High Trail between the Necker and Luteren Valleys in the Toggenburg

Thursday August 7, 2025 -- Another heat wave is expected after several weeks of rain and cold weather, but this Thursday was an in-between day with sunshine and pleasant temperatures at mid-level altitudes.

So we headed to the Toggenburg region in Eastern Switzerland, specifically to Schwägalp at the foot of Mount Säntis, for a long hike along the Necker High Trail, or also known as the Ofenloch Trail, a 15-km trail that takes about five hours to walk. We had done a section of this trail once before, descending into the "Ofenloch" with its waterfalls and caves, but further along, the trail passes over a mountain peak called the Hinderfallenchopf, and that was too much for us at the time, so we descended to the valley bottom at the "foot" of that hill. Those photos are HERE.) This time we wanted to walk along the entire hillside between the Luteren River and Necker River valleys, ending as suggested in the cute village of Ennetbühl near the Thur Valley. We were able to complete this 14-km stretch because we didn't go down into the ravine. Still, what we walked maps as a 4½-hour hike, which we were able to do in just over five hours .

Visibility was good so we had some nice views of Mount Säntis, the Thur Valley, the Churfirsten mountains, and the Luteren Valley below. We also enjoyed two herds of goats which came to visit us on the way!

Leaving home at 7:20, it was a 2-hour, 20-minute train trip to Urnäsch, where we change to a bus for a 12-minute ride up to Schwägalp. These photos are of the very pretty houses on main street in Urnäsch.

Approaching Schwägalp below Mt.Säntis at 10 a.m., along the winding pass road.

This time we decided to start our hike at the base station of the Säntis cable-car (we could have started at the pass further below). We got here at 10:11, and just about everyone from our bus headed into the terminal for the ride up to the summit.

We on the other hand headed into the cheese dairy to buy some cheese and buns to take along on our hike!

First a toilet break, then a visit to the cheese dairy, and we are ready to start on our hike ata 10:25, as the large Säntis cable-car cabin arrives to load the next bunch of people for the summit.

Starting at about 10:30 next to the base station of the Säntis cable-car, we ended up in Ennetbühl at about 3:30 p.m. So it took us only five hours to walk this 4½-hour trail! It was great weather and and interesting trail, and we didn't need to take a lot of breaks along the way.

A look behind us at the Säntis Massif and Schwägalp as we head down toward the Schwägalp Pass.

We have been up here several times for hikes in all directions, but had never walked the short stretch between the cable-car station and the actual Schwägalp pass. This added one kilometer to our walk, but was a very nice trail, and makes a connection on my map of hikes done in the area!

This is the Schwägalp Pass, where the bus also stops. This is where we started our Ofenloch hike back in 2018, and today we will be following the same trail for the first hour (three kilometers). While we were crossing the road here, two large tour buses full of tourists were headed up to the cable-car station.

The trail signs at the Schwägalp Pass indicate that it is an almost 5-hour hike to Ennetbühl, but this is via the Ofenloch Ravine, which we are not descending into this time. (This makes the hike one hour less long). Starting higher up near the base of Mt. Säntis, and adding another slightly longer detour, our hike still ended up being 4½ hours).

Description of the Ofenloch Trail, although we did not go down into the ravine this time. The official trail starts at the cable-car station, and would take a full five hours to walk.

A final look behind us past the Schwägalp Pass to the cable-way at Schwägalp.

The first 25 minutes toward the Chräzerenpass was over very wet ground, and there were many wooden boardwalks laid along the trail.

At 11:40 we reached the junction at the road which leads toward the Ofenloch Ravine. Here at the little peak called Pfingstboden, we decided on a new trail we hadn't done before, passing along the south side. First, though, a stop at a bench we could see under that large tree!

Lunch break at 11:45 under this tree, in the shade. Perfect!

This was the view of the Säntis Massif from our little bench under the tree.

To the south is a pass called the Risipass, which leads to the town of Stein (SG) in the Thur Valley. We crossed this pass in August 2019 along the "Alpine Panorama Trail" also starting at Schwägalp, where we started this day. It is always interesting to see where we had walked previously, from a different vantage point.

A final look back at the bench we had sat at, as we now head up toward Pfingsboden. This trail took 40 minutes to walk to a saddle called Ellbogen, from where we would start the long hike up to Mt. Hinderfallenchopf.

The trail on the west side of Pfingsboden was pretty torn up by cows. But we still made it to Ellbogen (the little building below) in the 40 minutes suggested. From Ellbogen, we had to follow mostly that road up to the summit of Mt. Hinderfallenchopf whose summit is not visible from here.

When we did the Ofenloch hike back in 2018, here at Ellbogen was where we had decided to head down into the Luteren Valley. From here it's a 45-minute hike up to the summit of Hinderfallenchopf.

