Jura Crest Trail from Balmberg to Oberbipp

Sunday May 14, 2023 (Mother's Day) -- With this unstable weather since weeks now with so much rain, it is difficult to find places to hike where you don't risk getting caught in a downpour. It's easier to simply stay at home, but we have missed too many occasions for walking this month. Looking on our weather prediction map, the area around Solothurn in Western Switzerland seemed to offer a bit of sunshine with at least the promise of no rain.

Our original plan was for more hiking in the lowlands but would again have involved mostly paved roads or wide forest roads, with just one 15-minute walk through the Verena Gorge.... but along the way we changed plans and opted for a hike along the Jura Crest Trail. We knew we would be missing out on the sometimes fabulous view of the Alps to the south because of the low dark rain clouds in the way, but we really wanted a mountain hiking trail for a change.

After yesterday's 17-km hike we were going to keep it short, but this again turned out to be 14 kilometers as we had to walk all the way back down to valley bottom (few buses on the route). Besides being caught in a light rain along the crest, it was actually a good hike, except for the cold wind up there. I wasn't dressed warmly enough, and never thought I would have regretted putting away my winter gloves! Once we got off the crest and heading down the mountain, we actually had a bit of sunshine and pleasant walking conditions. And we were lucky this time: Just minutes after getting on the train in Oberbipp, it started to rain, and rained all the way home. (Locals also told us it had rained at home all day...)

On the bus ride up to the Balmberg Pass, this is what the Jura Crest looks like. In our case, we walked just below that ridge (Chambenflue) on this section. 

This looks like a pyre prepared for an August 1st (National Day) bonfire!

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Another fun bus ride along a single-wide winding road up to the Balmberg Pass!

At the Balmberg Pass is a huge high-wire park. It looks like it could be a lot of fun!

This was our view down to the city of Solothurn, at the start of our hike. 

Mount Weissenstein to the West (the main mountain peak here) disappeared in the fog. The clouds weren't very high above us on our walk, but at least we were not in the fog. 

Heading out along Regional Trail no.5: "Jura Crest Trail", walking eastward

We started shortly after 10 a.m. at the Balmberg Pass, and caught the train at Oberbipp at 4 p.m. We stopped for a while at the "Hinteres Hofbergli" mountain retaurant, and also just above Rumisberg to massage my feet.... so about 6 hours for the 4-hour hike. 

It was very cold on the trail, and luckily I had a scarf in my pack. I sure wished I'd had my gloves!

This section of the trail near Stierenberg Restaurant has been closed since 2017 due to the instability of the original trail (on the left). Hikers had to make a long detour down the hill to pass here. 

This new 50-meter long bridge was recently completed (October 2022) after four months of building and a cost of 683,000 CHF.

The view south from the new suspension bridge

Heading toward the "Hintere Hofbergli" farm. These are our favourite kinds of trails!

Because it was so cold, we stopped here at 11:15 for a coffee (really good coffee!). The little restaurant is under new management as of this year, and everyone was really nice! If not all the tables had already been reserved for Mother's Day lunch, we would have stayed here for a meal. 

A look back at the farm and restaurant at Hinter Hofbergli as we continue along the Jura Crest Trail. 

The official Trail No.5 follows the road between the hills along those farms, but we wanted to walk along the crest on the right. 

Here at Hochchrüz is where we left Trail no.5 to follow the crest trail (Gratweg). Typically the descent off this mountain is to Balsthal to the north via either trail, but we descended earlier, on the south side. Right at this point is the Canton border between Solothurn and Bern. 

Starting out on our interesting crest trail across the typical Jura geology

Some forest flowers.

We encountered a bit of light drizzle rain on this stretch, but it didn't bother us much. The rock formations were so interesting. (Not visible on this photo is that the cliff drops at least twice the distance below). 

At several places there was a steep drop between cliffs

Mountain forest trails are better than paved roads any time!

