The "Four Headwaters Trail" from Vermigelhütte to Oberalp Pass

Wednesday and Thursday August 23 and 24, 2023 (Day 2)
(Day 1 Photos HERE)

After a relatively good night's sleep at the Vermigel Hostel (in our own private room!) we had breakfast at 7 a.m. and headed out on our second day of the two-day tour, leaving the hostel at about 8 a.m. for the 400-meter climb to the Maighels Pass. This section between the Vermigel Hostel and the Oberalp Pass (near Andermatt) seems to usually be done in the other direction, but we were glad to do the climb in the morning shade of the mountain, a good thing, as it got to be a hot day once again. Furthermore, the walk north down the valley afterwards was a very long stretch, perhaps a bit tedious in the other direction.

The highlight on this stretch is Lake Toma (i.e. Tomasee or "Lai da Tuma" in the Romantsch language, as we are now in Canton Graubünden, having passed from Canton Uri which is where the hostel is located), the lake from where the mighty Rhine River has its source. Now, we have been to Lake Toma several times in the past, as this lake is easy to access on a day trip from the Oberalp Pass. There is a slightly shorter alternate way to get to the Oberalp Pass, but it is a wide road and we have walked that stretch several times as well, so on this day we decided to complete the official section of the "Four Headwaters Trail" by ascending to Lake Toma once again. This turned out to be the hottest part of our hike this day, and the final stretch from the lake to the Oberalp Pass seemed never ending. This might have been because a) we were hurrying to get the 3 p.m. train before the weather turned and b) we had to share the trail with about 50 young people on a class trip (noisy, very noisy!). 

We had a good laugh up at the lake where a trail marker indicates that it takes an hour to get to the train station. Even our map has this at 1 hour 15 minutes, and it takes longer even because of more rocky terrain! That would be a surprise if you didn't allow for enough time for the train.

The view out the window of our room in the Vermigel Hostel at 7:15 in the morning. The view is to the Sella Pass which we crossed the day before, left of the tallest peak in the center.

Starting off on our hike at 8 a.m. before the sun comes up, so we can climb the approx. 400 meters to the Maighels pass in the shade of the mountain. 

90 minutes to the Maighels Pass, but it took longer than 4 hours 10 minutes to the Oberalp Pass. 

As we start our climb to the right, this is a look north down the Unteralp Valley in the direction of Andermatt. The Hostel is still in the shade of the mountain. 

It took us the 90 minutes to get to the Maighels Pass, and almost five hours for the whole hike, but we did take a bit of a detour toward the back of the Maighels Valley. We started at shortly before 8 a.m. at the Vermigelhütte, and arrived at 14:50 at the Oberalp Pass.  

Behind me is the Sella Pass and the entire valley we walked down the day before. 

And down below, the sun has reached the Vermigel Hostel. 

And a close-up look at the Sella Pass and all that rock-strewn landscape we descended

A smaller lake on the way to the pass

A zoomed view down the Unteralp Valley to the Damma Glacier

We got to the pass at 9:30 and stayed here for a while, above the lake.

Maighels Pass. According to the sign, it should take only 2½ hours to the Oberalp Pass

Another small lake at the pass. Here at this point we are on a Canton border again, crossing from Canton Uri into Canton Graubünden. 

On the other side of the pass in the East we can see massive glacier moraines. Hard to believe that this valley was once deep under ice, also where we are standing!

We took a small detour up the Maighels Valley first, so we could get a better look at the Maighels Glacier which left all the debris as it retreated. There's really not a lot left of it now. 

Heading down the Maighels Valley now. Behind Urs is another pass called the Bornengo Pass, which he crossed once with his daughters when they were small, but which we have not done together yet. It would actually have been fun to go that way, but we would have had to spend another night in a hostel near Lake Ritom, and the weather forecast for the next day was for rain. 

The river which starts in the region of the glacier is called the Maighels Rhine (or "Rein da Maighels) and is one of the many tributaries which feed into the Rhine River further down. 