This 45-minute climb to the top of Mt.Hinderfallenchopf was the "toughest" part of the hike, as here we could feel the heat. (For the rest of the hike we had a nice cool breeze). Behind us we get more and more view of the Säntis Massif as we get higher up.

Now we get the first fabulous views into the Luteren Valley below, and the Thur Valley which is perpendicular to that. In the background are the Glarus Alps.

At 1:15 p.m. we reached the summit of Mt. Hinderfallenchopf, 40 minutes after starting from the Ellbogen "pass". (From here it's another 1 hour and 40 minutes to our goal in Ennetbühl).

From the summit you get views in all directions, including here directly to the north to a hill called Hochalp on the other side of the steep Necker Valley. We had hiked across that summit on a fabulous hike in June 2020, along the Appenzell Trail from Schwägalp to Urnäsch. (Photos HERE).

A zoomed view of the farm at the summit of Hochalp to the north. We stopped here for an Appenzell specialty called "Bschorle" on our June 2020 hike from Schwägalp to Urnäsch.

These goats were grazing up here but followed Urs to the summit! These white goats are called Saanenziegen, originally from the Saanen region of the Bernese Oberland, but now can be found all over the country.

Fun with a herd of goats at the summit of Mt. Hinderfallenchopf! (In the background we can see into the Thur Valley and the Glarus Alps).

From here at the summit you can also see to the east the summit of Mt.Säntis, and below into the Ofenloch canyon which we had descended into back in 2018, but not this time.

Now a better view of Hochalp and the region we walked back in 2020. At the far back on the right is Mt.Kronberg, another popular summit in this region.

Panorama View to the north, of Hochalp on the left, then Kronberg and then Mt.Säntis. We have walked across that first line of hills back in June 2020.

Now starts the descent into the Luteren Valley. (The Luteren River has its source from many small streams at the Schwägap just below Mt. Sänti and flows down this valley to join the Thur River at Nesslau/Neu-St.Johann.) The farm below is called Ober Scherlet. (We passed several such farms on the way down).

A zoomed view of the summit of Mt.Säntis with its meteorological station. Not the clearest view we've ever had here, but still not too bad.

Behind me you can see Mt.Hinderfallenchopf, which we just descended from.

Here at the junction of a farm called Höbschholz, we had the choice to continue for another 1 hour 15 minutes to Ennetbühl along the Ofenloch Trail (no.948), or a shorter path straight down the mountain from here, which would only take an hour. It is now 2:05 p.m., and the bus from Ennetbühl heads out at 43 minutes past the hour every hour..... so still plenty of time to take the longer route!

It's always tricky when passing a herd of mother cows with young ones. They watch us very carefully, and we also watch them carefully! (Sometimes there is a leader cow that might get aggressive). But those babies are so cute!

That cute baby and its mother watch me carefully as I walk the trail through their pasture. (Urs has already jumped the fence). Main thing is, you must not get between the babies and the mamas.

A better view now of the summit of Mt.Hinderfallenchopf behind us. (Mt. Säntis currently is hidden in clouds. Less view for all the people going up there!)

We were looking for a place to take a break in the shade, and found it here on this bench at the Vorderchlosteralp farm, and right next to a fountain of lovely fresh cold water to fill our bottles with!

According to the description we have read of the trail we are walking, we would now be passing through a grove of oak trees plante 650 years ago (?) to protect this hillside from rock slides.

Now we get some nice views into the Thur Valley and the line of Churfirsten mountains which separate the Thur Valley from Lake Walensee.

As the sun heads westward, we see the Säntis Massif in better detail.

Heading down toward Ennetbühl with lot of views up the Luteren Valley now, toward Mt.Säntis.

This farm at Gössigen held a surprise for us....

...another small group of Saanen goats were lounging in the shade of the barn, but when they saw us coming, they raced over to walk with us for a bit!

VIDEO:

A group of goats resting in the shade jumped up as soon as they saw us,

and ran out to join Urs on the trail.

It's always fun when the goats walk with us for a bit! They do whatever they feel like!

More great views of the Luteren and Thur Valleys, and of the Churfirsten. Here we now pass through many pastures of mowed grass, perfect weather for drying for the upcoming heat wave.

At Brüggli, another 25 minutes to Ennetbühl.

Heading down toward Brüggli Farm.

The trail heads eastward here for a very nice look up the Luteren Valley.

Down below us now is the little village of Ennetbühl, the end of our hike where we can catch the 15:43 bus. (It is now 15:22).

Another look up the Luteren Valley to the Säntis Massif.

Final stretch down to the village of Ennetbühl

We got to the village at 3:35 p.m, with eight minutes left until the bus....

This lovely house with the pretty window-box flowers is the town's Gasthaus, Gasthaus Krone. (Had we missed the bus, we would have stopped here for refreshments).