Aargauer Trail from Salhöhe to Wittnau, then Bad Säckingen in Germany

Wednesday July 17, 2024 -- After our two-day trip with five hours of walking each day, we took a break on Tuesday (rainy day). But on Wednesday we did want to go walking again, just not another 5-hour hike! The weather was best in the Central Plateau (toward late morning only), i.e. around the Jura Mountains and the Rhine River on the German border, so we figured we'd do a relatively short hike this time of only about 8 km, walking the final section which was still missing for completing the regional themed trail called "Aargauerweg", a 105-km trail which runs through the entire Canton of Aargau. 

We started at a pass called Salhöhe and walked northwards to Wittnau in the Frick Valley, a small town where we had started another section of this trail back in April of 2023 (those photos are HERE). As it turns out, a large part of the walk was on paved roads, and I wasn't unhappy that the sky became overcast. In retrospect, this might have been a walk better saved for fall or a nice winter day. In any case, since we weren't too far from the German border, the plan was to then take the train to the town of Stein on the Swiss side of the Rhine River, where we can cross the river into Germany, buy some things we needed from a drugstore there, eat some gelato, and return across the wooden covered bridge--at 203.7 meters the longest roofed wooden in Europe--back into Switzerland. This was the third time we were here, with photos of our previous trip HERE. 

Crossing the Aare River by bus from the town of Aarau, heading up into the hills north of the city. This is a power plant on the river.

An old restaurant on the north side of the river. 

Starting at the Salhöhe Pass in the Jura hills above Aarau at 10:45, this was going to be a short hike (less than 2½ hours) north to Wittnau along Trail no.42. Then we would take the bus and train to Stein-Säckingen, which is on the Swiss side of the Rhine River, and walk across the bridge to Bad-Säckingen, which is on the German side of the river.  Trail no.5 "Jura High Trail" runs east to west along the Jura Crest here. 

View to the northeast from the Jura Crest at Salhöhe Pass

We started at 10:45 at Salhöhe, and reached Wittnau at 13:40 for the bus to Frick. The pass is located along Route no.5: "Jura Crest Trail" and right on the border of Cantons Aargau and Solothurn. For a large part we walked along that canton border.

The obligatory cow photo. These ones had an interesting brown and white colouring. 

The pass road descending on our west to the town of Kienberg, Canton Solothurn. 

There was this unusual field of blue flowers in the middle of a clearing. 

A good place to stop for our picnic lunch at 11:30. We stayed here about 15 minutes. 

View of the field of blue flowers from our picnic spot. 

A lot of our walk was through bushes and forested areas, not bad on a hot day. 

A border stone marking the border of Canton Aargau on the east and Canton Solothurn on the west. 

The look-out point at Burg. We got here shortly after noon, with another 90 minutes left to walk to Wittnau. 

The view over the countryside to the north, in the direction of Germany. We ended up crossing that large upper plateau of farmland (in the red circle) before descending to Wittnau. 

Nice cool forest trail

There were also some lovely sections once again through very tall meadow grasses with loads of very pretty flowers. 

A single tree in the forest with this unusual "fruit". An Internet search later reveals this to be a Black Walnut, different than the regular walnuts. 

A long wide forest road through the Lammetholz forest before reaching the wide open plateau. 

A very good use of this roof area for solar panels! More and more farms are doing this. 

Final stretch before reaching the forest at the back right (descent to Wittnau), and we were very glad that the sun was hidden by clouds at this point, because it was VERY hot!

Everywhere we encounter damage in the forests due to storms. 

Final stretch down to Wittnau now, with a view of the hillside we ascended the last time we were here in April 2023. 

Wittnau, the end of our day's hike. 

Passing a pretty house as we head to the bus stop in Wittnau. 

We have now completed the entire themed trail called "Aargauerweg" or "Aargau Trail", which passes from Frick to Muri, a large part along the Aare and Reuss Rivers. (There is an exception from Wittnau to Frick as we started wrong at the time. But basically we've covered it all). 

