Short Hike from Niederrickenbach down to Dallenwil in the Engelberg Valley

Tuesday July 30, 2024 -- On Sunday the weather cooled down a bit, followed by two more 30+ days on Monday and Tuesday, but I braved another excursion on my own this Tuesday regardless of the heat. (Weather forecast is for rain again for the next three days) .

It was a relatively short hike I did, and not far from home, in the Engelberg Valley just south of Luzern, a valley I can get to in a short time. We have been in the well-known pilgrim mountain village of Maria Rickenbach on the south flank of Mt. Buochserhorn several times now, as there is very easy access with a cable car which is included in our train passes. (About 100 people live in this mountain village, which has been inhabited since the 1300's). But one hike I had never done was to return from there to Dallenwil at the valley bottom, and as this was only a two-hour hike and partly through the forest, I thought it was a good choice to get out this day. 

Before starting on the descent, I had a look around the parts of the Abbey accessible to the public, something I had never done before. At 10 a.m. it was cool in the mountain hamlet, but soon became hot. Nevertheless, it was cool in the forest, and by the time I got down to the river, there was a bit of a wind blowing. The real highlight of this day was that without knowing it beforehand, I ended up passing through the geographical centerpoint of Canton Nidwalden!

I was back on the train by 1 p.m. and home shortly after 2 p.m. 

After an hour and 10 minutes' bus/train ride, I was getting on the Niederrickenbach cable-car at about 9:40 (this is a small distance south of Lake Lucerne, in the Engelberg Valley).

A look up the lovely Engelberg Valley as the cable-car heads up to the mountain hamlet of Niederrickenbach.

Passing the other cable-car on its way down. The mountain in the back is the famous Mount Stanserhorn, accessed from the north side via an open-topped double-decker cable-car. (We have been there several times). Down below is the town of Dallenwil, which I am going to walk down to. 

A small walk from the summit cable-car station to the church in town, a look up to the mountain called Musenalp. The cable-car ride up there in the tiny four-man cabin is an experience in itself, and one I should have done again this day. (Photos of our Sept.2018 ride up there are worth looking at HERE). 

The main church in Maria-Rickenbach dates from 1860, although there was a pilgrim chapel here since the mid 1500's. As legend has it, a shepherd boy saved a statue of Maria with Baby in Canton Bern and brought it here, where it now resides in the main altar. 

Details of the Holy Mary pilgrim church in Niederrickenbach, including an almost 500-year-old statue of Mary and child in the altar-piece. 

From the terrace in front of the church, this is the view to Mount Stanserhorn and Dallenwil below. The road below is what I followed to descend back into the valley, after having a look at the monastery grounds to the right (the trail passed right between the farm buildings below). Also in the back on the right is Mount Pilatus. 

The start of the trail down the mountain is next to these abbey buildings, a Benedictine monastery established here in 1864.

The trail I am following is Trail no.570, a local trail called "Nidwaldner Zentrumsweg", a 21-km trail over the top of Mt. Buochserhorn through the center of the Canton of Nidwalden. 

The sign pointed to "Church" (and not the one I had just been at), so I figured this was part of the Abbey grounds, and I went to have a look. Indeed, the nuns have a separate worship room in the monastery grounds. I walked through the open corridors to check out some artwork.

There was an open room marked "Krippe", which means "Nativity Scene", and there was this elaborate one to admire. 

On the abbey grounds they also have this lovely covered passage, and their own herb and vegetable gardens. 

After looking around the pilgrim church and abbey grounds of Niederrickenbach, I started on my descent at 10:20, and arrived at the train station in Dallenwil at 12:50. It was only about a 2-hour walk total, but I spent a long time at the view-point at the geographical center of Canton Nidwalden, and sitting next to the river below, as I would have had to wait 30 minutes for a train anyway. 

Starting on my downhill walk at 10:20

A look up to the pilgrim church of Maria-Rickenbach, and Musenalp with its cable-way in the background. 

Passing next to the farm buildings which I had seen from the church grounds. 

I passed a few die-hard hikers making their way UP the mountain. I can't imagine how tough this would have been with the day's heat. This would have been an ascent of about 650 meters!

Another look at Mt. Stanserhorn. We walked up to the summit once starting from further south along this mountain range (photos HERE) 

A few farmhouses along the way

A short piece along a paved road was no problem. Several small wooden "stations of the cross" along the road indicate that this is a pilgrim trail. 

To the north I get the first look at the city of Stans (which lies at the foot of Mt.Stanserhorn, from where people take the cable-car up), and Mt. Bürgenstock's lesser-recognized south side, as well as a small section of Lake Lucerne. 

