Easy Walk from Steg to Wald in the Zurich Oberland

Wednesday March 5, 2025 -- We didn't feel like traveling far this day for our weekly Wednesday hike, and based on Sunday's experience on the mountain trail in the Bernese Oberland, still not ready for a really long hike with lots of uphill!

Also, when the fog isn't lying low in the valleys, it's a good time for valley walks, which we don't do in summer. In the valleys the grass is usually green, and if we walk through sections of forest or along rivers, we see more because the trees don't have leaves yet.

So this day we traveled to the Zurich Oberland east of us (near the Töss Valley), less than two hours of travel time each way, to walk along the Mühlebach and Jona Rivers from Steg to Wald. It was an easy walk always just slightly downhill through a lovely valley and a short section of ravine as well. It is a walk we did in the opposite direction in 2014, which we really enjoyed at the time, but at which time I only took three photos!

In all, it was an 11-kilometer walk which took just under three hours to walk. Most of the trail is part of National Trail no.4: "St.James Trail", or the Switzerland part of the popular "Camino de Santiago" and a lot of the walk was also parallel to the railway tracks, so the local urban trail passed several times throughout the walk. And BRIDGES! We must have crossed 15-20 of them, most of them back and forth across the streams. 

We started in Steg at 10:30 in the morning, with the most beautiful weather

Our plan is to walk from Steg to Wald via Fischenthal and Gibswil, just under three hours. 

We walked a short section through Steg past buildings we had seen once before at the end of a hike we did when we walked over a nearby peak called Hüttchopf, back in January of 2024 (see photos HERE), but the town was somewhat in shadow at the time when we descended from the mountain. 

Before leaving the village of Steg heading south, we passed a little Bio farm shop and Urs bought some very expensive dried meat. (But very good!).

This Gasthaus called "Landgasthof und Metzgerei zum Steg" has a nice history. As this town is on the St.James Trail, the building has served as an accommodation for pilgrims since the middle of the 16th Century. (We found this out last time we were here from an information placard at the train station). 

We started in the town of Steg at 10:30 (Steg i.T. = Steg im Tösstal, because there are other towns named Steg, but this one is in the valley of the Töss River) and arrived in Wald at about 2:30 p.m. So we took about four hours to do the approx. three-hour walk. 

Heading out of Steg, we cross the Töss River three times (it makes a couple of bends here).  

Much of our walk was near the railway line. 

This trail is part of the international trail called "Camino de Santiago" (The part through Switzerland is called the Via Jakobi, or St.James Trail). A sign on a house wishes the walkers a good "walk"!

Lots of nice houses along the way. The half-timbered houses are the prettiest. 

Lots of bridges! We crossed 15-20 of these, back and forth over the various rivers and streams (and railway tracks) along the valley. This stream is called the Mühlebach, and it runs northward to join the Töss River at Steg. 

A pleasant trail along the Mühlebach stream. 

Crossing the Mühlebach for the fourth time! From here the river flows west of the railway tracks all the way to Fischenthal, so we walked next to the railway tracks instead of the stream for the next 15 minutes. 

It took us 45 minutes to walk to Fischenthal (we got here at 11:30, just as two trains were crossing). This is where we ended this same hike in 2014, when we walked from Wald going in the opposite direction. 

After Fischenthal, the stream returned to the east side of the railway tracks, and we continued on this lovely footpath. 

Perfect late winter weather for this kind of a walk. 

A look back at the village of Fischenthal. (We did not make a detour to look at the church). It was here that we started another very nice hike in 2016, heading up the hill behind the church and continuing in the northwestward direction to Bauma. (Photos are HERE). 

(This photo from January 2024 is from our hike on the Hüttchopf trail, a view down to Fischenthal from the summit of Mt.Hüttchoft on the west side of the valley). 

On the other side of this bridge is a large pond called Fistelweiher

Our first look at the snow-covered peaks to the south, part of the Schwyzer and Glarus Alps. The large flat moor area on the other side of the railway tracks is used as a cross-country ski site in winter when there is snow!

On our left (to the east) a small peak comes into view, which is called the Hüttchopf, the peak we walked over in January 2024 when we walked the Hüttchopf trail from the south, and descended to Steg at the end of that hike (photos HERE)

We are walking along National Trail no.4: "Via Jakobi", or "St. James Trail", part of the "Camino de Santiago" Pilgrim Trail which passes through Switzerland. 