After a 30-minute trip with bus to Frick and then by train to Stein-Säckingen railway station, we walked across the Fridolin's bridge over the Rhine River, which forms the border of Switzerland and Germany. On the German side we walked to the castle grounds in Bad-Säckingen, then to the drugstore to get some supplies, had another quick look inside the lavish Baroque Church of St.Fridolin, bought some gelato at a small shop we had been to twice before, and then returned to the Swiss side via the old wooden bridge, which is actually the longest covered bridge in Europe.  (Here are the photos of our most recent trip here in September 2019)

Crossing the Fridolin's bridge over the Rhine River, with view of the double-towers of the St.Fridolinsmünster in Bad Säckingen, and the tower called Diebsturm. You can also just see part of the wooden bridge here.

A statue of Fridolin of Säckingen on the Fridolin Bridge. Fridolin was a traveling monk with Irish background, active some time in the 6th Century, and having founded several churches in the Germanic region (he is also the patron saint of Canton Glarus). He founded the church here, which has its history documented from about the 7th Century. 

The wooden bridge across the Rhine River here is the longest covered bridge in Europe. The border between Switzerland and Germany runs right along the center of the river here. 

This is the little walk we did from Stein-Säckingen train station, across the Fridolin Bridge, through old town Bad Säckingen in Germany and back across the wooden covered bridge to catch the bus at the Novartis Pharma complex. 

Walking along the German side of the river, a nice view of the covered bridge. The original bridge was mentioned in annals of 1272, but was detroyed several times by fire and flood. This most recent rebuild is from 1799.

Entering the castle grounds at the very cool Diebsturm (Thief's Tower), was part of the renovated city wall in 1272. in 1600 it was integrated into the Schönau Castle complex. It was rebuilt into this neo-Gothic style in 1864. 

The Schönau Castle in Bad-Säckingen is actually a large villa built in 1600 on the site of a previously moated castle. It suffered a lot of damage in the 30-year war (1618 to 1648) and a town fire of 1678. It was renoved in 1908 and belongs to the city. 

Details of the castle grounds, a very pretty public park. 

This is called the "Fountain of Fools". We saw another one like this in Konstanz, Germany. 

The twin towers of the Fridolin Minster

The square in front of the very large Minster. We have been here before (September 2019), but wanted to have another quick look. As with many such churches, parts of previous buildings that had been burned or otherwise damaged have been found to have been integrated into this building, dating as far back at the 10th Century. 

Lavish Baroque interior. 

Lavish Baroque interior

Additional details of the Fridolinsmünster. 

VIDEO:

There was an organ practice going on in the church this day, very loud and very unharmonious. I felt I had to make a recording!

Main plan of the day, enjoy some Italian Gelato in Germany, in a small café we discovered on our first trip here. (In retrospect, this time we noticed another, larger Gelateria slightly further north in the old town, with many more flavour options. So this means we will have to visit yet again!)

View from the wooden covered bridge toward the Fridolin's Bridge which we crossed earlier. The Rhine River has a lot of water right now. 

(Notes from my last trip across this bridge: The original bridge here was mentioned in 1272 in the Annals of Colmar, was destroyed due to flooding in 1343. Rebuilt several times due to destruction by additional flooding and fire. Construction was paid for by tolls imposed to cross the bridge. 1799 was the most recent rebuild of the bridge. The bridge is 203.7m long.)

The customs office on the Swiss side, right at the entrance of the wooden bridge. 

Location of the Frick Valley and Bad-Säckingen in the northern part of Switzerland. 

Aargauerweg from Wittnau to Frick in Northwestern Switzerland

Saturday April 29. 2023 -- Today we found one of the few places in Switzerland where the sun was shining, namely in the central North (Canton Aargau/Argovia), but we didn't expect it to get so hot! (With all this cold weather, we are not yet prepared for heat). Plus with the large amounts of rain we had received the day before, it was also very humid.

We decided to do a section of Trail no.42: "Aargauerweg" (Aargau Trail), of which we have already done a few sections. This is actually Stage 1 of the trail, between Frick and Wittnau in the Frick Valley, i.e. Fricktal (we started in Wittnau). One of the special features of this trail is that it crosses one of the prettiest cherry-growing areas in Switzerland, and is particularly attractive in the spring when the trees are in full bloom. Even though we knew we were too late for the full cherry bloom, there were still some blossoming trees here and there (apples are only just starting).

