Short Walk from Rothenflue to Alptal near the Mythen Mountains in Canton Schwyz

Thursday June 19, 2025 -- After our two-day trip to the Surselva Valley, we didn't want to travel far this day. We also wanted to start early again to beat the day's heat.

We traveled just 90 minutes from home (leaving at 7:15) to reach the summit of the Rothenflue gondola cable-car station at the base of the Mythen Mountains in Schwyz, from where we did a relatively short, five-kilometer walk down to the road in the Alptal Valley. We enjoyed cows newly let out of the barns onto these upper pastures, and walked mostly through forest and marsh landscapes with lots and lots of meadow flowers again, to my delight. There was a lovely breeze blowing and it wasn't at all too hot.

It was only a 90-minute walk to the road where the bus heads down the Alptal Valley to Einsiedeln, and originally we were going to walk for another hour on a trail following the Alp River, but the next bus out wasn't till two hours later, and we didn't feel like spending another two hours in the heat of the valley bottom. So we took the 11:13 bus (which we just reached with five minutes to spare) to Einsiedeln, and went to visit Urs' Aunt on the way home. Then we enjoyed a pleasant afternoon at home. 

The view of the Uri Alps from the 10-minute bus ride from the Schwyz train station to the Rothenflue cable-car station. 

We left home at 7:15, and got to the cable-car station just before 8:30 for the first run up the mountain. As the gondola ascends, we look down at the city of Schwyz, and can just see Lake Lucerne in the back. 

Directly to our north is the magnificent Greater Mythen mountain. (Grosser Mythen). You can see the zigzag trail that goes up to the summit. (We climbed this once in 2014, maybe it's time to try again?)

At the top of the gondola cable-way is a restaurant and a look-out platform. From here you can also see Lake Lauerz on the right, and the summit of Mt.Rigi behind it. 

Here is a photo I have to take every time I am here!

A close-up look a the summit of Mt.Mythen. There is nothing up there but a restaurant! The trail up to the summit is very popular, though. Interesting fact: The red rock at the top of the mountain is older tan the gray rock below it, proof that at some point Earth's crust flipped over. 

Starting out on our hike now, with a look to the north into the Alptal (Alp Valley) where we will ultimately catch a but to Einsiedeln in the north. 

There was a little shop inside this old cable-car cabin! You could buy locally-made cheeses here, but we didn't buy anything this time. 

Leaving home at 7:15, we got to the summit of the Rotenflue cable-car at about 8:45. After a short five-kilometer walk, we caught the bus in Brunni on the road in the Alptal (Alp Valley) at 11:15, heading back home via Einsiedeln and Goldau. 

Heading down the hill on the first part of our hike with a view of the Schwyzer Alps to our south.  

And the cows were heading up the hill toward us.... but as it turns out, we had just passed by their water trough, and that's where they were headed!

We love the cows in the mountains. 

I took this photo by accident, but I love it!

VIDEO:

Walking past a parade of cows heading to their water trough!

First the cows were keeping an eye on that little dog, and then they were curious about us! These are not the typical Swiss Brown Cows we usually see here. I checked the Internet, and I think they are Jersey breed of cows. 

They always watch Urs!

From here we can see the "Grosser Mythen" on the left, and the "Kleiner Mythen" on the right. ("Greater" and "Lesser" Mythen). 

More cows

View to the south. Behind the first stretch of lower hills is the Muota Valley (Muotathal). 

Here at the saddle with the cutest name: "Müsliegg", we headed north, and the rest of our walk was downhill into the Alp Valley. 

This hillside is quite wet with lots of marshy landscapes. The people who keep up the trails lay down wooden boards in the wettest areas to make walking easier. We had lots of shade which was great on this hot day. 

Several little bridges

A couple of sunny spots were welcome as well. It wasn't at all hot here as there was a breeze blowing.

In this clearing (which was kind of a marshy area) were loads of little yellow flowers. And we could just see the summit of the larger Mythen mountain. 

Pretty cornflowers. 

Another soft trail through marshy meadows. 

A close-up view of the summit of the large Mythen mountain, where the upper and older rock glows red! And the single building at the top looks so out of place!

As it was now 10 a.m. and we were looking for a bench to sit and have a snack, we were pleasantly surprised to find this cute covered sitting spot in the woods, perfect to enjoy a few minutes of cool!