At a spot called "Bättlerchuchi" there is a vehicle road which crosses the mountain range (North/South). From here, on a nice clear day, you obviously get a view of the entire alpine range to the South.... according to this panorama panel. We had to use our imaginations!

Another view down to the village of Günsberg which we passed through by bus on our way up to the Balmberg Pass. Not much sunshine anymore there either. 

I wanted a photo of Urs on the bench but it was wet from the short rain we had!!! The clouds are really pretty low.

Starting along the second section of the crest at Bättlerchuchi. 

This is obviously a popular spot for rock climbing. It was fascinating to watch how this works. The entire cliff face was riddled with metal loops where one can hang the carabiners. 

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Watching the experienced cliff climber showing how it's done

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It looked like it might start to rain again, so I put on my plastic cape. On this ridge we didn't see much, as the trail was just below the crest, on the forest side. It didn't rain, but was very windy!

A bit of a view to the farms below, and the village called Rumisberg, where we are going to walk down to. 

A view back along the crest where we have walked

Last stretch down to the road at Hinteregg (that's a restaurant on the left) and we are descending along the road to the right. On our left, the skies were very dark, and it was raining there. I was glad to finally be off the cold and windy ridge! It was a 90-minute walk down to the train station in Oberbipp, but we took longer. 

Surprisingly, there were still some fruit trees blossoming here! (This is at a farm called Weid)

Above us where we had descended from, the sky is now opening up a bit. 

Near Rumisberg

It's hard to see on this photo, but that field of rapeseed was the only place on the valley bottom currently illuminated by the sun. It looked pretty cool!

Look, some sunshine! And it was so much warmer down here. 

A very cute little house in Rumisberg

This is supposed to be a bear. Identifying the "Restaurant Bären"

Usually it's cows, sheep, or goats that stare at us when we go by, but I could swear these flowers were watching us....

We knew from our map that we would be passing a castle on our way down, Schloss Bipp, and I was looking forward to going up that tower. It turned out, this is privately owned and you were not allowed to go up the access roads. 

Wouldn't it be nice to own an old 13th-Century fortress?

Even though the castle and fortress grounds were privately held, they were still hoping we might buy some of the goods produced there. 

We detoured via this pond in Oberbipp called the "Miller's Pond". It is also privately held, but there was a picnic area where you were allowed to sit, which we did, as we were too late and too early for the train. 

You don't often see grey geese swimming in ponds!

A house in Oberbipp, looks like it might have been part of a castle grounds at one time. (I think it might have been part of the original mill). 

Interesting large square church tower. Of course we stopped by to see the inside, although there wasn't anything particularly special there. 

Checking out the interesting buildings in Oberbipp as we head down the main street to the train station. 

We got to the little train station at exactly 4 p.m., just two minutes before the scheduled train. (We should have caught the better connection 30 minutes earlier, but would not have made it quite on time). 

As the train was leaving the train station, we could see the Bipp Castle which we had passed earlier (from the road up there, you actually didn't see the castle, only the stone tower). Right about here it started to rain, and continued for the rest of the 2-1/2 hour ride home. 

Location of Balmberg within Switzerland, near Solothurn. 

An interesting sighting on the way home, a special historical train called the TEE (Trans-Europe-Express) which ran throughout Europe from 1958 to 1995, and is now used for special outings (company rentals). 

Urs was quite interested in this, obviously, with his interest in trains. He owns a model of this one. 

Details of the Trans-Europe-Express Train as it just happened to run along a parallel track to our train. Always a treat to see old trains in operation. 

The Jura mountains are a crescent-shaped sub-alpine range mostly straddling the Swiss/French border. Switzerland's National Trail no.5: Jura Crest Trail, extends 320 kilometers from Zurich in the north to Geneva in the far southwest. We have walked a few sections on the Zurich end as it is close to home, and did a three-day hike on the Geneva end in 2020. But not a lot in between! The small section we did this day is at the light blue arrow.