Walking through the Maschwander Allmend and in Three Cantons!

Wednesday May 26, 2021 -- A local clearing of the otherwise cloudy skies gave us the incentive once again to venture out locally, because rain was forecast for later.

A year ago we discovered a nature reserve nearby called the Maschwander Allmend, in a triangle of land called the Reussspitz, which is formed where our local river the Lorze flows into the Reuss River. The region is interesting in that the triangle of land is in Canton Zug, but the Reuss River to the West forms the boundary with Canton Aargau, and the Lorze River on the East forms the boundary with Canton Zurich. So in effect we can actually do a nice walk in three Cantons! (Crossing the Canton borders three times:  Aarau --> Zug --> Zurich --> Zug.)

Last year the grasses were all yellow, and the leaves were just appearing (see photos HERE), so we thought we'd like to see it now that it's all green. Our hope was also to spy some birds, but other than the usual ducks and birds of prey, we saw only a couple of storks, and those were pretty far away. So we made it a flower-observation tour instead. Right now it's the very pretty purple Siberian Irises which grace the meadows, plus some yellow irises, poppies, daisies and others. 

We started in Mühlau in Canton Aargau, which we can access in 30 minutes by train, crossed the Reuss, wandered through the Maschwanden Nature Reserve in Canton Zug, followed the Lorze River for a bit in Canton Zurich, visited the Frauenthal Cistercian Cloister in Hagendorn ("Zisterzienserinnen" in German, a real tongue-twister!) back in Canton Zug and got back on the bus in Rumentikon. 

We had no rain, which we can be thankful for this month! But such a nice view of the mountains from here, unfortunately pretty dark due to the overcast skies. In the end, it was another 10-km walk, and good to get out none-the-less. And a surprisingly large number of good photos....

Our hike starts once again in the village of Mühlau on the Reuss River. This is still in Canton Aarau. We have started four or five hikes from this location!

Crossing the Reuss River, which forms the border between Cantons Aarau and Zug. The mountains of Central Switzerland, including Mt. Titlis on the left (the large slope of snow) are still nicely framed against the blue sky

Entering the Nature Reserve called Maschwander Allmend

We followed several rivers and canals

The Siberian Iris was the most notable flower in these meadows. 

The Siberian Iris is a protected flower throughout Switzerland, and so also are the regions where it proliferates, namely unfertilized, late-cut marsh meadows, which is the characteristic terrain for this moist area in the Reuss Valley. These marsh meadows with over 40 different types of plants form some of the most species-rich habitats in Europe.

Another look to the South, we still can see the mountains nicely framed against the blue sky.

Poppies in the grain fields

More Siberian Irises

By now the skies have turned overcast, so the contrast of the snowy peaks against the sky is reduced, but we were still pretty pleased at how much we could see of the Alps. Mt. Pilatus is the mountain on the very right.

All the various flowers we saw in the meadows. These are the first spring flowers!

From the Maschwander Allmend we crossed the Lorze River, which here is the boundary between Canton Zug and Canton Zurich. So now, I'm on the bridge in Canton Zurich! And Urs, taking the photo, must be standing right on the border of both...

After crossing the Lorze River we followed it South for a bit through the Hasplen Nature Reserve, which apparently has some very rare species of amphibians and plants. Three such amphibians are otherwise hard to find in Switzerland, including the small green tree frog. We looked hard, but didn't see any.

Urs in particular likes these reed-marshes

An interesting dragonfly of sorts

Vegetation along the Lorze River

Now we are heading South, with the spectacular mountain panorama always ahead of us

We did a detour to a small lake which we saw on our map, and were planning to walk around it and on to the South, but we found out it was privately-owned and access was not permitted. So we had to double back to the main trail.

It was windy, and these gorgeous fields of grain were swaying like waves. In the back on the left is Mt. Rigi. As usual, we can see this mountain from many places in the central North.

There were many swallows flitting over the grain fields, but they were too quick to photograph. So I was surprised to see I had captured one on this photo (bottom left) while I was photographing this fantastic barn with the spectacular backdrop.

This is an interesting spot: We are crossing Canton borders for the third time. Urs is standing in Canton Zug, and I am photographing him from Canton Zurich!

We peeked into a barn to see these cows enjoying a load of fresh-cut grass!

VIDEO:

The cows enjoying their very freshly-cut grass!

This is the barn where we saw the cows eating grass. So many barns around the country now have their entire (and sometimes very extensive) roofs covered in solar panels. It is such a clever way to use this space to generate power.

Up ahead are the grounds of the Frauenthal Monastery. In the background is Mt. Pilatus

This is a women's monastery (cloister or convent) and the order of nuns is called Cistercian. The order was founded here in 1231, although this building itself dates from 1669. This is the oldest order of Cistercian nuns in Switzerland.

Inside the courtyard at the Frauenthal Monastery. They had a small shop, but it was closed over lunchtime. 

Heading into the church to have a look. The doors are pretty low!!

The interior of the church at the Frauenthal Monastery

Not just one, but two organs!

It was time to head to the next bus stop in Rumentikon (20 minutes from here) as we had felt a few raindrops! One last look at the Frauenthal Monastery as we head slightly uphill again.

Another typical sight of the Swiss countryside: A farmer spreading liquid pig manure on his fields! It smells less when they do it this way, instead of spraying it from a large hose like fire-fighters spray water.... but we could still smell it....

We started at 11 a.m. in Mühlau in Canton Aargau, crossed into Canton Zug over the Reuss River, then crossed into Canton Zurich over the Lorze River, and back into Canton Zug between Maschwanden and Frauenthal. This spur-of-the-moment choice of a hike turned out to be over 10 km and 2.5 hours of walking.... plus we got home in time for an afternoon nap!