 In fact we only found this by accident as we were walking down the road, because two other hikers emerged from the forest onto the main road and we wondered, "What in the world were they doing in the dense forest where there is no hiking trail?"

On a hot day like this one, we are glad for any forest trails which we can walk along!

More boards on the trail!

Ahead of us here we can see the peaks of the other part of the Mythen mountains. These are called the "Kleiner Mythen" (or "Smaller/Lesser" Mythen). 

A field full of wool-grass, although already kind of collapsed, unfortunately. They look so pretty when they are all fluffed up. 

Back down at the road now waiting for the bus at the Brunni Gasthaus. We got here with six minutes to spare before the bus came. That's a lot of extra time for us!

Here's the 11:12 bus (starts at the Brunni cable-car station one stop closer to the Grosser Mythen), right on time!

This is what our hike looks like on Google Satellite Maps. We started at about 8:45 the top of the Rothenflue cable-car line, and walked five kilometers via Müsliegg to the vehicle road in the Alptal Valley (11:15) . 

On the bus down the Alptal Valley toward Einsiedeln

On the bus down the Alptal Valley toward Einsiedeln

From Einsiedeln, we take the train via the Rothenthurm High Moors to Goldau. Down below is a really long cargo train heading south. 

These are all the hikes we have done in the region around the two Mythen Mountains in Canton Schwyz.

Brunni Valley (Canton Uri) and one of the Largest North Faces in the Alps

(This post published on March 20, 2023)

Saturday May 21, 2016 -- Such a beautiful weekend, we were out hiking on both Saturday and Sunday. With the long cold winter we had, it was a thrill to finally be able to get back up into the higher alpine regions, although it turns out we were just a bit early in the season, as we did run into a few stretches of snow, some of which were potentially difficult to navigate.

On Saturday was our very first excursion into the beautiful Brunni Valley, a side valley to our favourite Schächen Valley, and now another favourite. First we had to walk 2 km along the valley bottom in what is called an open meadow where the livestock roam free and have the right of way. Cars have to wait until the animals have moved off the road. There was a big flock of sheep and llamas that eagerly raced to meet up with us, and loitered along the road oblivious of cars that wanted to pass!

A steep cable car ride took us to the high alpine meadows on one side -- Sittlis Alp, which has its own dairy processing facility, converting all the milk produced here over the summer into yoghurt and cheese -- and then we walked to the back and out the other side, going from clearing to clearing with their clusters of homes and farms, before heading back down into the Schächen Valley on a different cable car.

(Canton Uri is called the Cable Car Eldorado, as there are 41 cable cars in this canton alone, of all styles and sizes. To date we've been on 14 of them, and plan to have ridden them all in time!)

As a side note, at the back of the Brunni Valley is one of the largest North Walls in the Swiss Alps. (Gross Ruchen).

As always, my favourite view on the train ride along Lake Uri, at Sisikon. We travel this stretch OFTEN!

On the bus ride from Flüelen toward the Schächen Valley, the magnificent Mount Bristen directly to the south

At Unterschächen in the Schächen Valley is where we have to get off the bus, and walk for two kilometers into this, the Brunni Valley. There is a paved road, so many people drive up to the cable car station. We started here at 10:15

The hike consisted of three sections: Two kilometers from Unterschächen to the cable car, with the cable car to Sittlis Alp, then 9 km down to Brunni Alp and ending in Wannelen Alp, then a cable car back down to Ribi, from where we walked another one kilometer back to Unterschächen. 12 kilometers in all, just under four hours of walking

A look back out of the Brunni Valley

On this huge open pasture, the animals are free to walk on the road if they like, and they have the right of way!

VIDEO:

Sheep, cows and alpaca roam free on this huge open pasture in the Brunni Valley. This flock of sheep and their two llama guards (or are they alpacas?) came running from afar when they saw us! They remained with us for a long time, milling on the road, so that the cars simply had to wait until they moved out of the way!

We have never before seen sheep that were so trusting! Usually, sheep will run off as soon as we come near them, but these, including their llama pals, came running toward us!

We learned much later that llamas are used like "guard dogs" to protect flocks of sheep, so these guys are watching me carefully, that I don't do anything to harm the sheep! Still, I thought this was very cool. 

