The 1000-Step Trail (1000-er Stägli) to the top of Born, a small Jura Island near Olten

Sunday May 8, 2022 -- An overcast weekend, but we didn't want to spend both days indoors, so we went on a hike that was mostly through the forest, and where it didn't matter that we had little "view" and minimal sunshine.

But to make it interesting, we decided on a hike we have wanted to do a for a while, up a small mountain near Olten (an "island" in the Jura hills) called Born, whose summit is accessed by a unique trail made of 1150 consecutive steps, covering an altitude of 250 meters.

Good thing it was all in the lush green forest, as the day without sunshine was still pretty humid, and even in the forest shade it was a hot climb. It took us 35 minutes to climb the 1150 stairs, from where we then descended along the forested ridge trail to the Aar River and into the city of Olten. Along the way there were a couple of clearings with a view down to the castle in Aarburg, near where the hike had started.

A really nice surprise was a detour to a short loop trail in the cleft of some of the Jura rock here, descending into a cave-like hollow created by the boulders. There were iron re-bar steps and handholds, as well as a ladder we had to climb. The trail was slippery from recent rains, but it was a detour we would not have wanted to miss! (We got the hint from a friend).

Interesting facts about this set of stairs, called "Tuusigerstägli" in local dialect (= "Thousand Steps", although there are in fact 1150): The stairway was originally laid in 1904 to service Switzerland's first "pumped storage hydro power station", where the water from the Aar River below was pumped up into a holding basin at the top of the hill (that basin was created in 1896). The stairway started to fall into disrepair in 1960, and rebuilt in 1986 by a group of avid volunteers.

Crossing the Aar River by bus from Aarburg to the base of Mt.Born, where the hike starts. The small "mountain" we walked down is the one on the left. It forms a sort of island separate from the nearby Jura Range, although it is part of that geology.

Starting near the freeway, you climb 1150 steps and cover 250 altitude. At the top of the stairway a detour to the caves, then return to the highest point of "Mt." Born = 718m. The descent to Olten was all through the forest along the crest trail. It seemed to never end.

"1000-er Stägli" is the nickname for this trail, i.e. "The Thousand-Step Trail". But really there are 1150 steps.

The stairway ascends through lush green forest

The 1000-step milestone!

The trail is popular. Most of the other people passed us along the way! Also, toward the end, the stairway was pretty steep

VIDEO:

Climbing the 1150 steps to Born (Can be watched in YouTube)

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Bravo! We made it to the top in 35 minutes.

A little detour to the cave called "Heideloch". They have created a really nice little loop through the cleft, with rebar steps and handholds. After recent rains, it was very slippery.

Entering into the black hole! It took a while for our eyes to adjust

It was fun going through the cave! There was an opening on the far end, so we didn't have to backtrack.

The other side of the Heidenhöhle (Heiden Cave)

"Traversing the cave is at your own risk!". We could have backtracked through the cave, but there was a path around the cliffs to get back to the main trail, where we continued to the top of the hill called Born.

Lovely forest trails at the base of the cliffs where we passed through

We had our picnic lunch on "Sonia's Little Bench" next to the reservoir (the one that was created in 1896) but which is now converted into a biotope.

A very, very big beech tree!

The highest point on this "island hill": 718m

A look across Aarburg and the central Swiss region. On a clear day you can also see the Alps from here.

A close-up view of the magnificent Aarburg Castle (now a juvenile detention center). Can only be viewed by public guided tour.

And even more close-up of the castle church and old-town Aarburg

Lots of interesting funghi in the forest

Another look at the Aar River from above, as we descend toward Olten

Just resting

Down at river level, a look at the old wooden covered bridge over the Aar River (1803, although there has been a bridge here for 700 years, destroyed and rebuilt several times). The newer wood was to repair damage caused by a fire in 2018, from a carelessly thrown cigarette!!!! (Seriously, throwing away a cigarette on a wooden bridge?)

VIDEO:

This is from a news report in 2018, about the fire on the bridge:

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