To my disappointment, we missed the important left turn onto Trail no.42 at the start of our hike, and before we noticed we weren't on the right track, it was too late to turn back. We did join the trail again on the ridge of the Tiersteinberg hill, but missed several historical sites along the way.

Additionally, due to the massive rains, the narrow trail across the crest wasn't really pleasant to walk on, so sometimes even paved roads are favourable. Although most of the hike was in forested areas, we did get some nice views of the pastoral landscapes (in particular the yellow canola fields), and the ruins of Alt-Tierstein castle (built on a landslide boulder and inhabited from 11th to 15th Centuries) were a highlight. 

On the train trip from Zug to Aarau we pass through the Freiamt region of Canton Aargau, which is also a pretty area with lots of blossoming trees. This is near Mühlau along the Reuss River

From Aarau we took a bus over the Benkerjoch Pass heading north, and on this stretch there were lots of blossoming trees!

Our hike started in Wittnau at 10:45, and we were supposed to walk over the "Horn" along trail no.42, but we didn't realize we had gone the wrong way until we were almost at the Homberg crest! We then joined the themed trail at the top of Tiersteinberg. (The trail was muddy there anyway, so we didn't miss much)

It was this house which distracted me. Just before we reached here, we should have gone left. Instead, we went right....

The older houses in this region typically have these attractive arched doorways (after the entrance, the residence would be accessed on one side, and the barns on the other). 

Heading up away from Wittnau, we didn't realize till later that we should have been going up in the other direction, where those blossoming trees are. 

The cherry trees are just finished flowering, and the heavy rains from the day before probably washed most of the remaining petals away. 

It was not on the plan, but this way we visited the site of the Old Homberg castle. A nearby panel informed us that this was the residence of the Counts of Old Homberg since the 11th Century. This family was related to the Counts of Old Tierstein, whose castle ruins we also passed later on the hike. 

We didn't see much of any ruins up here. This is now a picnic area. In the late 1800's, locals excavated the ruins and discovered mostly tin tableware which was left behind after the catastrophic earthquake of 1356, which destroyed the castle. 

This is the view to the south which the Counts of Old Homberg would have enjoyed! This region is part of what is called the "Tafeljura" or "Table Jura" and the long stretch in the back separates this region from the city of Aarau.

The first wild spring peas add color to the forest floor

Continuing on along wide forest roads, we found this picnic table where we had lunch. These painted rocks were on the table; it seems to be a fad at the moment, to leave painted rocks lying around. 

At 12:45 we made it to the crest of the Tiersteinberg, joining Trail no.42. This also happens to be the "Frick Valley High Trail" (Fricktaler Höhenweg), which we followed into the city of Frick. 

Most of the trail along the top of Mt. Tierstein (Tiersteinberg) was narrow like this, but in most places much muddier

A small window where we got a view over the landscape to the north

This is the photo which Urs took. The village below is called Schupfart, and you can just see a bit of the Rhine River, which forms the border with Germany here. The darker mountains in the back are in Germany. 

Here we've arrived at the Old Tierstein Ruins. 

The fortress was built on a large boulder from a landslide. 

A quick walk through the site of the fortress ruins 

Heading up to the top section of the fortress ruins

Panorama view to the east

We didn't spend long here as there was incessant chattering by two women who'd passed us a couple of times along the way and established themselves here. I prefer some peace and quiet on my walks. 

Continuing on our descent into the city of Frick

Just a few of the cherry trees in this region, whose blossoms are basically finished. 

A look past the cherry trees to the city of Frick You have to picture these trees all in white. 

A photo with the last cherry blossoms

The final cherry blossoms in the area around Frick

The clouds looked really awesome

Final stretch into the city, then a long straight piece to the train station. We caught the 15:03 train back home, getting to the train station once again with only five minutes to spare.

There is an official loop trail here called the "Frick Valley Cherry Trail", which is overrun by visitors on weekends when the trees are in full bloom. At least there weren't too many people this day!

Location of the Fricktal (Frick Valley) in northeastern Switzerland

Heading back to Brugg and Baden by train, we pass the church building in Frick. This is an area that I don't know at all, and have only done one hike nearby along the Rhine River.

The landscape currently displays wonderful yellow fields of canola. (In German it is called Raps, i.e. Rapeseed, but that name is not used much in English).

On the Limmat River we saw a boat that looked like it was sinking...