Along the North Flank of the Hohgant Range in the Emmental

Saturday July 22, 2023 -- With another day of rain on Friday (after my successful solo hike), Saturday wasn't looking good in most places in the mountains, except in the Bern area. The day before, we had seen a pretty positive weather forecast (mostly sunshine with a few clouds), but on the morning of, we were already looking at "overcast till noon". But we had a long trip (3-1/2 hours) ahead of us, and the soonest we could be at the start of the hike was 11 a.m. anyway. So we risked it.

This was a 4-hour hike we had been talking about doing for a long time. It's a trail along the north side of the Hohgant mountains in the Emmental, just north of Lake Brienz, and not a good option for Autumn because of the shadows. Starting with the uphill section on the west side, we would end at a place on the east side called Kemmeribodenbad, which is renowned for its meringue desserts. (And from there it's only a 2-hour trip home). In fact, a year ago we had been on the way there when the weather forecast changed to "possibility of electrical storms", so we changed plans at that time, to my disappointment, because the storm had never materialized and the day would have been perfect. And one week later, the Emme River flooded and the restaurant suffered a lot of damage. They had to close down, but rebuilt and reopened this year at the start of June.

So the main goal was definitely the dessert! But the promised sunshine never really materialized, as we watched the weather forecast change once again to "heavily overcast till 3 p.m." Oh bother. But at least it wasn't hot, especially for the uphill sections.

Generally, we weren't as thrilled with this hike as I had hoped, considering the anticipation. The trails were overgrown and hard to find. But mostly it was the low clouds sitting on these peaks as well, just like all the many days before, and in this case, really blocking the sun for us. But the DESSERT!!!! Oh, and we had most of the sunshine at 4 p.m. while we were eating the dessert.

To get to the start of our hike we had to catch a bus in Thun. We had some time to spend here, to admire the steam boats in the canal to Lake Thun. The weather was really nice here!

Heading past the Thun Castle on our 53-minute bus ride to Innereriz, at the back of the Zulg Valley, and the starting point for our hike.

As we head up the mountain, the clouds over the city of Thun are hanging very low!

We passed several very pretty Emmental-Style houses along the way.

"Eriz, Säge" is the last stop on the bus run into the Zulg Valley. This is where we started our hike. It is a 4-hour and 15-minute walk to our goal of Kemmeribodenbad. (Note: We did a different 4-hour hike starting here as well back in October 2020, those photos are HERE)

Directly to the south is a pass called the "Sichle", which leads into a long narrow valley called the Justis Valley. We have long looked at this as a hike which we want to do. Most all the other people from the bus headed that way.

Our 4-hour and 12-km hike along the North Flank of the Hohgant range. We started at 10:50 in Innereriz, and got to Kemmeribodenbad at 16:00 (enough time for a dessert before the 16:40 bus!)

Heading up the hill now, and another look to Sichle

Ahead of us now is the Hohgant range. We first have to walk up to those pastures, and then head east below the cliffs there.

Cute chaleet on the edge of the woods with the view of the Hohgant peaks.

A nice forested section.

Now we have to follow a gravel road. I really liked the look of these large trees.

There was no problem walking up the gravel road. This is where we were thankful that the clouds blocked the sun; that way it was not such a hot ascent!

A look to the west down the Zulg Valley (the river is called Zulg). This region is all Emmental.

This farm is called Obere Breitwang. Urs bought smoked sausage and something cool to drink out of their refrigerator.

The next "goal" is the passage up ahead. It turns out that the trail to get there was very overgrown. Those two farms have names: On the left is "Undere Hungerschwand" and the one on the right is "Obere Hungerschwand" (Untere/Obere = Lower/Upper)

Heading uphill to take a trail to the left.

Below us is the farm called "Obere Hungerschwand"

More cows blocking our trail. The look in her eyes says "Just you TRY to pass me on this trail!"

Urs always takes a VERY large detour around cows that block our trail.

A really good look down the Zulg Valley now. In fact, this is the last view we got to the west.

We are now really at the north side of the Hohgant Range and entering a nature reserve called "Hohgant-Seefeld".

This view now is to the north toward Schangnau and Marbach

Now the clouds are moving low down over the Hohgant peaks on our right.

At 1 p.m. we found a place for our picnic lunch. This vast alpine meadow is called Wimmisalp. Up ahead is another prominent range called Schrattenflue, whose peaks are also covered in clouds. (These are not very high mountains, just very low clouds!)

A very nice fern in the forest

A lush and green forested section

There were very many of these pretty flowers this time on our hike. I haven't looked up yet what they might be called.

A bit of sunshine and fog. It did have a special look to it.

This farm's name is "Gemeinenwängen"

Up ahead we saw a road leading to a trail at a higher elevation, to alpine pastures called "Luterschwändi". But there were no trail-markers for that road, so we took the lower one.

Another look to the Emmental region north of Hohgant.

A whole pile of black-and-white!

This farm is called "Grossensteinen". It's where we saw that pile of baby cows!

Grossensteinen Farm

Here we are at about the half-way point of our hike. It's now 2 p.m.

Continuing along the road we come to the next farm called "Farnerli". Another refrigerator invites us to look inside!

This was the first time we saw a note that read: "Price for drinks is what you think they are worth". That's a good way for people to be generous! I love the piggy bank, where you deposit the payment! Also for sale here are a variety of cheeses and sausage.

The next farm called "Obermastweid" also advertised the sale of homemade cheeses, which we were going to check out as well, until two very aggressive-looking dogs came charging at us and barking like mad. It took the farmers a while to call their dogs off.... and they lost potential customers as a result. (I'm not a dog fan)

After a marshy section we finally start on the final descent toward Kemmeribodenbad. The clouds are finally lifting from the Schrattenflue peaks. (The main peak on the south side is called Schiebegütsch)

A large hillside with grazing cows... the trail was really hard to find here. That cow has a white marking that looks almost like a skull.

The roof on this farmhouse is impressive. It looks like there is a large cellar area, a single storey for living quarters with barely any light coming in the windows, and a large area below the roof for storing hay.

We are behing observed once again!

This is the ramp for bringing the hay into the space under the roof. The way those goats are crowded in there, you would think it is a really hot day!

This is a very pretty farm on the other side of the Emme River at the foot of the Schrattenflue. It's called "Unterkemmeri".

Heading down a steep gravelly road. Up ahead is the Schiebegütsch. Below us runs the Emme River. Note that while we are still in Canton Bern, the Schrattenflue mountains on the opposite side of the river are in Canton Luzern.

One final farmhouse before getting down to river level. It is called "Gepsli". A placard on the house suggests it was first mentioned in documents of 1804, but carved in the wood above the door is the date 1762

We got to the Kemmeribodenbad restaurant at 4 p.m. Now we have lots of sunshine!

Look at the size of those meringue desserts! It is a specialty of this restaurant. The super huge one is aptly named the "Kemmeriboden Merängge". The meringues are handmade here. As is the whipped cream. I am not a fan of whipped cream, but this was delicious!!!! They have been making the meringues here for 80 years. It is a real tradition. And not the first time that we have stopped here for a meringue dessert.

Very attractive buildings with a spectacular backdrop

The wooden bridge over the Emme River. The river flooded its banks in July 2022 and caused quite a bit of devastation to the restaurant and grounds. They did a really good job restoring it, and are doing business again since June of this year.