The "Four Headwaters Trail" from Gotthard Pass to Vermigelhütte

Wednesday and Thursday August 23 and 24, 2023 (Day 1) -- One of Switzerland's popular themed hiking trails is called the "Four Headwaters Trail", an 81-km trail in the Gotthard Massif which passes through the source regions of four of Switzerland's major rivers: The Rhine, the Reuss, the Ticino and the Rhône. The route is officially divided into five stages, which can be done in a row with recommended accommodations along the way.

We, on the other hand, have done parts of each section over the past few years as day trips, and had completed it right down to the first two official sections (Oberalppass to Gotthardpass) which we could only complete if we were to overnight at the sole accommodation along the way, a Swiss Alpine Hostel called Vermigelhütte, which seemed to always be fully booked during periods of acceptable weather, especially on weekends.

We had just returned from three days of hiking in the Davos region, when we realized that there were only two more nice days left before a long period of forecast rain, and for a change the Vermigel Hostel was showing only about 1/3 full, so we called and made a reservation for the next day, and left early on Wednesday morning to the Gotthard Pass. (Note, most people start this two-day stretch at the Oberalp Pass; we were the rare exception that started at the Gotthard Pass). The stretch from the Gotthard Pass to the hostel was about 5-6 hours, requiring an ascent of over 800 meters including the summit of the highest peak (Mt. Giübin) along the entire route, and descending over the Sella Pass through a very long stretch of fallen rocks.

We took our time as we didn't want to reach the hostel too early (dinner was at 18:30, and wow were we spoiled!) so we made a couple of detours along the way. The weather was perfect, plenty of wind so not too hot, but lots of people on this trail, most probably coming over from their own overnight at the hostel. 

Lago della Piazza at the Gotthard Pass. There is a hotel up here where hikers can overnight between Stages 2 and 3 of the "Four Headwaters Trail". The last time I was here in October of 2019, there were no wind turbines yet. 

The first goal of our hike is "Lago Della Sella", a large reservoir lake. Then another two hours to reach the Sella Pass (Passo della Sella). We also did the short detour to the summit of Mount Giübin. 

The trademark stone marker which depicts that this is part of the "Four Headwaters Trail". We started on our hike here at 9:50. (There were dozens of RV's and campers parked here for the night, and several food stands, and ugly loud disturbing music being played by the vendors. It was not a nice place to be, I wouldn't want to spend the night here). 

Behind the dam is Lake Lucendro. The "Four-Headwaters Trail" passes along the lake and over the Lucendro Pass to the south, through the source region of the Reuss River. We did that section of the trail in July 2018, a magnificent hike with even better visibility than we had today. (Photos worth looking at HERE)

Apparently they built five new wind turbines here since the last time I was here in 2019. I could still hear the music blaring up the this point. It distracted me so much, that's probably why I missed the mountain trail next to the road!

We walked 2½ kilometers along this paved road to the Sella Dam. (But we hadn't studied our map well enough, as we could have used a narrow mountain trail for the first kilometer!). Nevertheless, the 45 minutes passed quickly and there was some colour from many such fireweed plants along the way. 

Looking behind us we see a large group of hikers approaching. This was a concern to me, as such hikers usually walk fast enough to catch up, but then keep about the same distance to us. (And they TALK all the time!) We were planning a detour off the main path soon anyway. 

We made it to Lake Sella in exactly 45 minutes (getting here at 10:35). Here the sign says it will take longer to get to the pass! And another four hours to the Swiss Alpine Hostel Vermigelhütte, although I think that was longer as well, due to the terrain we encountered. 

According to this map, the section we walked this day from the Gotthard Pass to the Vermigelhütte along Trail no.49: "Four Headwaters Trail" is about 5 hours. But it takes longer because of the rock-slide terrain on the north side of the Sella Pass. 

Lake Sella, a reservoir lake

Crossing the Sella Dam

Looking westward from the dam in the direction of the Gotthard Pass

This was the only section of the hike where it looked like it would be a challenge!

