January 18, 2022: This isn't really a hike. I had an appointment in Solothurn, and visited one of my favourite Baroque churches, the Church of the Jesuits. The art is magnificent. I wanted to post a few of the photos on my blog page.
It is renowned as one of the most beautiful Baroque buildings in Switzerland
 |
| This is the other large church in Solothurn, St. Ursus Cathedral |
 |
| Crossing the Aar River to get to the train station |
Wednesday January 12, 2022 -- This was our first real winter hike of the year, with lots of cold and crunchy snow!
Of course the reason that the snow is crunchy is because it's COLD!!! Temperature-wise, zero degrees isn't really that cold compared to some other places, but even though we had lots of sunshine, there was an icy wind blowing. And I thought I might be too warm with stockings under the pants. Turns out that would have been a good idea.
We chose to do a loop hike starting in the resort town of Sörenberg in the Entlebuch Region of Canton Luzern. This is a popular hiking trail which usually boasts a lot of sunshine especially on the upper moor called Totmoos. The motor-vehicle road which connects Sörenberg to Giswil via the Glaubenbielen Pass is closed to vehicles in winter, and gets converted into part of the loop trail. We have wanted to do this winter hike for some time, but when the winter is mild, the snow disappears from the road and you walk on asphalt, which is no fun.
So right now it's cold enough for the road to remain covered in snow, which is ideal for a winter hike. The problem is that the road is at the base of the Brienzer Rothorn Massif, and in January the sun is not high enough to provide sunshine at the valley bottom. So besides the cold icy wind, we walked at least half of the 10-km hike in the cold shadow of the mountain! (Nevertheless, walking along the Waldemme River was pretty, even in the shade).
At least there was no fog.... which was a distinct possibility, as most of the area to the North had fog for at least half the day.
 |
| Trail no.601: The 10-km loop trail is officially known as the "Glaubenbielen Pass Loop Trail" (although it doesn't go all the way up to the pass). We've been interested in walking this for a few years. |
 |
| We started at 11:00 in Sörenberg and headed straight uphill. In retrospect, we might have been better off starting along the river, as there was probably more sunshine there in the morning. But we didn't know for sure, and we also prefer to walk uphill at the start of a hike instead of after 3 km of a flat section. |
 |
| Winter hikes are always detailed on pink trail markers. We're headed uphill to Totmoos, which is where the trail loops back downhill again. That's a little over 4 km, and we had sunshine the whole way, but an icy cold wind. |
 |
| This is the only way I like to do winter hikes: The trail has to be covered in snow and the snow has to be cold and squeaky under the shoes. Then I don't even mind if it's a wide trail on a road. |
 |
| Looking down at the South part of Sörenberg Village, and the Brienzer Rothorn range. This is the canton border between Luzern and Bern. I looks like there might have been some sunshine along the river below, but it's hard to tell. |
 |
| Below me is the resort village of Sörenberg, and in the background is the Schrattenfluh Massif, a large region of Karst geology |
 |
| We found a great shelter out of the wind, where we had our picnic lunch! |
 |
| Here where we had our picnic lunch was a rare spot where the wind wasn't blowing |
 |
| It's pleasant to walk in forested sections when the trees are covered in snow, and the sun shines! |
 |
| Around the corner we now get a view of the Giswilerstock, which is the main mountain at the Glaubenbielen Pass (which is to the left). On a previous occasion, we did a hike from the other side and over the saddle with the the power poles, and walked down to the pass from there. |
 |
| A close-up view of the saddle over which is a hiking trail from the Lungernsee (Lake Lungern) side. |
 |
| Now we're at the sunny plateau near Totmoos Moor. But it's cold! |
 |
