Wednesday August 5th -- After returning from our 3-day trip to Davos, the weather cooled and we had lots of rain on Monday and Tuesday. Perfect for relaxing before the next big trip, which was to a very far corner of Switzerland (Puschlav), requiring over 5 hours of travel, so a trip we wanted to take when we had several days in a row. Problem was, the B&B we like to stay at had availability for only Thursday and Friday. So we planned our 3-day trip there for Thursday to Saturday.
But Wednesday was a glorious day and required more hiking, so we did a day trip "close by" (two hours), a section of the Toggenburg High Trail on the North side of the Churfirsten Range. The Toggenburg High Trail has several sections that are simply too long to do between public transit access, and even this stretch was a good five hours to walk. But it included a section of the popular "Amden High Trail" which we had attempted once before but had to cut short because of too much snow (in October!). But the day was splendid and actually quite cool, and we were even surprised that after the short heat wave, Mt. Säntis actually had a fresh dusting of snow!
The highlight of the hike was going to be a ride in another of those farmers' cable cars, which turned out to be way more popular than we expected, given that the website advertises that it runs at 9:00 and 11:00 on weekdays (Whaaaat??) and there is a car park right next to the little cable car hut, so by the time we got there shortly after 9:00, we were about 25th in line! I timed the run: 12 minutes including loading of the FOUR people that were technically allowed, would mean that we had to wait about 75 minutes! But we lucked out, as they were squeezing 5 into the box, and Urs and I each played the "fifth wheel", so we were up and ready to go on our 15-km hike only 45 minutes later than expected.
As is usually the case lately, the day started stunningly, and then about an hour into the day clouds covered the sun, but there were so many nice views and so much variety (including a difficult and rather wet and slippery section over karst terrain) that the five hours simply flew by.
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Heading toward the Churfirsten Mountains from the North Side
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Beautiful morning for a 10-minute walk from the bus stop to the barn with the cable car. We have our fingers crossed that we are the first ones there!
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As we get to the barn, the parking lot is full of cars and there are already about 25 people ahead of us, and the cable car is already operating at full power!
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After just two runs, they needed an extra person to make five in the car, so I gladly volunteered! I had the best seat in the house with best view.... and the milk can got a ride too!
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Heading up in the Selun Alp cable car. This view is up the Thur Valley toward Alt St.Johann
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| Mt. Säntis comes into view, and it is a huge surprise to see how much snow it received overnight! (It is, after all, only 2500m in altitude!) After the heat wave, it got quite cold! |
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| Zoomed view of Mt. Säntis. I am happy I got to see it like this. About an hour later and for the rest of the day, the mountain was fully covered in clouds |
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A look NW along the Thur Valley to Stein and Nesslau
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I waited about 20 minutes at the top, Urs came up two trips later. That's him in the purple.
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Poor Urs got squeezed in to the lowest part of the cabin! By the way, the fellow in red is probably the farmer waiting for his milk cans. Since the people put their packs in the back, he might have to wait even longer than we did!
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This hike ended up being 5 hours and 15 kilometers, but a combination of sunshine, cool temperatures, and a large variety of different trails and things to see along the way, made it not seem that long at all. We started at Selun Alp on the East side, walked along the North side of the Churfirsten range, along the Toggenburg and Amden High Trails, then to the chair lift above Amden.
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Heading off on the Toggenburger Höhenweg (High Trail) only about 45 minutes later than planned, we are being observed as we follow the easy farm road.
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Here's who was watching us from on high. It was a bit weird.
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Looking back toward Mt. Säntis
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The first three kilometers went past a few farms along this wide road. It was not too tedious because the air was very cool and the views were good.
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First three kilometers on a slightly rising road
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A look back over the pasture landscape we crossed, before starting the first climb.
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The first climb was through karst terrain and didn't go as quickly as expected, because the trail was slippery and you really have to watch where you step.
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We haven't quite missed the alpine roses
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Making our way through the rocky landscape
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On the other side we get the first view of the distance we still have to go to our destination, which is not straight ahead either!
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Approaching our second uphill climb!
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We really had a perfect day for this.
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More beautiful meadow flowers. Really prolific right now are the poisonous purple Monkshood.
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Many steel cables help us on the narrow slippery trail!
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Another look back at where we started. Mt.Säntis is now hidden in the clouds.
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And a look to where we are headed. First down to the trail along the ridge, then below the little green peak and to the right, then around the hill in the middle (on its left side). On the hill on the far left is the small community of Amden
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A steep descent
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Cows with white stripes around the middle have a special standing in the herd.
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Heading toward a place called Vorder Höhi, which we walked to on a winter trail last year.
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It took us three hours to walk here to Vorder Höhi from Selunalp. Next goal is Hinter Höhi (1 hour 30 minutes), and from there the next cable car is another 30 minutes walk. We could shorten our walk by heading to Arvenbühl, but we have walked that section twice already.
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A look South toward Arvenbühl
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Here we are now walking along the Amdener Höhenweg (Amden High Trail), a trail we tried walking in October 2014 but had to give up due to too much snow. To get to the end, we have to walk up valley to the right first.
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Heading up into the next valley
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This part of the Amden High Trail is very popular and easy to walk.
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Cows with freckles.
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Fireweed is also prolific right now!
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So pretty with large fields of fireweed.
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