Aargau Wetlands Protection Park between Aarau and Wildegg

Thursday June 6, 2024 -- The day dawned better than expected so I wanted to do an excursion, but having done that 4-hour hike in Canton Valais the day before, I wanted something fairly "tame", so I reverted back to my plan again of completing small sections of themed trails.

In the more northern part of the country in Canton Aargau is a regional themed trail called "Aargauerweg", which is a 105-km trail highlighting the countryside and history of this Canton (including the site of the Habsburg castle, one of Europe's most powerful families during the Middle Ages). We have walked almost the entire trail except for an 8-km section in the far north (Fricktal), AND a short and boring 5-km section along the Aar River near the capital city of Aargau. (Back in March of 2018 we did a 9-km after-work late winter walk along the river from Aarau to Rupperswil. For some reason we felt we didn't want to complete the section to Wildegg, even though it would only have taken 35 minutes longer than the 2¼-hour stretch we ended up walking.) 

The 5-km section still left for me to walk between Rupperswil (where we detoured to last time) to Wildegg train station is over an island in the Aar River, just north of the Auenstein wetlands. The trail was a wide road without much view onto the river because of the trees. This was not too bad, as it was a hot and muggy day and the shade of the forest was welcome. Nearly at the end of the island I discovered a smaller and more pleasant trail on the north side of the island, parallel to the themed trail. 

My original plan was to continue to the Wildegg castle to visit the lovely rose gardens there, but it was too hot and so I just returned home after being outside for a couple of hours. 

Back in March 2018 we walked the section from Aarau to here along trail no.42. So I am starting here and continuing eastward in the direction of "Brücke Wildegg"

This is the section I walked this day. I started at about 11:30 at the train station in Rupperswil, because that is where we ended last time. Originally I had thought to continue up to the Wildegg Castle as the rose gardens are currently in full bloom. But it was too hot by the time I got to the Wildegg train station at 1 p.m. 

Crossing the first bridge over the Aar River to the island in the center of the river (on the left). Straight ahead are the wetlands. 

The entire trail across the island is like this, wide and straight. The shade was nice on this hot day, but you only get a couple of glimpses of the river on the right.

A view of the wetlands on the other side of the river to the south. 

After walking 20 minutes along the wide road, I heard the sound of children playing to my left, and discovered there was a bridge there crossing the channel to the north of the island, so I headed over there to have a look. This is called a stressed-ribbon bridge. 

Crossing the Aar River on the north side of the island. The river level is extremely high right now due to all the rain we have been having. 

This road leads through the village of Auenstein and to trails up to the ridge called Gislifluh on the left, part of the Jura range through Canton Aargau. (What I hadn't realized was that the Auenstein Castle was just a few meters to the right of here, and I could have done a small detour!)

Since my plan was to continue along the island, I returned across the channel. But I had discovered that there was a much nicer small path right along the rivershore on the left. (Surprisingly not even under water, considering how high the rivers are right now.)

This path was so much better and I regretted not having found it at the west end of the island. 

From across the river I caught sight of the Auenstein castle on the north bank. I was so close to it when I had crossed the bridge, and didn't even realize it!

It was pretty muddy at this spot, so I figure the river water must have reached right up to here just recently. 

Very close to the eastern tip of the island

Beavers are very busy in these wetlands. 

Another stressed-ribbon bridge crosses the river on the south side of the island. 

Crossing back to the south now, this is the view of the wetlands to the west. 

An information panel explains how "stressed-ribbon bridges" work. Apparently these are like suspension bridges, but they don't sway, because the cables are embedded into the deck. 

I love bridges. 

Looking back at the very eastern tip of the approximately 2-km long island in the middle of the Aar River. The mountain is Gislifluh, a part of the dominant ridge north of the city of Aarau. 

On the south side of the Aar River, the trail continues as a wide road again toward Wildegg. You can just see the castle behind the boats. 

After another 20 minutes along the straight wide road, I get a glimpse of the Wildegg castle. My original plan was to continue walking up to the castle to see the rose gardens, which are currently in full bloom. But it was a very hot and muggy day, and I had had enough by the time I got to the train station, even though this had only been a 5-km walk.  

A close-up look at the Wildegg castle, built by the powerful Habsburg family in the 13th Century. We ended a hike here previously when we did a stretch on the Aargauerweg from Brugg to here, via the main Habsburg castle (those photos HERE). At that time, the gardens were unfortunately not open yet, as it was too early in the season. 

Back in March of 2018, Urs and I met after work in the city of Aarau to do an early spring walk along the Aar River. Starting at about 3 p.m., we walked through the part of the city where I had lived for a year in 1989, and then continued along the Aar Riverbank for 9 km, ending in Rupperswil where I continued on this day. That whole section from the city of Aarau to the town of Wildegg is part of the Aargau Wetlands. Unfortunately I don't have more photos, as I didn't have my regular camera along, and my phone battery died. 

Maps along the way show important features along the 10-km stretch of riverbank between Aarau and Wildegg through the Aargau Wetlands (i.e. fish ladders and amphibian spawning ponds). 

At 317 hectares, the Aar River Wetlands are actually the largest contiguous wetlands in Canton Aargau. 

On our March 2018 walk along the Aar River, we managed to cover 7½ km before deciding to end our hike in Rupperswil (another 1.3 km to detour to the train station there). Even though it would only have been a total of 11 km to the train station in Wildegg, we felt we'd had enough for the afternoon. 

Church on a hill called Kirchberg just east of Küttigen on the north side of the Aar River at Aarau. 