| The trail bends through the Totmoos moor and now heads down toward the Panoramastrasse (the motor-vehicle road which goes over the Glaubenbielen Pass). This is the Brienzer Rothorn Ridge, which forms the Canton Border with Luzern (this side) and Bern (other side). |
 |
| The trail markers show us that we have come 4.2 kilometers from Sörenberg, and have another 6 km to go. It took us about 90 minutes to get to this point, and another 90 on the downhill section back to Sörenberg. |
 |
| In winter, the Panorama Road over the Glaubenbielen Pass is closed to vehicle traffic and becomes a winter hiking trail! |
 |
| Looking down at a farmhouse before we get to a bend in the road. You can see the trail continue at the back. |
 |
| The little storage house at the farm, how cute! Shortly after this we got into the shadow of the mountain, and didn't have any sunshine for the next two kilometers! |
 |
| It was very cold in the shade, and we covered the two kilometers quickly, in about 25 minutes |
 |
| Finally back in the sunshine! From here it was another 2 kilometers along the Waldemme River, which has its source on the North Flank of the Brienzer Rothorn mountain, and flows all the way North to join the Kleine Emme (Little Emme) at Schüpfheim, on its way to Luzern. |
 |
| Final stretch to Schüpfheim. We made it there with 30 minutes to spare till the 3 p.m. bus. At that time, the shadow was just reaching the village, so the timing was good. |
 |
| The suggested time for this 10-km loop done on snow-covered trails is 3 hrs 35 minutes. We managed it in 3 hours, which is the time it would take on regular trails! When it's cold, you walk faster! |
 |
| The orange trail is the one we did this day. The one in 2019 is when we walked from the summit of Mt. Brienzer Rothorn over the saddle and to the Glabenbielen Pass. It seems like we come to this area about once a year! |
Photos of the 2020 hike from Glaubenberg Pass to Glaubenbielen Pass can be found HERE.
Photos of the 2021 hike from Glaubenbielen Pass to the summit of Mt.Nünalpstock can be viewed HERE.
Here are a few photos from the bus ride back out of the Mariental Valley:
 |
| Leaving Sörenberg |
 |
| Heading North along the Mariental Valley |
 |
| Another interesting massif called Schwändliflüe |
Saturday January 1, 2022 -- First Hike of the New Year!!!
In the low-lying regions of Switzerland there is currently no snow and the grass is still green, but for weeks there has been fog. Only above the fog (1000m or so) you might find sunshine, but there the trails are covered in mushy snow.
On this Saturday, the forecast was for fog to only 600m, so as long as we stayed slightly higher, we might get some good walking in. We chose a nearby "mountain" called Heitersberg, (where we had hiked once before but had to cut our hike short due to rain) because at 780m we should safely be above the fog, and it would be like climbing a mountain again! Our main reason for going there was to view a brand new look-out tower (built in 2021) at the South end of the mountain, and we knew we'd have a good view of the Alps.
We decided to start on the North side and end with a climb on the tower, planning to always have the mountains ahead of us. This was the wrong choice for two reasons: Most of the trail was through forested area (albeit mostly deciduous forest, which means we still had some amount of filtered sunlight) and therefore we had little view of the mountains except to the East; and secondly and totally unexpected were the hundreds of people we encountered at the tower! We should have guessed that on a balmy and sunny holiday afternoon, with loads of parking nearby and great visibility, that many many people were going to visit a brand new look-out tower after their family lunch on the first day of the new year!!!
We should have started at the tower... at 11 a.m, before everybody else's afternoon outing. But it was a beautiful tower, and the view was splendid. And we got there just before the shade reached the tower. And even though we had less sunshine on the trail than I had hoped, it was still a good 12-km walk for us.