Looking down at the Sella Dam. In the background further down the mountain is the gallery/tunnel of the Gotthard Pass road where it descends on the south side of the pass to Airolo. 

A short fun stretch. After that it was a pretty easy trail. Even a family with small children and dogs with short legs were able to access this. 

As we had many hours ahead of us before we needed to be at the hostel, we took a detour off the main trail to these small lakes called "Laghetti degli Ovi" where we spent about 30 minutes enjoying the peace of the mountain landscape. 

We also wanted to give the hiking group a chance to pass us and put a lot of distance between us, that's also why we waited so long at the little lakes. 

Mt.Giübin, the highest point on the "Four-Headwaters Trail" is at the arrow on the left. To get there, the trail was like this, in no way difficult anywhere. 

At just over 3 km from the lake (about 90 minutes' walk) was this single long building in a very vast and barren landscape. The family with the small dogs and a small child made it all the way up here!

A look behind us as we continue back up the hill to the first "passage" called Passo Posmeda. This is Canton Ticino, by the way, and in the background, the Damma Glacier from Canton Uri is just "making its appearance". 

Standing at the Passo Posmeda where we got our first look over the ridge to the south into the Leventina Valley. Also visible in the far back is the Basodino Glacier, the largest glacier in Canton Ticino (of which there aren't many).  

A fantastic view into the Val Canaria below, and the Leventina Valley behind it (this is the major valley that we pass through each time we cross the Gotthard Massif through the tunnel by train, on our way to Bellinzona)

Heading up to the summit. Again, not a particularly difficult trail. There were lots of people coming down from this summit toward us, making their way toward the Gotthard Pass. 

Looking back down toward Passo Posmeda, and our trail which passed by the large building coming up from the south end of the lake. 

This large white quartz boulder very much stood out from all the other gray slate-like rocks on the landscape. 

We originally saw "our group" at the summit of Mt. Giübin and were going to pass on going up, but just as we got there, they made their way down. That's when we decided we might regret not having done the summit, besides it really not being a large detour. Plus, the group then headed back to the Gotthard Pass.... 

At first we weren't going to go to the summit of Giübin... in fact, we had passed below it and were already on our way to the pass, when we reconsidered, and walked up the extra 30 meters to the top. And we are so glad we did!

The summit of Giübin, at 2776 meters above sea level, is the highest point of the entire 81-km "Four Headwaters Trail". We were up here at 2 p.m. 

We were glad not to have missed this view from the summit of Mt.Giübin, past Val Canaria (below) into the moutains where lies Lake Ritom and further past that Pizzo del Sole and Passo del Sole, which we observed from our Lukmanier hike some weeks earlier

And another look to the West across the entire region where we hiked to get up here. 

And a look down at the Sella Pass, where we will cross into the very rock-strewn terrain on the right. By the way, the "line" below that passes from here on the summit to the Sella Pass and up the other side is actually the canton border from Ticino on the left to Canton Uri on the right. 

This below is the next section of our hike! It took us a long time to walk along this terrain. Furthermore, this whole valley called the Unteralp Valley is part of Canton Uri. 

Trail no.49 is the "Four Headwaters Trail". We reached the Sella Pass at 14:45, and I have to say, it took a lot longer to walk to the Vermigelhütte than just 90 minutes! The signs do not take into consideration the terrain, they are measured in exact distance and slope as if it was a trail with no hindrances..... 

We spent about 40 minutes passing through terrain such as this! The Sella Pass is just behind Urs there, at the top. 

A painted note on a rock informs us that we are on the right track to get to the Alpine Hostel!!!

The trail was very easy to follow. Groups of volunteers have spent a lot of time scouting out the best path through this heap of rocks, laying flat stones in a row to form steps, and painting small white dots every few feet or so so that you never lose your way. And all the slabs were solid to step on, barely any wiggled. 

