Summit of Mt. Hirzli and Crest Hike in the Niederurnen Valley, Glarus

Thursday July 18, 2024 -- Another glorious but hot day, so we started very early for a summit hike we have long wanted to do in Canton Glarus.

At the entrance of the Linth Valley is a town called Niederurnen, from where you can take a small cable-car into a side valley called the Niederurnen Valley. As we had never been on this cable-car yet, this was a good time to add it to our inventory of cable cars! We caught the earliest ride up we could, namely at 7:30, as the trip there takes only 90 minutes (we did have to leave home at 5:40, though, but that is preferable to starting late on a hot day!) and hiked the 650 meters to the summit of Mt.Hirzli 10 minutes faster than the suggest 1 hour and 50 minutes! (Steep ascent, so we gained altitude quickly). The 360-degree views from the summit were truly spectacular, especially into the Glarus Alps, but also to the Zurich flatlands to the north. (The only negative aspect is that this early in the morning, you could not see Lake Walensee to the east very clearly).

The regular suggested tour here (called "Hirzli Rundweg") is a loop trail descending fairly shortly afterward on a different trail, a 7-km loop of just over three hours. But on our map we could see a longer trail following the crest of this mountain all the way to the back of the valley, which we thought would be fun to do, but ended up much more challenging than we thought. From the back of the valley a wide road takes you back to the cable car, and fortunately a lot of it was through forested sections.

After a stop at the local mountain restaurant for refreshments, we were back at the cable-car station at 1:50 p.m. for the 10-minute cable-car ride back down to valley bottom (plus 1/2 km to the bus stop) to end another 4½-hour hike!

At Ziegelbrücke train station we have to take a bus to the town of Niederurnen. From here we can see the peaks of Mt. Hirzli and Planggenstock and the crest we will be walking later. To beat the heat we came early. At this point it's just after 7 a.m.

There is a small castle on the hillside in the town of Niederurnen!

The closest bus stop in Niederurnen is a 500-meter (7-minute) walk from the cable-car station.

A pleasant time of day (7:15!) at the Dorfbach (=Village Creek) next to the cable-car station (we had to wait about 10 minutes here until the cable-car did its run).

The Niderurnen Valley Cable Car

View of the Linth Valley as we start our ascent into the Niederurnen Valley.

7:40 a.m. and we are ready to start on our 2-hour uphill hike!

According to the sign, it should take just under two hours to reach the summit of Mt. Hirzli, a 650-meter climb. We reached the top at 9:20, in other words, in about 1 hour and 40 minutes!

The regular themed trail no.814 "Hirzli Rundweg" descends fairly quicky again from the summit via Oberplanggen, a 3-hour hike. We wanted to continue along the crest to Planggenstock and further to the back of the valley via Muesalp before returning to the cable-car station, a 4½-hour hike.

This section of the ascent is also part of another trail called the "Skulpturenweg", a display of wooden carvings and information about a large variety of native animals. This is made especially for children, with a map that they can use to find all the animals. This one here is our beloved ibex.

A small forest warden's house about half-way up.

The mountains on the south side of the Niederurnen Valley.

These mountains to the south are called the Glärnisch. In the first valley is a lake called Obersee, in the next valley is the Klöntalersee.

Turning a corner in the trail, just 10 minutes from the summit, we get the first look at Lake Walensee, and the town of Niederurnen below. In the center are the Glarus Alps, with the dominant massif called Mürtschenstock.

Last few steps to the summit!

Summit of Mt. Hirzli at 9:20 a.m. Although this is a popular peak for hikers, we were alone up here this early in the morning. The view was clear and pretty impressive, a 360-degree view.

Lake Walensee to the east. Because of the early morning hour, this direction was pretty hazy.

The Zurich "flatlands" to the north... the fog was a surprise, we hadn't been expecting that. The long narrow canal is the Linth Canal, where the river flows from Lake Walensee to Lake Zurich.

Very proud of our accomplishment! It was actually a rather easy ascent, and we gained elevation quickly. Perfect weather this early in the morning.

Panorama view

Another look to the east before we continue west along the ridge.

It's 9:45, and the next goal is the Planggenstock in 35 minutes (supposedly... it took us 50 minutes).

Cows!

We always watch for these beautiful snails. I stepped on one once, and felt badly about it.

Along the ridge we got many views to the north! The fog has lifted now.

A section of the trail broke off and caused a rock slide here. Fortunately there was room to reroute the trail here, even though the crest was pretty narrow.

The narrow crest trail. We had to walk cautiously, because the path was also wet from all the recent rains.

An interesting trail between Hirzli and Planggenstock.

The beautiful crests to the south

The ridge trail between Hirzli and Planggenstock

It actually was fun to walk along the crest, although concentration was required.

Just when we thought we were done, we had to climb some more!

We got to the second summit of Planggenstock at 10:35, so 50 minutes instead of the "suggested" 35 minutes! The trail was narrow and wet, so we had to be cautious.

The view to the west: Mythen Mountains at the back on the left, and Mount Rigi at the far back on the right.

From this peak we can see the summit of Mt. Hirzli, Lake Walensee and the Churfirsten Mountains.

Another panorama view!

A close-up look at the peak of Mount Hirzli where we had been earlier.

So many Martagon Lilies here! (Türkenbund). Even though it's a rather "rare" flower, we have seen many of them in the past few hikes!

From here we could head straight back down to valley bottom, but we decided to continue along the ridge further back into the valley. On the map, this looked quite interesting.

A large part of the trail along the ridge was full of roots that were wet and slippery due to recent rains. So it was slow and difficult going.

The ridge was really narrow!

It was slow going along the ridge.

Finally, end of the valley and descent through "normal" pastures! It took us another 50 minutes of walking along the ridge to get here.

The cows always like to watch Urs when he walks past!

For most of the next 45 minutes to the restaurant, we walked on a wide road like this. But it was mostly through forest, so it wasn't hot, and it was easy to walk.

Heading eastward out of the Niederurnen Valley toward the restaurant and the cable-car station.

Cute house along the way.

Another sculpture, a family of wolves.

We hadn't brought anything for a picnic lunch because we were planning to stop here for something to eat. It's now 12:45, so a good time to stop here. Urs had his ice-cream sundae first, then he ordered the main meal of local macaroni and Schabziger cheese (a Glarus specialty). I forgot to take photos. The people smoking annoyed me, and also the farmers were working nearby with leaf blowers. I only had something to drink.