(A sign we once saw in a different part of Switzerland advertises the use of llamas to guard flocks of sheep! It reads "We are calm, attentive and very curious! We only spit or stamp our feet if we feel threatened.")

Watching the Sittlisalp cable car, with the fabulous backdrop. The cable car saves us a 500-meter climb!

Looking down the Brunni Valley into the Schächen Valley, from the cable car to Sittlisalp

The little cable car from Brunni Valley to Sittlisalp carries only four people at a time, and the ride takes 4-5 minutes. On a Sunday there are so many people who want to come up here, so you sometimes have to wait an hour or so! We were lucky this time, only had to wait 10 minutes. 

Heading south to Sittlisalp along the trail high above the west side of the valley. What a beautiful day for this walk! We started at the summit cable car station at 11:20

There is much more snow up here than we expected!

This section of the alpine road was covered in snow, and the farmer couldn't cross to pick up his re-bar, so Urs helped him carry it across the snowy section. The farmer showed us where he lived and said we should stop by for a coffee next time we come this way. 

A look at the other side of the valley to the east, where we plan to walk after getting to Brunni Alp at the back of the valley. You can see the road to the farm (called Trogenalp), and after that it becomes a mountain trail, that goes around the corner through the forest. 

I am always excited about the first alpine flowers!

This is a look down at another alpine pasture called Brunni Alp

I would have liked to continue further along the high trail before descending to the pasture at Brunni Alp, but Urs was worried the trail might become impassible, so we decided to descend here. 

One of the largest north faces in the Alps. 

On the hillside below us, the farmers are removing rocks from the pastures, rocks which have been brought down by sliding snow. 

Goats just seem to be attracted to Urs, they follow him often when we are in the mountains! We call him "Geissen Peter", a local term for goatherd, which is a reference to the Heidi Books.

VIDEO:

The goats following Urs down the mountainside to Brunni Alp

This is the Brunni Alp mountain farm, directly at the back of the Brunni Valley, and the view is directly to the North along the Brunni Valley. We continued to the right, as we are now planning to head along the high trail on the east side of the valley. 

First part of the trail along the east side of the valley is this easy farm road. 

Heading along the alpine road, with a view of Sittlis Alp on the other side. 

Ah, a "favourite" smell of the Swiss countryside!

A first look into the Schächen Valley. Our goal is the Wannelen Alp cable car, only an hour to go! (or so we thought....)

A look across the Brunni Valley to the west to Sittlis Alp where we started the hike. Hard to believe that above that vertical drop is an entire dairy industry!

15:10, time for a break and to air the feet, and to enjoy the sun and the view!

As Urs anticipated, there was unmelted snow along the trail, although we didn't really expect it on this section! This is usually due to snow avalanches, which take longer to melt. Here we crossed OK. 

A look behind us after we crossed the snow in the avanlanche couloir

This next snowy section was trickier, and also unexpected!

The snow having just melted on these pastures, the crocuses are now popping!

We have now arrived at the small hamlet called Wannelen Alp. From here there is another small cable-car back to the valley bottom, in the Schächen Valley. 

The cable car station at Wannelen Alp. 

This cargo cabin is used to transport all kinds of goods such as cheese wheels and also cows! We have to use the phone to call down to the valley station to ask them to operate the cableway. 

A look across the beautiful Schächen Valley

Heading down in the little cable-car, this is a view of the village of Unterschächen, where we started our walk into the Brunni Valley. As it turns out, we also finished our hike by walking the final kilometer from the base station of the cable car at Ribi. 

A look up to the Klausen Pass. The bus doesn't run up there until middle of June. 

Down below in the little community called Ribi is the bottom station of the cable car. The owner has to come from a neighbouring house to operate the cable car for us. We then pay her when we get to the bottom. 

There is actually a bus stop here on the road, but the bus doesn't run often, so we decided to walk the final 20 minutes into Unterschächen. We got here at 16:40. 

A pleasant trail to Unterschächen

Passing the entrance to the Brunni Valley, one of my favourite views! (North wall of the Gross Ruchen mountain)

How our hike looks on Google Satellite maps

Location of the Brunni Valley in relation to where we live in Zug.