Attempting another self-timed photo with Musenalp in the background!

Shortly after 11 a.m., I came across this lovely look-out point in the shade, a great place to stay a while. The triangle monument indicates a location of importance, and only upon reading the inscription did I find out I was now at the geographical centerpoint of Canton Nidwalden!

A map of the hiking trails in Canton Nidwalden also reads "Willkommen im Mittelpunkt Nidwaldens", which means "Welcome to the Centerpoint of Canton Nidwalden" 

Here I am at the geographical centerpoint of Canton Nidwalden!

I sat here in the shade on the bench for about 30 minutes, a longer break than I usually take, but it was a nice place to sit on such a hot day, watching the Niederrickenbach Cable-Car go by and admiring the view. The small town on this side of the river below is called Büren, and I walked down through there to cross the river. 

VIDEO:

Watching the Niederrickenbach Cable Car from the bench

Down below the train of the Zentralbahn (Central Train) is making its way through Dallenwil from Luzern to Engelberg (the train I also came on). 

Now I'm descending a forested section through the canyon where the cable-car ascends, with another look up to Musenalp and Niederrickenbach. 

From here I could have been at the Dallenwil station in 35 minutes and been on an earlier train home, but I wanted to walk via Büren (a detour that took 20 minutes longer) as that was where I had ended a different solo hike that I did just over a year ago (also starting in Niederrickenbach at the time, see HERE) and I like to "join" trails, more or less. 

Passing under the cable-way again!

The cable-car heading down to the small station on this side of the river from Dallenwil (There is actually a convenient train station stop right next to the cable-car station). 

Out of the forest now and heading toward Büren. There was a bit of a breeze here and so it was comfortable enough to walk, even with the heat. 

In the back on the hill is a small group of houses that I walked through on my way to Büren from the other side last time. 

More lovely farms

Cows hanging out in their courtyards. I only realized after looking at this photo that the cow wears a harness and a net over the udder. I had never seen this before and don't know why this is. 

A lovely small path as I head to Büren, and a look up the Engelberg Valley. 

Entering the town of Büren (a modern residential area). From here I cross the Engelberger Aa River and return to the Dallenwil train station, another 20 minutes from here. 

Crossing the Engelberger Aa River. This river has its origins beyond Engelberg at the back of the valley, and enters Lake Lucerne at Buochs, between Mt.Buochserhorn and Mt.Bürgenstock. 

Heading south on the west side of the river to the Dallenwil train station at 12:30. As I now had just missed a train to Luzern and had to wait 30 minutes for the next one, I sat here next to the river for a while.

The pink trail is the one I did this day, from Maria Rickenbach to Dallenwil via Büren. Exactly a year ago, I walked the light blue trail, also starting in Maria Rickenbach (both times ascending with the cable-car) along the western flank of Mt. Buochserhorn and endiing slightly further north than what I passed through this day. We have done many hikes in this area, as the cable-car gives us good access. 

Location of Stans and Mt.Buochserhorn within Switzerland. 

Ascent to Mount Augstmatthorn overlooking Lake Brienz and Bernese Alps

Saturday July 27, 2024 -- Today we left home very early (about 5:10 a.m., needing to walk 15 minutes to the train station as there are no buses this early on Saturday) for the 3½ hour trip to the Bernese Oberland, where there is a mountain summit called Augstmatthorn, which we have long wanted to climb up to. Leaving this early we could catch the first private bus run from Habkern to the start of our hike at Lombachalp, a 20-minute ride that saves us quite a bit of walking, but which costs 11 Fr. and which you have to reserve ahead of time. (Imagine our surprise when the bus from Interlaken West was full, and about 40 people wanted to take this trip.... the drivers came with three buses, and still had to go back for a second trip. We were lucky, we got spots on the first run). 

The Augstmatthorn is one of several peaks in the long range of mountains on the north side of Lake Brienz, stretching from the Brünig Pass in the East to Harder Kulm in the West. Even though we had once started at the same place (Lombachalp) and hiked up to the Harder Ridge, at that time we walked westward to the popular look-out site at Harder Kulm (those photos are HERE), but had not gone to the summit at that time. 

It only took us 90 minutes to get to the summit (10 minutes faster than suggested), and only the first 45 minutes or so were quite warm already (even though we started at 9 a.m.), but the big shocker of the day were the number of people climbing the same peak! I guess we should have expected this on a rare nice Saturday, but that there were so many foreigners doing this hike (compared to last time) makes me think it is being marketed as a hiking option for all those tourists who only know to come to Interlaken, Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen for their Switzerland trips. Sure it's spectacular, but no longer fun for us. Furthermore, it has always been well-known that this mountain is home to Ibex, which we had hoped to see, but maybe because of the heat or the sheer number of people, they seem to have moved elsewhere.

