNESCO Heritage Site Tectonic Arena Sardona (Glarus Overthrust) and the mountains directly to our West, specifically the Ringelspitz Massif, are the highest mountains in the region. Furthermore, about halfway between the Kunkels Pass and the town of Vättis, we crossed the border from Canton Graubünden into Canton St.Gallen....
 |
| On previous trips, after leaving the train station at Reichenau-Tamins, we noticed the indentation behind the town of Tamins, and found out you can access the Kunkels Pass from there, so this was the inspiration for today's hike! |
 |
| Town of Tamins, Canton Graubünden |
 |
| A short window of sunshine for this photo of Tamins, as we head into the little "cauldron" behind Tamins |
 |
| There is actually a road that winds along this steep rock-face to the pass, but we are going to take the walking trail up through that cleft, called Foppaloch |
 |
| Starting in Tamins, did the ascent in 2 hours, and walked from the Pass to Vättis in another 2.5 hours |
 |
| Steep ascent through the Foppaloch Gorge |
 |
| Only view on our way up, this is to the Rhine Valley, past Tamins (hidden) to Bonaduz |
 |
| Very steep rock walls on both sides as we climbed up through the gorge. Plus they put power lines in here.... |
 |
| Emerging from the Gorge on the this alp, where the road passes over the Kunkels Pass at the buildings there |
 |
| What a fascinating fountain, this is very original! |
 |
| A view of the interesting fountain from the other side. The trail heads from here right to the farmhouse |
 |
| The road passes over the Kunkels Pass and zigzags down the steep cauldron walls to Tamins |
 |
| Zoomed view of the Grisons (Graubünden) Alps to the South |
 |
| We are happy to get some hot grilled sausages from the farmer at the Ueberuf Farm, and are also happy to support the business! They will be allowed to operate out of the restaurant on May 11! |
 |
| Our simple lunch and the pretty bouquet of heather that I got from the farmer for Mother's Day! |
 |
| View down the Tamina Valley with the magnificent mountains in the Sardona Geopark (Ringelspitz Massif) |
 |
| Instead of walking down the valley along the paved road, we chose the slightly longer but much prettier forest trail behind the barn at Ueberuf |
 |
| There was a cold wind blowing at the pass, but the sky was starting to clear. This is such a beautiful and wild valley! Those mountains are the Ringelspitz Massif. |
 |
| First of many hillsides covered with heather, from whence my bouquet probably came! |
 |
| Just after crossing the main road, we continued along the forest road on the East side of the valley, with nice views of the Ringelspitz Massif, and the large Alp called Oberkunkels. Here is more heather! |
 |
| The entire hillside next to the 3-km forest road was covered in heather! |
 |
| Across the valley, the alp call Oberkunkels. All the houses are practicing "Social Distancing" !!!! |
 |
| And on our side, the first glimpse of the Calanda mountains far overhead! Simply magnificent! I almost fell over in surprise and how beautiful this was... |
 |
| The road down the Tamina Valley toward Vättis was a combination of paved and forest roads, forest and meadow trails. It never got boring. Right about here, we passed across the border of Canton Grisons into Canton St.Gallen. |
 |
| A full view of the Calanda Mountains to our East |
 |
| And to our West, some of the beautiful peaks of the Sardona Heritage Site come into view through this side valley |
 |
| I'm always excited when I see the first gentians of the season! I find bright blue flowers most fascinating! |
 |
| Old barn |
 |
| Easy walking on this kind of road |
 |
| More of the Calanda peaks above us |
 |
| The river here is actually called the Görbsbach, which flows into the Tamina River, which descends from the Calfeisental Valley from the Sardona Region at Vättis |
 |
| This is the Calfeisental Valley, from where the Tamina River flows down to Vättis. |
 |
| Another look at the Calanda high above Vättis |
 |
| We climbed the small hill South of Vättis where the fortress used to be, and hoped for a nice view across the village, but the trees are too high! From here we'll head down valley with the bus. |
 |
| Main square of Vättis town |
 |
| The day has turned out quite well with these fantastic blue skies and crisp outlines of mountains |
 |
| Town church in Vättis |
 |
| Starting in Tamins, we climbed 700m to the Kunkels Pass (2 hours) then walked down-valley to Vättis, another 2.5 hours. From Vättis, we took the bus North to Bad Ragaz, an exciting 45 minute ride on curving roads along the sides of the valley. For about half that time we were the only passengers on the bus |
THE FOLLOWING are photos taken from the bus as we wound our way down the Tamina Valley toward Bad Ragaz, a major city in the Rhine Valley, near Chur.
 |
| Crossing the dam at Lake Mapraggsee at the Hydro Electric Plant |
 |
| A view right into the famous Tamina Gorge |
 |
| Another view into the Gorge. There is a trail to the back of the gorge along the bottom, to the old Pfäfers Thermal Baths, but it's all along a paved road, so not so interesting for us |
 |
| The bus takes a detour over the new Tamina Bridge to the town of Pfäfers |
 |
| The new Tamina Bridge was only recently completed, opened on June 22, 2017 |
 |
| Final descent to Bad Ragaz in the Rhine Valley |
 |
| Of course, another photo of the Sargans castle as we pass that way going West then North with the train |
 |
| Lake Walensee |
 |
| This map was downloaded from the tourist website for Canton Glarus, to show where the Tamina Valley is, where we walked from Tamins (village next to Reichenau) to the Kunkels Pass and then to Vättis, plus the bus ride to Bad Ragaz. The Tamina Valley is part of the Sardona Geopark, although the actual UNESCO Heritage Site is the dark region on the map. We are planning a trip into the Calfeisental Valley, this year hopefully |
No comments:
Post a Comment