Hike along the Base of Mount Stanserhorn from Wirzweli to Dallenwil

Sunday February 4, 2024 -- After the long hike we did on Saturday, we still wanted to do a Sunday walk, but not a long one, and not far away, but once again a thick blanket of fog covered the landscape up to an altitude of about 900 meters in most of the areas we felt like going to, where there wasn't ugly and half-melted snow.... Apparently though, the fog was supposed to lift after lunch.

What we had planned was a walk on the upper plateau of Wirzweli just south of Mount Stanserhorn, where we had been often, but had never walked down to the valley bottom from there. As this recreational mountain village is on an east side of the mountain range, leaving late meant getting into the shadow of the mountain on our descent, but leaving too early meant descending in the fog. I'd pick shadow over fog any day, so we opted for a later descent.

It wasn't a long hike in all, just 2¼ hours, but lovely and mild. We walked from the mountain station of the Dallenwil/Wirzweli cableway to Wiesenberg on the flank of Mount Stanserhorn, where there is also a small cable-car which we have ridden once before. At the chapel we waited in the sunshine in the hopes the fog would lift, but it wasn't looking hopeful. Just as we started on the descent, withing seconds the fog was gone, and we even still had some sunshine while waiting for our train in Dallenwil.

Sure, the mountainside opposite, i.e. on the east side of the valley, had loads of sunshine as we descended in the shadows, but.... still better than fog!

We are just emerging from the fog as the other Wirzweli Cable car heads down to the valley station.

From the cable car I can see the vehicle road that we will be crossing on our descent after our hike to that hillside (coming from the left). I can only hope the fog will lift soon!

This is the hillside we are walking across. The main peak is Mount Stanserhorn

It should take a little over an hour to walk to Wiesenberg, and 2 hours 20 minutes to get all the way down to Dallenwil.

We phoned ahead for the free shuttle bus to pick us up at the Dallenwil train station, to take us to the cable-car. From the summit station at Wirzweli, we then walked toward Mt. Stanserhorn, then along its flanks to Wiesenberg, and then down the mountain back to Dallenwil. We started at noon, and were back at the train station at 15:20, for the 15:29 train.

In the village is an owl voliere, which we knew about from the first time we were here almost 10 years ago. So we stopped by to look at the pretty owls again. There are three large enclosures. One of them holds two magnificent Siberian owls, one of which was born here in 2013.

Two gorgeous Siberian owls. They can turn their heads 270 degrees! The old latin name for owl is BUBO. (This one: Bubo Bubo Sibirius)

In the other enclosure are barn owls and great grey owls.

The Great Grey Owls, another magnificent bird.

Two barn owls asleep in the hollow of a tree

The best one was this weirdo, the Little Owl (that's its real name, in latin its name is Athene Noctua). Since the 50's, these have pretty well disappeared in Switzerland, apparently.

Heading out on our Sunday walk... the first part was on these cement roads, quite alright to walk on

A look toward Mount Rigi and the fog over Lake Lucerne and into the Engelberg Valley

A lovely sunny afternoon up here, for a leisurely 2-hour walk.

The cows can chose if they want to be outside, or prefer to stay in the barn

I was quite intrigued about that very tiny house there! It turns out, this was an exact replica of the farmhouse further to the left (off photo). Not sure if it's used as a house for animals or not.

That's the farmhouse that they made an exact replica of! And finally, some nice soft meadow trails.

Looking straight to the east now across the Engelberg Valley, the mountain on the left is Mt. Buochserhorn, in the center is Musenalp, and on the right is Mt.Brisen. We have been to the top of all three of those peaks! Also, we are headed to the chapel on the left at the red arrow.

I love bridges

Here we found a nice bench in the sunshine, to eat our sandwiches. (1 p.m.)

That little barn is leaning!

Arriving now in the small hamlet called Wiesenberg, where there is also a small cable-car going down to near the train station in Dallenwil. We are descending into the valley from the little church building at the end of the road.

Close-up look at the little church in Wiesenberg where we are headed, before descending into the valley bottom. The cable car is on its way down right now as well.

A very attractive chalet building

The grass on those steep slopes in the background is also harvested in summer.

Here comes the other cable car from the valley bottom!

The little church in Wiesenberg. We got here at 1:45 p.m. and sat on a bench on the terrace on the south side for a half an hour while waiting for the fog to disappear!

Inside of the church. It's actually not that small at all!

Across this side valley is the mountain village of Wirzweli where we started our hike.

We watched another run of the cable car at 2:20 p.m. just when we started our descent, and the fog finally lifted, in just seconds!

VIDEO:

This is a very fast cable car! It travels at 5 meters per second!

Another look up at the church as we make our way down into the forest.

Nice sunshine on the forest trails! About 15 minutes earlier, and there would have still been fog here!

I could hardly believe my eyes, that the first violets and liverworts were already brightening up the forest floor!

Unfortunately, our trail descends next to the stream in this small ravine, which is already in shadow. There is lots of sunshine on the other side of the valley, though!

The little stream is called Steinibach

I'd still much rather walk in the shadow of the mountain, than in the fog.

A look up the Engelberg Valley.

Now back at the base station of the Wirzweli cableway, the 3 p.m. scheduled run is on the way up to the mountain village of Wirzweli

Across the valley is the Maria Rickenbach Abbey in the small mountain village of Niederrickenbach. And the mountain is called Musenalp. This would have been a good day to climb to the summit of that mountain!