On this March 2018 walk we saw a lot of evidence of busy beaver work. I have read that they chew down the trees not to use the actual "trunk", but to gnaw off the smaller branches which they can now reach once the tree lies on the ground. 

We crossed the river for a closer look at the Biberstein castle on the north side. 

Back on the bridge crossing to the south side of the river, where we continued on the riverbank trail on the right.  

Of the 105-km "Aargauerweg" trail between Frick and Muri, we now have only an 8-km piece to finish in the Frick Valley, hoping to do it this year. The piece between Aarau and Wildegg are part of the protected wetlands. 

A Section of the Aargauer Trail from Salhöhe to Aarau

Wednesday October 4, 2023 -- Not the best day to travel to the mountains as it as pretty overcast there, but we still wanted to do some walking, so we went to the Jura foothills North of the city of Aarau where there was sunshine, walked along the ridge from Salhöhe Pass to the lookout at Wasserflue, and then walked all the way down the mountain to the city of Aarau.

Since Canton Aargau (Argovia) consists of 35% of forest, most of our hike was through forest, with a few meadows and a nice view over the old town of Aarau. Unfortunately, there is a large military training grounds exactly in the path of our hike, and we had to endure machine gun practice, not the nicest for an impromptu afternoon walk. 

The old part of Aarau (on the Aar River) is very pretty, as many of the houses have intricately-painted roof gables. 

This hike would not make it into the annals of our favourite hikes, but we didn't want to travel far, and we picked this stretch because it is part of the 100-km-long themed trail called the "Aargauerweg" (or "Argovia Trail") of which we have now just about completed the entire stretch (in several sections). In retrospect, we should have waited for a clear day with good visibility, so that we would have had the best of the view from the Wasserflue, as we did back in May of 2017, when we did a similar walk. 

Riding through old town Aarau by bus on the way to Salhöhe Pass

Some features of the city of Aarau as seen from the bus

Crossing the Aar River looking west, this is the Eniwa Hydroelectric Plant. 

Passing through the city of Erlinsbach where we had to change to a different bus. Interesting fact: Half of this city is in Canton Aargau, the other half in Canton Solothurn! (This church is actually in the Solothurn side of Erlinsbach). 

We got to Salhöhe Pass at 12:15, where we started on our 3-hour hike. First stop is the look-out point at Wasserflue (one hour to walk) where we had our picnic lunch, and from there it was another 2¼ hours to walk down to the city of Aarau 

This is a section of Trail no.42: "Aargauerweg" which we had not yet done, so that was the reason for randomly choosing this trail today. Also, we started late, so needed something relatively close by (2 hours travel time). It still ended up a solid 3-hour and 11 km afternoon walk. 

The view over the Argovian landscape to the north of the Jura ridge. 

The walk to the Wasserflue look-out point was all through the woods

This trail is along the crest of the Jura foothills, and most of the trail was this layer of almost vertical raised rock. 

We got to the look-out point at 13:05, so 50 minutes after starting our walk at the Salhöhe Pass. A drawback of the overcast skies in the mountains is that we didn't see any of the Alps. (With good visibility, you can see the whole range of the snow-covered Alps from here. We did this same stretch in May of 2017 with the Föhn wind effect, where the mountains looked so close... those photos are HERE)

The view to the east and southeast, to what is probably the city of Küttigen

View to the north, to the Benkerjoch Pass

This is where we had our picnic lunch, a bit late in the day. 

Heading downhill now below the crest, a look at the Wasserflue communication tower. 

When we were not in the forest, we walked through agricultural landscapes

The forests of Canton Aargau

One of many nice forest trails

An opening in the forest, looking east

For a part of our descent we were accompanied by the sound of machine-gun practice, which was not very enjoyable. This is the military training-ground at Gehren. 

Military training grounds

Heading toward the Buechwald "Oak Reservation Forest", a unique and rare oak forest in canton Aargau. We walked through this forest for 40 minutes before reaching a look-out over the city of Aarau

I don't know what these are, but it was a very pretty field of purple flowers

We reached the "Alpenzeiger" look-out point at 3:40 p.m, with this view of old-town Aarau, the Aar River, and the bridge which we crossed into the city.

Zoomed view of the old town of Aarau, from the north side

Zoomed view of the old town of Aarau, from the north side

Heading down to river level. 

Another view of the old town shortly before reaching river level. 

Crossing the bridge over the Aar River. 

Before heading to the train station, which is on the south side of the old town, we wandered a few streets to admire the painted roof gables. 

Old town Aarau

Such pretty roof gables. There is a lot to admire.

These are also very interesting roof overhangs! Earlier, there used to be cranes in these windows, to lift heavy things into the apartments which you could not bring up the stairs. 

One of the city gates

Tower at the city gate

Watching the bus make its way through the narrow city gate, on the south side of the old town. 

This is what our hike looks like on Google Satellite Maps

Location of Aarau and the Northeastern section of the Jura Foothills. (The Jura Mountains are mostly along the Swiss-French border). 

Description of the "Aargauerweg" (or Argovia Trail). The entire themed trail is about 100 km long. 

We have just about completed the entire "Aargauerweg" from Frick to Muri. We'll do the northern section from Salhöhe Pass to Wittnau (direction Frick) next Spring, hopefully. 

The view from the Wasserflue look-out point on a clear day. You can see the entire range of the Alps from here. When there is the Föhn-Wind effect, the mountains seem closer and larger. My photos from that day's hike are worth looking at HERE