Somehow a large hiking group of seniors caught up with us, so we stopped for our lunch break here and let them pass. 

The place we found to have our picnic lunch while waiting for the hiking group to get far ahead of us!

VIDEO:

Watching the trains go by as we eat our picnic lunch

Often we spot herons in the pastures or marshes. 

A large moor area called Fischentalerriet. 

Still following the railway tracks. Shortly afterwards we reached the next town called Gibswil, where we left the St.James trail, as we were planning to head down into the Jona Ravine, a river which has its source in the hills to the west of Gibswil. 

It is so lovely to get a view of the mountains! Also, up ahead is the next bridge to cross (and a second one behind it), over the railway tracks this time. 

This sign on the bridge over the railway tracks states that in the next few days a frog migration will begin, and the road will be closed between 7 p.m. and 8 a.m! Only ambulances will be allowed to "run over frogs"!!

From this bridge crossing east to west, we see the next bridge where we have to cross again from west to east! From the second bridge I just caught the train passing under the first bridge! This here is now is a new river called the Jona, which has its source in the hills to the west of Gibswil. 

A section of forest next to the Jona River, still a small stream here. (The river laters flows westward at Wald where we are ending our hike, and ultimately empties into Lake Zurich at the town of the same name: JONA). 

Every half hour or so a train passes!

More lovely half-timbered houses 

At the top of the hill to the west we can see the Bachtel tower, a tower we climbed back in November 2016 when we hiked up there from Wald headed northwards, and ultimately also descended to Steg. (Those photos are HERE).

Close-up of the Bachtel communications tower with viewing platform (180 steps to climb!)

Last stretch before we head into the ravine. 

Now starts the season where the fountain water runs and I can fill up my water bottle!

A couple more bridges once we got into the Jona ravine!

A few more bridges once we got into the Jona ravine!

Following the Jona River

Here a long set of steps led down to a spot near some waterfalls!

Heading down the steps into the bottom of the ravine

A look at the steps we just descended. This is a picnic spot which surely is very pretty on a hot summer day!

The Jona River falls over the cliffs here!

VIDEO:

Waterfall in the Jona Ravine.

Heading out of the ravine now along the river instead of returning to the upper trail. 

Already the river is wider here. 

This was the final bridge we crossed over the Jona River. 

For the next kilometer, the trail is a wider road until it meets the main road in Wald. 

Following the main road through Wald as we head to the railway station. A stop in the town's church is a necessity. 

The interior of the Evangelical Church in Wald. 

Some of the houses in Wald. 

Main road in Wald. We got to the train station at 2:30 p.m. We could have caught the 2:38 train but decided to take the next one at 3:08. At the train station in Wald is a small barn where a team of train lovers are restoring an historical train. As Urs also helped out several years ago, he went over to have a look at the progress and chat with his fellow train lovers. 

This is the old train being restored, since about 20 years now!

Urs made a donation in my name (and his) to the project, which means that once the historical train is finished with its restoration, we get a free ride on it every year on our very own reserved seats!

What our walk looks like on Google Satellite Maps, starting in Steg and walking to Wald. 

These are all the walks we have done between Wald and Steg, as well as along the range to the west of the Steg/Wald valley. 

On the way back home, our train passes through Rapperswil on Lake Zurich. The castle here is quite impressive. 

As the train crosses the isthmus across Lake Zurich, we get a view of the mountains to the south. There is a really neat boardwalk here, which we walked on only once before. 

Seagull island! The south part of Lake Zurich here is actually called Obersee (Upper Lake). 

The canal between Lake Zurich on the north side of the isthmus, and the Obersee on the south side. 

As the train heads north along Lake Zurich, we pass the vineyards at Au. 

Location of Steg and Wald in the Zurich Oberland. 

Back in 2014 when Urs was still actively involved in helping with the restoration of the historical train in Wald, I met up with him there one day in May, and we did an afternoon walk in this valley heading northwards through the Jona Ravine and ending our walk in Fischenthal (not all the way to Steg). I don't know why, but I only took four photos on that hike, and not one of them was from the actual ravine. But we did enjoy that hike, and wanted to repeat it now, over 10 years later. These are the photos I took at the time. 

When it is green in the valley between Wald in Fischenthal (May 2014)