Most of the tourists had come from Harder Kulm (accessed by a funicular) and were returning there, but we chose to descend to Habkern, which ended up being a very long descent, and a five-hour hike in total. The highlight of the day was that we once again saw a vulture, a Eurasian Black Vulture (I had this confirmed later), another huge and magnificent bird with a 3-meter wing span. It flew only just a few meters directly above us!

On the train along the south side of Lake Thun, passing Leissingen on the way to Interlaken. 

It took 2½ hours to get from home to Interlaken, from where we took a bus to Habkern (which is the town we walked back to). This here is the final stop of the regular bus run, but there is a private company offering vans to transport people another 20 minutes up the mountain. There were about 50 people on our bus who wanted a ride, in vans that transport 10 people each! 

We were lucky to catch a ride on the first set of three Van-Buses which came to transport us to the final spot accessed by motor-vehicle: The restaurant at Lombachalp. (Others had to wait about 40 minutes for the buses to return).  This is one of many buildings along the way. 

We got to Lombachalp at 8:50 a.m., and started on the hike up to Mount Augstmatthorn right away. The sign suggests it takes two hours, but we did it in 90 minutes. And we kept getting passed by other hikers! (This suggestion of 2 hours is probably for the trail via Suggiture, which takes longer. The direct way up is 1 hour 40 minutes, normally). 

The first part of the hike was a steep uphill section of almost 600 meters to the summit of Augstmatthorn, which we did in about 90 minutes. Then 20 minutes to the next peak at Suggiture, then a steep descent to the Harder Crest, where we continued for an hour before the long descent to Habkern. Altogether about five hours!

Heading up the hill from Lombardalp restaurant, the final public access. At 9 a.m. it was already quite hot to walk along this section. More and more people came up behind us, even though several from the bus stopped for coffee at the restaurant first. 

Up ahead we can see the crest between Mts. Augstmatthorn and Suggiture which we will be walking. The first section is almost straight up to Augstmatthorn, and we gained height quickly. 

Behind us is a large moor landscape, and the Hohgant Massif in the back. If the sky had been overcast once we got here we would have walked in that direction, to the north. 

This group of people caught up to us quickly and we "leap-frogged" with them several times during the hike. If people walk more quickly than we do, then we let them pass us, as I have to keep a certain distance from other hikers, which is hard to do when there are so many on the trail. 

Getting further from Lombachalp

To the west we can now see the Harder Ridge, and the approximate spot we descended after walking on the crest for an hour. Our goal is the village of Habkern, in the center. 

At 10:20 we reached the crest and got the first view of Lake Brienz in direction East. It only took us 90 minutes to get up here. 

And the first look at the peaks of the Bernese Alps: Schrekhorn on the left, Finsteraarhorn on the right (the highest peak in the Bernest Alps). Both of them are over 4000 meters. 

Another 5 minutes to get to the actual summit of Mt. Augstmatthorn. There is apparently a herd of Ibex that live on the southern flanks here, but we did not see them. 

I love these flowers, they remind me of the trees from Dr.Seuss' Lorax story.

A look behind us, and that group has now caught up!

Trying to find a good spot for a photo, but having to wait till the other hikers had their turn and were out of the photo! The lake was really this colour. 

I had to ask the group to move so I could get a photo with the summit trail marker. 

Summit of Mt. Augstmatthorn, 2137 meters above sea level. From here it's about another three hours to both Habkern and Harder Kulm. 

To the east is the rest of the massif, all the way to the Brienzer Rothorn above the town of Brienz, a summit accessed by steam train in summer, or cable car on the north side from Sörenberg. There is a trail along this crest, but only for very experienced hikers. 

After a 10- or 15-minute break on the summit, we headed out along the crest to the next summit called Suggiture. Down below on the left, at the west end of Lake Brienz, we get the first look at the popular city of Interlaken. 

Some lovely meadow flowers up here as well. 

Fantastic views of the Bernese Alps from here. No wonder it's a popular hiking spot!

There is a path along the entire crest here, past the forested section at the back, to the popular look-out point at Harder Kulm, a hike we did in 2019, but coming up to the ridge further to the west (not over this peak). 

A close-up look at the summit of Mt. Suggiture ahead

Another look eastward along Lake Brienz, with the lakeside towns below. Across the lake on the far right is the now-infamous village of Iseltwald. 

