Hiking in the Breccaschlund (Brecca Gorge) at Lake Schwarzsee, Fribourg

Saturday September 5 -- After 12 days of no hiking for me, we decided to start again with a less "strenuous" hike, only four hours instead of the six we had originally planned. That is, weekend weather in the Valais region was forecast to be marvelous and ideal for a 2-day hike, but all the mountain hostels we might have considered were fully booked out! So we decided on a day-hike in the Fribourg area of Switzerland (French/German), in the region of Lake Schwarzsee (Lac Noir, or "Black Lake") where we had been once several years ago, and it was time to visit it again.

Lake Schwarzsee is a popular hiking and camping destination for the people from Western Switzerland, so we knew there would be plenty of people there, especially on the popular Panorama Trail. But it was nowhere near as mad as it must have been in the Bernese Alps (or in Valais obviously) judging by the MASSES of people waiting on the platform in Bern for connections to those areas! Never have I seen so many people on the move, as if the entire country was taking advantage of the "final weekend of summer" (or so it seems).

Here at Lake Schwarzsee, most people do the shorter loop starting with a ride up to Riggisalp with the chair lift (saving 450m of ascent on foot) and returning to the car park, but we chose a longer loop which took us right to the back of the Brecca Gorge, and which included some very nice mountain trails at the base of some imposing crags, and most wonderfully, the sighting of a herd of maybe 30 chamois moving along the base of these cliffs.

Even though the geology of the gorge is mostly karst rock, some of the area has been cleared for pastures, and there are several farms up here all of which offer some kind of food or refreshments, or cheese for purchase, and most offer basic accommodation as well. We chose to have a late lunch at one of these mountain alpine farms, because we had read that they offered Rösti besides the more common cheese-and-sausage platters.

The only negatives on this trip: Of the 3.5 hours it takes us to get to the lake, one full hour of this is on a bus, usually too full of chatty people. And the other negative: The first hour of our excursion was unfortunately without sun, as usual for us that all the hillsides far and wide have sunshine, and only where we are walking is where the clouds obscure the sunshine....

The excursion starts with a peaceful ride up to Riggisalp with the chair lift. It must often be windy up here, because looking down I counted five hats of a large variety littered in the pasture below!

Looking to the South end of Lake Schwarzsee, into the Brecca Gorge to the right of the craggy mountains (on the ascent with the chair lift)

Heading South first, then back on this side of the peak, and around again into the gorge

There were lots of people onthe trail this day, but they managed to spread out.

A couple of the farms here. At the back on the left at the farmhouse is where the trail switches back to head North again along the other side of this valley

The first autumn crocuses, a sure sign that summer is soon over!

VIDEO:

The goats can give themselves massages!

Sunshine everywhere except where we are walking!

Pleasant trail to walk

It's always fun when there are stairs involved!

After rounding the massif, we head South again into the Brecca Gorge. At the base of the cliffs is where we saw the chamois

Finally, the clouds are moving away from the sun, and we get to see the lake with a bit of sun shining on it

This trail is part of several regional and national trails. But we are mostly following no.267, the "Breccaschlund Panorama Trail"

A nice look to the back of the gorge. Heading in we are walking below the cliffs on the left. Heading out will be along the road down the middle

Way down below us are a couple of the farms. It's the one on the left where we ate our late lunch

The trail in on the left, the road out below. And the tiny building in the middle, another farm with restaurant, we passed on the way out as well.

Way above on the patch of rocks and in the trees is where we caught sight of most of the chamois.

Zoomed view of a few of the many chamois making their way along the base of the cliffs

VIDEO:

A large herd of chamois moved across the base of the cliffs

(The video is very shaky because the camera is hand held at high zoom, and it is difficult to hold the camera completely still)

A look North out of the gorge

Zoomed view out of the gorge. Most of the way out was along the road below

A look to the back of the gorge. We still had quite a way to way up here to the left, before turning along the road that led down to that farm.

Some nice mountain trails into the back of the valley

Actually, up to this point we had already been on the trail for three hours, and there are still two more to go! But we also spent a lot of time watching the chamois, and took a detour off the trail to look for where they might have come from.

So many rocks in this karst landscape

Beautiful cliff formations. At this point we are heading North again, with the crags to our right.

The alp-farm called Marbach-Brecca is where we had a late lunch

Rösti with ham prepared by the farmer

Our view as we enjoyed our lunch at the farm

Heading down the road to the lake, one more hour to go. This view is to the back of the gorge again.

Looking back at the craggy mountains where we walked just a bit below the cliffs on our way into the valley

We got down to the lake with about 30 minutes to spare before the bus came up this way. On the left side of the lake is the final bus stop, or alternately the first stop on the one-hour trip back to Fribourg. The chair lift is on the North side of the lake. So we were the first to get seats, and SO many people got on at the car park.