We love this barren and wild landscape

Far down the valley is another Swiss Alpine Hostel, understandably called the Maighelshütte. 

The river has carved out a very unique rock formation here, reminds me of the Maggia River in Canton Ticino. We hopped across and had a coffee break here, in the middle of the river. 

Sitting in the middle of the Maighels Rhine River.

VIDEO:

The Maighels Rhine River, a tributary to the Rhine River, which flows into the Curnera Reservoir lake, where it exists as the Curnera Rhine, and joins the Anterior Rhine River at Tschamut

The river heads down that side valley (on the right) to Lake Curnera. We once walked to the Maighelshütte and down that valley, a fantastic hike on a glorious September day in 2021, those photos are HERE.

The cows are still enjoying the late summer on high alpine pastures here. Soon they will go down to lower elevations. 

At this point (Time = 11:50) we had to decide to take the wide road down toward the Oberalp Pass (90 minutes) or ascend via Lake Toma (Tomasee) on the left (2 hours). We decided to finish the full "Four Headwaters Trail" experience by passing by the source of the Rhine River once again. 

VIDEO:

Cow scratching her head on a rock 

(it looked cute, but she stopped to watch Urs walk past)...

Even though it was extra exertion, I'm glad we picked the higher trail. It's always nicer to be higher up. 

Now we are west of the Maighels Hostel and can see where the Maighels Rhine River flows down the other side valley. 

Little lakes with cotton grass

You can see that we had a really nice strong wind here!

Up there is the Tomasee. We have to cross another two rock-slide sections!

Crossing more fallen rocks, but not as long as the day before!

Looking behind us again at the trail we just walked along

Once in a while I photograph an alpine bird. This seems to be an Alpine Accentor, a hardy bird that does well in high and cold elevations.

The final ascent to the lake. This is the Rhine River already, on its first few meters from its source!

So here we are again at "Lai da Tuma", or Tomasee, or Lake Toma, from which the Rhine River flows out of on its 1230 kilometers trip to the North Sea. 

Standing where the Rhine River starts!

Panorama view of Lake Toma (There were actually very many people up here, lots of them taking quick swims in the lake). 

The monument which indicates that this is the source of the Rhine River

There must have been a llama trek to here!

We found an empty bench for our picnic lunch (12:50)

We started on our final descent at 13:10. The sign here states one hour to get to the Oberalp Pass, which is a joke, as normal walking time there is at least 25% more. We ended up taking over 90 minutes because we stopped twice: Once to let all the school kids pass us, and once to massage my feet! We then put on a good pace for the final kilometer or so. (4 km from here)

This is the Oberalp Pass road coming up from the Surselva Valley on the east side, heading to the pass on the west side. Our trail to the pass is on the left. 

Stopping to let all the kids pass us. They also wanted to make sure to get to the train station for the 14:50 train, so they were in a big hurry too. 

A final look back up the valley on the last stretch to the Oberalp Pass

Oberalp Pass (The replica of this lighthouse creates a symbolic bridge between the source of the Rhine River and where it enters the North Sea at Rotterdam). 

The trains cross here. All the kids were going in the other direction. Once they boarded the train, there weren't too many people left waiting!

What our two-day hike looks like on Google Satellite Maps (we took a bus from Andermatt to the Gotthard Pass for the start of the hike, overnighted in the Vermigel Hostel after a 5-hour hike, and ended up with a train ride from the Oberalp Pass to Andermatt). 

A close-up look at the Damma Glacier as we head by train back to Andermatt. 

On the train ride to Andermatt, it started raining quite heavily, even though the sun was shining.

We have now basically completed the entire "Four-Headwaters Trail", with a couple of small divergences. 

The 81-kilometer "Four Headwaters Trail", which highlights the sources of four of Switzerland's major rivers (Rhine, Reuss, Rhône and Ticino) was designed and implemented in 2012. The route encompasses the Gotthard Massif. 

Location of the Gotthard Massif in Switzerland.