11-km walk in the Klön Valley and along Lake Klöntalersee

Wednesday October 9th, 2024 -- Mid-week day off is always a hiking day if the weather plays along. With the unsteady weather forecasts and lots of shade from mountains at this time of year, we don't often know if we have picked the right hike for the day until we get there.

On this day the forecast was for very strong Föhn winds in the larger valleys where the sun was shining. (This is often the case when the Föhn winds blow: The sun shines but the winds are so strong that walking becomes uncomfortable). So we chose to go into the Klön Valley in Canton Glarus for a change (we haven't been here for a while) where we knew the popular lakeside walk on the south side of Lake Klöntalersee would be all in shadow, but the mountain trail parallel to the road on the north side should have sunshine. Plus we could do a foray into a side valley where we had not been before. Much of the hike was on forest trails, and as this was not a Föhn Valley, we could expect little wind.

Which was indeed the case. We had little wind, mostly sunshine, and nice trails, even though the mountain trail higher up the valley was wet and slippery. We rode the bus to the final station at Richisau, where we have been often to start hikes over the Pragel Pass and the Schwialp Pass. The only downside really was that buses don't run often here, and not wanting to ride the earliest bus into the valley (too much shadow), we had only 3¾ hours to do a 3-hour hike, so in the end we had to walk quite quickly.... but we still make it with 10 minutes to spare at the bus stop on the east side of the lake! 

The walk was particularly nice because of the fall colours now.... 

As we head toward the town of Glarus in the Linth Valley, we can already see into the Klöntal Valley. To get to Glarus is about 90 minutes by train, and then we switch to a Post Bus, which is a 45-minute ride to the last stop at Richisau. 

After a ride up the road from Glarus, we get the first look at Lake Klöntal at the Rhodannenberg bus stop at the east end of the lake. This is where we caught the bus again later, after walking the whole way along the north side of the lake (on the right in this photo). 

A few sightings of the lake through the trees as the bus heads west along the north shore of the lake. The more popular lakeside trail is on the south side, but at this time of year it is in shadow of the steep Glärnisch mountains all day. 

At the west end of the lake and heading uphill now, this is the side valley (Rossmatter Tal) we will be walking into. There is sunshine there, a lucky break for us!

The final bus stop is at the restaurant in Richisau. There was a group of people who had planned to have lunch here, but the restaurant was closed. (They took the bus back to the lake 15 minutes later). We got here just after 11:30.

The direct trail (no.55) back to the west end of the lake at Plätz is about 15 minutes shorter than via the detour into the Rossmatter Valley. We are heading to Chlüstalden (45 minutes) and from there to Plätz and Vorauen, where the lake trail starts. 

Behind me the road goes up to the Pragel Pass, which I have crossed twice. It would have been a good day to do this hike again, but it's a 4½-hour walk to Muotathal, and we weren't up to such a long hike this day.  

Crossing the Richisauer Klön River. 

We have done a lot of hikes in this area, but never into the Rossmatter Valley. That 5-km detour to the west end of the lake was 1½ hours, and then the part along the north side of the lake was another 90 minutes and 5 kilometers. So a 3-hour hike, approximately. We started at 11:35 in Richisau, and with some quick walking, got to the bus stop at Rhodannenberg by 15:05 (10 minutes early for the bus, even!) 

A look back up the Klön Valley as we make our way into the side valley called Rosmatter Tal. 

All of a sudden the trees are turning yellow, but it makes for a pretty landscape. And we were lucky with the sunshine!

We were treated to this view across the lake, and even with the shadow from the high mountains, it was a beautiful view. This would be worth coming back to in the summer, when the sun shines on the lake. 

Close-up view of Lake Klöntalersee.

It was a nice walk through the forest with sunlight through the trees, but the trail was wet and somewhat slippery, so we had to tread carefully. 

It took us exactly the 45 minutes to reach the farm at Chlüstalden. Having come south along the mountain trail, we turn at the farm and head north again, on a wider road. 

This bridge is so new that the workers' tools were still lying on the bridge! Fortunately it was the lunch break, so it was peaceful here. (The workers were up at the house). I wonder what we would have done if we had come when the old bridge was down?

This river is called the Rossmatter Chlü, and it flows into the Klön River just west of the lake. 

One single farm here at the back of the Rossmatter Valley. (Well, it's not really the back of the valley. The valley just gets narrower and steeper behind here) 

Having come through the forest on the left hillside, we turned around at the Chlüstalden farm and headed back into the Klön Valley. 

Looking behind us at the Chlüstalden farm and the narrowing of the Rossmatter Valley 

The mountains on the west side of the Rossmatter Valley. 

As it was now almost 1 p.m. we found a place to eat our sandwiches. Our lunch break cost us the leeway we had for the hike, and we had to walk more quickly from here.

After a 1-km stretch on a shadowy piece of forestry road, we got back to lake level and crossed the Rossmatter Chlü river again, shortly before it enters the Klön River. 

Such pretty flowers!

At 1:34 p.m. exactly we were at the Vorauen bus stop at the very west end of the lake. There is no other bus stop between here and the east end of the lake, which is five kilometers long. To get to Rhodannenberg bus stop takes 90 minutes from here, and the bus leaves at 3:15 p.m., so that leaves us only 10 minutes of leeway. We debated waiting here in the sun, but decided to risk the walk, as we really wanted to walk. And we did end up making it with those 10 minutes to spare!

West end of Lake Klöntal (Klöntersee). This is a busy time in summer, as people come here to camp and swim. 

The sign on each end of this trail informs us that we are on the "mountain trail" around Lake Klöntal. 

Whereas the south side trail is in shadow of the mountain all day, we have sunshine here on the road side. There was almost no traffic, so it was a peaceful walk. 

Peaceful afternoon fishing on the lake

The trees on the other side of the lake are reflected in the water. 

The trail alternated between forestry roads and narrow mountain trails. 

The mountains on the south side of the lake are about 2000 meters higher than the lake level, with almost vertical cliff faces!

More reflections

A couple of bridges along vertical cliffs made the walk interesting. 

The trail went up and down parallel to the road. Even near road level, there was almost no traffic. (In summer there are many more people traveling here to swim on the west end of the lake). 

A large part of the trail was narrow like this and easy to walk. That is why we made good time. 

A single paddle-boarder on the beautiful turquoise water

Even one set of steps!

Lovely colours of both the water and the trees on the south side of the lake. 

VIDEO:

Walking the forest trail on the north side of the lake

Fall colours make the walk more interesting as well. 

Some interesting fungi

Near the east side of the lake now. Down below they were doing construction on the road, building a "sidewalk" for pedestrians as the trail descends to the road there, and the road is very narrow at this place. This will make is safer for the hikers. 

East end of Lake Klöntal

East end of Lake Klöntal. The sky has clouded over now, so we were lucky with sunshine for most of the three hours we were here. 

East end of Lake Klöntal. In the background are the Glarus Alps (Vreneli's Garten, Glärnisch, Ruchen --> those are the names of the peaks). 

Waiting for the bus at the Rhodannenberg bus stop. We got here 10 minutes before the bus was to leave. Had we missed this bus, we would have had to wait two hours for the next one. 

What our hike looks like on Google Satellite Maps, starting in Richisau and ending at Rhodannenberg.

All the hikes we have done in the region around Glarus and Lake Klöntal

Even though Lake Klöntal isn't that far from where we live, geographically-speaking, it still takes us almost three hours by public transit to get there, because there is a 30-minute wait for a transfer along the way.