Thursday September 10th -- After three days of long hikes in Canton Valais and a 5-hour trip home on Wednesday, we wanted to do something "easy" and close to home.
Nearby in Canton Uri there are lots of small privately-owned cable cars open also for the public, for which we have a list that we are checking off as we get an opportunity to ride them. A year ago we made our way to a little-known location tucked away in a small valley near Flüelen (just one hour away) to ride on an extra-special two-person transport called Giebel, which services a single farm on the mountainside overlooking Lake Uri (Urnersee). But when we got there and called up to the farmer, it turns out they weren't home (during haying season they aren't there to operate the cable car!). There's a good reason their website says to call ahead. At that time we had to do a Plan B hike nearby.
This time we were successful. We called ahead and found out they were at home all day. So we rode the cable car up to the farm, then hiked further up into the ravine and walked back out down along the Gruonbach River. A very nice forest hike with some nice views. Of particular interest in this section is that the river falls so steeply that it creates massive mud-slides when there are heavy rains, so a complicated series of walls have been built along the entire height (a drop of about 1000m) of the river to create many small waterfalls and prevent too much debris coming down at once.
The 90-minute hike was too short for us, though, so when we got back to the base station of the cable car, we called the farmer again and she sent the car back down to us for another ride up (totally worth the 4 SFr. per person per ride!) and for our second 90-minute hike we walked from her farm back down to lake level to the little chapel dedicated to William Tell, which is along the 1991-created "Swiss Trail" which commemorates Switzerland's 700th anniversary of Confederation.
As there are currently no boats docking at Tell's Platte (and no other public transport), we had to walk an additional hour northwards along the lake to Sisikon, which is actually the nicest stretch of the "Swiss Trail" along the East side of the lake, a stretch that we have done before and which I had long wanted to do again.
So our "Easy" Hike turned into three hikes (total about 4.5 hours because we also had to walk 20 minutes to the cable car), not particularly difficult, and with a short ride back home....
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From the Bus Stop at the lake, we first have to walk 20 minutes to the cable car
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There is a little shed with the single cargo car. You call up to the farmer, she walks over to the upper shed where she operates the motor that brings us up to the Giebel farm, saving us a 250-m ascent.
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Up up up and right over the neighbour's back yard!
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View down onto Lake Uri as we waft over the mountainside
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A glance into the Gruonbach Valley where we are headed
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Upper station at Giebel Alp
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Our first hike, starting at the upper station, required a bit of ascent first, then a 500-m descent along the Gruonbach stream (after first walking 20 minutes from the bus stop, also uphill). Altogether a two-hour walk, before we headed up to the alpine farm the second time.
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View down to the Flüelen Delta
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Heading a bit further back into the Gruonbach Valley
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A single bench along the way, and it wasn't occupied, so perfect for our picnic lunch (we only ran into two other hikers in these two hours).
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We thought the descent might be steep, but the trail was nicely laid out with steps like these.
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| Four bridges crossed the river |
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This is just one of dozens of "steps" built along the river to prevent massive debris from rushing down during storms.
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The river flows down from one step to the next.
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Back at the bottom near the cable car
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| As there is only one "wagon" and it was up at the farm, we had to wait for it to come down again (after calling Mrs. Farmer to let us know we wanted to come up again). |
VIDEO:
Our second ride up to Giebel Alp on the farmer's cable car
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| Chatting with the owner of this cable car. There is now a road built up to this farm, and if the owners did not get subsidized by the Government, they would no longer be able to operate the cable car. |
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For our second hike, we had to pass through the farm buildings to head to the North.
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On our second hike, which included an hour at lake level from Tellsplatte to Sisikon, we headed North and passed below the Ober Axen cable car (also such an interesting contraption). This second hike took almost 2 1/2 hours.
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A barn perched right at the edge of the steep cliff
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Looking down at Lake Uri and the Ober Axen Cable Car
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The Ober Axen Cable car is an adventure to ride (we have done this one previously) as it drops almost vertically after leaving the Ober Axen Alp.
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Ober Axen cable car up close
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VIDEO:
Oberaxen cable car from Flüelen at the lake, to the Ober Axen Alp.
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View down to the Flüelen Delta
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As we reach the Unter Axen Alp, the trail heads steeply down the hill to lake level
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We are being observed....
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Heading down the steep trail to lake level
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Heading down along the cliffs to lake level
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Unfortunately, the skies got cloudy by now and we didn't have the nice crisp view of the mountains any more.
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The clarion bells (Glockenspiel) near Tellsplatte were a donation from the Organization of Swiss Chocolate Manufacturers
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There are a variety of songs which one can listen to, but the bells can only be operated for 10 minutes every hour. We were a little late, but did hear them ringing as we descended the mountain.
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TWO VIDEOS:
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