 |
| We got off the bus (from Baden) hier along the road, where the forest trail heads up to the Heitersberg range. The thick fog was "slightly" disappointing! But forecast was for fog to 600m, so there was still hope. Trail marker indicates 2 hrs.45 minutes to the lookout tower at Hasenberg, and from there it was another 20 minutes down to the next bus stop in Widen. So a total hike of over three hours. |
 |
| I'm still not sure if the fog is going to lift! But it was kind of cool to walk through the forest like this. |
 |
| When we emerged from the forest at 580m... sure enough, we were above the fog! This was the view to the West. We could have stayed here on the West side of the forested hill; we would have had more view and sunshine, but it was a wide flat road. We wanted more mountain trails, so we headed further up. |
 |
| When we got to the ridge, we had a nice view of the mountains to the East, as well as part of the Jura Range to the North. And by fortuitous timing, we found a bench, in the sunshine, with the view, right at lunchtime!!! |
 |
| From our picnic bench, a view of Mt. Säntis in the very east of Switzerland |
 |
| We chose the eastern side of the forest because we knew there were small trails here as opposed to the wider forestry or paved roads on the West side. But this trail was pretty muddy!!! |
 |
| Not a bad view, even with the fog! On the left is the Lägern Range, which we have walked about three times, and on the right is the Altberg, which also has a viewing tower (Steinacher Turm) which we visited in March of 2020 (those photos are HERE) |
 |
| The damp forest smelled lovely! |
 |
| Up ahead is a clearing where we finally had more sunshine and a view to the Bernese Alps |
 |
| In this clearing we had a view of the Bernese Alps to the Southwest. From here we headed eastward again to climb the ridge trail to the summit of Mt. Heitersberg, where we were mostly in the forest again. |
 |
| The highest point of this hike, on the summit of Mt. Heitersberg |
 |
| In the second world war, there was a defense line right over this mountain. In the mountain are hidden seven military bunkers within a few hundred meters of each other. |
 |
| Even though most of the hike was through the forest, because its a deciduous forest, we still had some rays of sunshine. On the left, the hillside drops steeply down to a lake called Egelsee (which we visited in Apri 2014. But you could just barely see it through the trees |
 |
| Finally a clearing with a nice view over the city of Zurich |
 |
| First glimpse of the Hasenberg tower as we got off the mountain. The noise of the hundreds of people here was a shock. The tower is 40m high. |
 |
| A look up at the beautiful Hasenberg tower. The viewing platform is at 36 m, and there are 210 steps to cover to get there! |
 |
| The view from up here is definitely spectacular. And the panorama photo placards are useful to help identify all the mountains we see! |
 |
| The view to the Northeast from the viewing platform |
 |
| View to the Southeast and the Glarnish Alps |
 |
| A zoomed view of the beautiful Glarnish Alps. |
 |
| And you even get a view to the Bernese Alps to the southwest! |
 |
| As more and more people came up on the platform, we were starting to feel too crowded. So we didn't stay long. |
 |
| Another view on the way down. Looks like there is still fog down along the Reuss River in what is called the Freiamt region of Canton Aargau. (We're heading that way once we get onto the train in Widen-Berikon) |
 |
| Luckily the tower is so huge that it can accommodate a lot of people |
 |
| A look back at the Hasenberg tower as we now make our way down the hill to Widen, which is the nearest bus stop. |
 |
| As it's now almost 3 p.m. and the sun is already getting low in the West, the visibility to the East is even better. On the right is Mt. Säntis in the Alpstein Massif in the very eastern part of Switzerland, and the hill with the TV towers (also a look-out tower) is Mt.Uetliberg, which is Zurich's mountain (the city is on the other side). |
 |
| As we head down the hill toward the town of Widen, there are more and more people coming up from the huge parking lot, more people who want to see the new tower!!! |
 |
| A final photo with the pastoral lands of Canton Aargau below, behind that the Albis Range with the old Felsenegg Radio Tower visible to the left of my head, and dominant in the background are the Glarnisch Alps. |
 |
| A zoomed view of all the people on the viewing platform of the Hasenberg Tower. |
 |
| This was a 3+ hour hike for us, with a decent amount of uphill just the same! And almost 12 kilometers, on a beautiful sunny afternoon. |
 |
| In 2014, we started in Dietikon (blue line) and walked to the lake called Egelsee. Our plan was to continue across the Heitersberg hill, but it started raining and we cut the hike short. This time we decided to start on the North end to cover the ground we had wanted to do the first time, but instead of going to the lake, we crossed over the "mountain" along the ridge trail. The Hasenberg tower was our main goal. |
 |
| From the train station in Widen-Berikon, you take a special train called the "Dietikon-Bremgarten Bahn" which follows the motor vehicle road as it winds its way down to Bremgarten on the Reuss River. The fog looks cool from here. |
 |
| Crossing the Reuss River at Bremgarten, on the way to Wohlen. |
 |
| Once we got near home, the sun was setting and made a very nice late afternoon mood at the lake (Mt.Pilatus in the background). |
 |
| On nice clear days we can see the Bernese Alps from our balcony as well!!! |