Another huge quartz boulder. Up here there is a lot of military activity, and we saw evidence of one of these huge protusions having been blown up to very fine quartz sand... 

A good look now down the Unteralp Valley, which opens up way down below on the left into the city of Andermatt. Our hostel is about in the center of the photo, and we are crossing up into the upper valley on the right the next day. The river below, which has its source right here, is called the Unteralpreuss, one of many tributaries of the Reuss River which flows through Andermatt. 

We are now at the level of another, lower pass to the south (Unteralp Pass) where we once again get a look into the Passo del Sole and Passo Columbe region (on either side of the that peak). At the back on the left is the glacier of the Adula Rheinwaldhorn, which dominated the region on our two-day hike in the Blenio Valley recently (see also HERE). 

I wonder how long it took to build this heap of rocks!

Finally nearing the end of this rocky landscape!

Finally down at the river at 15:40, the only shade we had along the way! Here I filled my bottle with lovely cold river water, and massaged my poor feet for a while!

Well, we thought it was finally finished with crossing over fallen rocks!

Walking along the West side of the river now (as it carves its way through a ravine), the rest of the 3 kilometers (one hour of walking) to the Hostel (far behind me) was on this best kind of walking trail. On the other side of the valley we can see the Maighels Pass, which we are planning to cross the next day, after spending the night in the Vermigel Hostel. It's now 4:30 p.m. 

As we felt we would still be too early at the hostel, we decided to stop for a break at those small lakes below. Another river called the Bortwasser joins the Unteralpreuss from a valley to the left. 

Descending to the little lakes, we look up the gorge carved by the Unteralpreuss River. 

Another look up the valley. The pass straight ahead is actually the Unteralp Pass, which we didn't cross. The Sella Pass is more to the right from there. In effect, the peak in the center would be the Giübin. 

You can't see them from here, but from this hillside we were accompanied by the very loud bleating of hundreds of sheep, 900 in fact, as we found out later when the "shepherd" showed up at the hostel for cake and coffee.

Being observed once again. There were cows at this level in the alpine meadows, and we heard their bells once in a while in the night. 

At this point, now close to the hostel, we look straight to the east toward Maighels Pass, which we are crossing the next day. (Where we are now is Canton Uri, but once we cross the pass, we will be in Canton Graubünden).

So here we are at the Vermigel Hostel at 17:45, with just enough time to get settled in and washed up before dinner at 18:30. They did have a shower, but we forgot towels, so it was a face-cloth wash, uggh. The hostel is small and accommodates only 36 people at a time. There were only about 14 guests for the night, so Urs and I got a 4-person room for just the two of us. 

We were told that every week a different team of hosts from the Alpine Club to which this hostel belongs, plays host to the guests. We were really spoiled by this team: First a fine vegetable soup, then a salad, then this fabulous meal of pork roast, baked tomatoes and potatoes, friend zucchini.... and later at 8 p.m. the dessert of homemade Black Forest Cherry Cake!!!

7:45 p.m. view up the valley to the Sella Pass (left of center). We did end up staying up till about 9:30 p.m. sharing hiking adventures with the other guests. 10 p.m. is lights out in all mountain hostels. We did sleep very well and it was very cool up here in the mountain. (At home the nights were still has hot as the daytime). 

As per this map of the "Four-Headwaters Trail", the indication seems to be to start at the Oberalp Pass on the right, and end at the Rhône Glacier on the left. The first overnight is usually at the Vermigel Hostel, the second at the Gotthard Pass. We made a two-day trip of this, heading home then from the Oberalp Pass on the second day.  

As a side note, this is the view of the Sella Dam and Sella Pass region as seen from the third section of the trail, namely near the Lucendro Pass, where we crossed in July 2018:

View of the Sella Dam and Sella Pass region as seen from the third section of the trail, namely near the Lucendro Pass, where we crossed in July 2018

(DAY 2 Photos are HERE)