Walking along the Ergisch Irrigation Channel (Aergischer Wasserleitu)

Sunday June 21 -- After the very long hike in Zermatt on Saturday, we decided on the spur of the moment to spend another night in the Valais region instead of making the long trip home (after all, this was our "vacation") so we booked the last available room in the St.Ursula Guest House in Brig, where we had stayed about three weeks earlier, and decided to do a non-strenuous "short" (approx. 3 hours) hike along another irrigation channel we had not yet been to.

"Non-strenuous" means not so much uphill, and the "Suonen" or water channels are usually pretty level, but the Aergischer Channel in the Turtmann Valley also has some very nice sections along cliffs with narrow trails and a good drop on one side, the kind of interesting trail we really like to walk. To make it even more interesting, we included sections of trail that are marked as "non-official" trails on the map, which usually means they are not cleared and might mean running the gauntlet through stinging nettles!

Starting in Ergisch on the East side of the steep entrance to the Turtmanntal Valley, it took us about two hours following the channel to its feeder point at the Turtmänna River, and about another hour to walk back out on the other side to Unterems, where we caught the cable car back down to the Rhone Valley. The day was not quite as sunny as we'd expected, but this turned out to be a non-issue, as we were mostly in forested areas anyway, and it might have been too hot otherwise. 

Even though I slipped (happens very seldom) on a slimy section (in my mind's eye I was picturing going over the edge!) and landed full on my bottom in a small run of water, we really enjoyed this little walk we did to end our three-day hiking trip...

Photo of the Turtmanntal Valley from the Turtmann train station. To walk to the cable car which goes to Unter- and Oberems takes about 20 minutes. But there is a bus to Ergisch (does not run often) so we timed our trip so we could start by taking the bus to Ergisch, and returning via cable car from Unterems. Our hike started about 100m above the town of Ergisch

In Ergisch is this lovely house displaying all the placings of their Eringer cows in the Eringer cow fights and elimination rounds

 

These are young Eringer cows, raised for meat and to fight in the cow fighting events!

We join the Aergischer Water Channel about 100m above the town of Ergisch. Across the steep valley is Unterems, where we are ending the hike

Walking carefully along the water channel trail takes about 90 minutes, and the descent to Unterems another hour (the latter trail was a little rough and also not cleared). The "official" trail from Ergisch to the channel crosses the meadow, but we wanted more of the "channel" experience, so we headed straight up

This is what happens when you choose to walk the "unofficial" trails!

 

After taking this photo, I slipped on a slimy section and fell into the water. Good thing I had a change of clothes. Also, I didn't go over the edge!

All of a sudden the water disappeared out of the channel, and I was very disappointed. The water channel experience is best when the water is running! As it turned out, the water had been diverted, and we had water again 15 minutes later!

This is how the water channels work: Each area or farmer is assigned certain days where they get the water, so there are several sluices along the way that get opened and closed depending on where the water is currently assigned to go. So from here on, we have water along the trail again!

Even though there is quite a drop on one side, the trees kind of create a screen. Plus the trail is pretty wide and easy to walk on

At the places where the trail is narrow, there are cables to hold on to

VIDEO

Walking along the Ergisch

water channel

The water volume was very high! And we were walking slightly uphill, which was a good thing in the places where the trail was a bit damp

 

We found a great spot for a "coffee" break (no coffee though)

The interesting trail continues

VIDEO:

Another section of the 

water channel

It took us almost two hours to walk the approx. 4 km water channel, including 20 minutes for the ascent from Ergisch, before reaching the bridge over the Turtmänna River. 

They are rather optimistic with the amount of time to walk to Ergisch from here! We could barely make this time on a really good mountain trail. In any case, it also took us a bit longer to get to Unterems than the time here states

This trail, while an "official" trail to Unterems (called the Bear Trail) had not been cleared recently!

A bit of a shower along the way!

The beautiful Martagon Lily, or "Turk's Cap Lily" . We found these along another "unofficial" trail which diverted us off the "trodden path"

Finding our way through meadows along the unofficial trail!

Across the valley now is Ergisch, where we started our hike

Across the Valley is Ergisch, where we started our  hike. The valley on the left is the passage to Goppenstein and the beautiful Lötschental Valley. Also, the South Ramp Railway passes through the old Lötschberg Tunnel from here

Below us is Unterems, our goal for the day. You can see across the valley how very dry it is here. There is a 12-km section of the "Valais Sunshine Trail" which we are planning to walk soon, maybe not on a hot day!

The village of Unterems

A few details of the village. Doesn't take long to walk through!

Another cute Valais house, probably used to be a hay barn, set on those mushroom stilts so that the mice can't get into the barns

Next to this bench is the cable car station. We had to wait 15 minutes for the scheduled run of the cable car. If there are many people waiting, they run more often, but we were the only ones needing to go down.

A couple of people came up to Unterems, and we were the only ones riding down. They didn't even run the cable car to the top (Oberems) because no one was waiting there. Worked out well! Down below is the airplane runway, not sure if it is still in use.

Heading down to the village of Turtmann, from where we have to walk 20 minutes to the train station.

A pretty waterfall where the Turtmänna River leaves the valley!

First cable car ride for this year, another photo to add to my collection of cable cars we have ridden!

Walking across the old tarmac (no longer in use) to the Turtmann Railway station

I'd never seen this before: It was quite windy and so an ideal place on the old runway for land sailing!

 

A look back to the Turtmann Valley. We came down with the cable car from Unterems on the right. We could have easily walked, another 40 minutes, but I'd had enough walking for three days!

Last pretty house near the train station in Turtmann

From Turtmann railway station we took a bus to Ergisch, walked the 3 hours (8.5 km) to Unterems, from where we caught the cable car down to Turtman, and another 1.5 km walk back to the train station (The red trails are other hikes we did in 2015)

We spent the night before in the St.Ursula Guesthouse in Brig, where we had been three weeks earlier. This time we had a room under the roof, where we had to take a spiral stairway to get there!

A view into the Stockalp Palace in Brig, from a higher floor in the St.Ursula Guesthouse!

We had to walk through the entire building and up the spiral staircase to get to our room with shared toilet and shower. It was also a very nice room and large!