The boat heading to Iseltwald, a village now overrun by South Koreans who all want their photos taken on a wharf that featured in a popular local (their local) TV series called "Crash Landing on You". Swiss people avoid it now.... 

We took a bit of a break to enjoy the view before joining the other hikers on the final summit. We also tried very hard to see if we could spot some ibex, but they were nowhere to be found. 

Panorama from Augstmatthorn to Suggiture

VIDEO:

Panorama across Lake Brienz

As we sat here, though, another vulture flew right above our heads! (We found out from experts later, that this is a Eurasian Black Vulture). This is apparently Europe's largest vulture. 

A short steep ascent to the final summit. 

Magnificent!

This view of the famous Eiger-Mönch-Jungfrau Trio was one we saw from all points along the ridge This is what the entire world comes here to see. 

From Suggiture a look along the rest of the crest. We descended at that final clearing to Habkern on the right, but most of the other hikers continued on (another 4 km!) from there to Harder Kulm at the end of the range. 

Heading down the steep west side of Suggiture with a fabulous view of the lovely Emmental region of Canton Bern, with the Lombachalp on the left below (where we started) and the Hohgant Massif. 

From Interlaken down below (between the two lakes), trains travel up the valley to the left to Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald. On the far left at the back is Mt. Jungfrau. 

As we headed westward, many many hikers were coming up from Harder Kulm in this direction. (The hike from Harder Kulm to Augstmatthorn and back is about 6 to 7 hours, and I was totally astonished that so many foreigners were doing this! There were very few Swiss-German people here). 

A look back up to the Suggiture peak after we descended from there, and all the people accessing it from the west side!

Where necessary, there are always cable handholds. 

This couple found a good place (off the main path) for a break, with Eiger-Mönch-Jungfrau at the back!

Close-up view of Jungfrau and the Silberhörnli (Silver Horns) and the Sphinx observatory at Jungfraujoch on the left.  

This looks like a bee, but is probably a fly masquerading as a bee, from the large eyes!

We also thought this might be a good location for ibex, but there were no animals here either. 

Right about here is where we had ascended to from the left the last time we were here. We had walked to Harder Kulm from here without actually going over these peaks, that is why we chose to do it this time, but not to walk to Harder Kulm again, because that was too boring. 

There on the right is the Suggiture, the peak we walked down from.

And another group of people at the top. 

After a short stretch through a forested area where the path was all full of tangled roots, we enter a clearing close to where we are going to make the descent to Habkern. 

There's that group again! Somewhere along the way we passed them on a break, and they passed us again....

At 1:10 p.m. we got to the Horetalp junction. From here we have another 90 minutes to descend to Habkern, but going on to Harderkulm (where you have to pay to descend with the funicular) also takes 90 minutes. We had a long break here in a shady spot before starting on the descent. 

Descent via Horetalp

A good look at the Augstmatthorn/Suggiture ridge we walked!

The next part of the hike was 45 minutes about 450 meters downhill to the Lombach River. 

Crossing the Lombach River before the final stretch to Habkern (another 45 minutes, a lot on paved roads). 

The cool forest down at the Lombach River, where families with kids were playing in the water. 

Out of the small ravine now. 

We passed through a place called Tschieme where there was a large family camp. From here to Habkern we followed the same road that we took up the mountain in the small private bus. 

Following the paved road which we had come up by small private bus from Habkern to Lombachalp. 

Well, there's an ibex!

Our first look at Habkern, the end of our hike. From here it was another 20 minutes, mostly along a paved road, to the bus stop in the village center. 

Locals getting ready for the 1st of August celebration (National Day). 

All kinds of pretty houses

Houses I could see from the bus stop at village center

A welcome fountain to cool off and refill the water bottles. We got here about 10 minutes before the 15:36 bus, for the 3-hour trip back home. 

A newer-built chalet

From this vantage point we could also see the summit of Suggiture

Heading back out of the valley now by bus, we pass the old church in Habkern. It looks like some fixing-up is taking place. We had a really good look at this very nice church on a separate hike we did, starting here, in April last year (those photos worth looking at are HERE). 

What this hike looks like on Google Satellite Maps

Approaching Interlaken West now, this is the view of the magnificent Mt. Jungfrau

In Interlaken West, you can see Mönch and Jungfrau. 

Crossing the Aare River Canal which joins the two lakes Brienz and Thun. 

It was the same distance to travel home via Bern to the west or via the Brünig Pass to the East, so we chose the latter, a more scenic route. This view is across Lake Brienz from its west side, heading East. 

All the hikes we have done in the area around Lake Brienz and Grindelwald

Where Lake Brienz is located in Switzerland