Late Afternoon Walk along the Lorze River to the Newly-Completed "Schlaufensteg" in Baar

Wednesday, July 24, 2024 -- Usually a hiking day for us, but it wasn't nice enough to travel far, so we relaxed at home till late afternoon and then went for a walk closer to home when the clouds let up. (Even though we walked from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., the day was still quite hot). 

We had read about the recently completed construction of an elaborate set of wooden walkways connecting walking trails across an elevation of 45 meters in our neighbouring town of Baar, and wanted to check this out. But to add some walking distance to it, we started at our local river called the Lorze on the opposite side of Mount Zug, to make it a good 8-km walk.

As we have walked most everywhere in this region, we thought we'd try a couple of new trails we found on our maps, not what they call "official" trails, though. As it turns out, we had to do some detouring, as the trails were not for public use. But we did make it to the walkways called "Schlaufensteg", a fantastic 350-meter long construction of angled walkways which allow the viewers to get a different perspective of the forest from 22 meters up. 320 m2 of wood were used in the construction, and the cost was 3 million Francs (double what was originally planned!). After the short walk along the walkways, we caught a bus for the 20-minute ride home near the factory of the famous Baar Brewery. 

We started at the bus stop called St.Meinrad in Allenwinden, across from this small votive chapel built in 1740. Legend has it that St.Meinrad prayed here on his way from Cham to Einsiedeln. The Lorze River is downhill from here. 

We took a shortcut through the fields to reach the trail we wanted to walk, which is a forest road past this house. (Most forest roads are walkable here). The farmer met us in front of his house and told us the road was not a walking trail. He insisted it was overgrown and there were mother cows in the pasture beyond. Apparently he had posted a sign on the entrance to his driveway, which we missed because we took a shortcut to get here. 

Pretty flowers on the farmhouse. From here we had to turn back and take a longer route down to the river. 

We had to backtrack to the end of the farmer's driveway (originally we took the shortcut down from the St.Meinrad Chapel behind that copse of trees). Here's the sign he posted, that he didn't want pedestrians walking down this road. Which technically is not allowed, as this is not an official prohibition

We started our walk at St.Meinrad bus stop at 4:30 p.m., walked 8.7 km including a couple of detours, got to the walkway at 6:30 p.m., and back on the bus at the Baar Brewery at just after 7 p.m. It was late in the day, but still hot. 

After a bit of a detour, we joined the trail next to the Lorze River. 

This is the bridge we would have crossed had we been able to walk the original forest trail we had wanted to use. A short foray on the other side showed a road, not at all overgrown, and without a sign denying entrance, so we are not sure that the farmer was telling us the truth. But we weren't in the mood to walk back up in his direction. 

These steps which we often see in the rivers or streams are to prevent excessive flooding when there is a lot of rain and the river water gets high and fast. 

Lorze River between Lake Aegeri and Baar. We walked next to the river for about 25 minutes, before ascending through the forest back into the community of Allenwinden. The regular trail from there goes through the forest via the Wildenburg ruins (see photos HERE), but we have done that trail twice, so we decided to follow an "unofficial" trail which I had seen on the map for several years now. 

To access the "unofficial" trail on the south, we had to climb through a fence at a housing complex. The small trail through the forest was very nice to walk, but as we emerged, we saw this sign on the north side, it reads "This is not an official hiking trail. Please use the trail via the Wildenburg ruins. Thank you for your understanding"!!!!

The view across the city of Zug and Lake Zug from the exit of the forest trail at 5:45 p.m. 

Instead of following the next forest trail to the north, which we had done before, we descended into the fields to follow a field trail. 

Walking through the fields. 

There are still daisies in the fields

Behind me is the northern flank of Mt.Zug, a region where we have also done several walks. 

Another view across Lake Zug to Mount Rooterberg (apparently it's Switzerland's smallest mountain!)

There was a pasture with sheep eating grass like crazy, as if they hadn't tasted grass in a long time!

At 6:30 p.m. we arrived that this extravagant structure, the upper section of the "Schlaufensteg" 

The construction used 320 m2 of local wood, 61 log supports, 265 steps, 350 meters of walkway, over an altitude of 45 meters.

Plan of the Schlaufensteg. (More details on their website HERE). This structure cost 3 million francs to build!

According to the website, the idea came from a local cardiologist who was looking for a place to create an intensive stair-training for the heart. 

The log supports.

It was fun to cross the walkways, but it really only took a few minutes. 

Personally, I find this a very expensive way to create a passage down the small hill, but the idea is also to be able to see the forest from a different perspective. 

At the lower end of the walkway is a 29-meter tower, with LOTS of steps!

View from the tower. Back in the industrial revolution days there were several factories here (including spinning and weaving... some of the buildings are still standing) and the houses here were built for the factory workers. After descending from the tower, we followed the trail on the left to the bus stop on the main road. 

The famous Baar Brewery, home of the famous "Baarer Bier" label since 1862. 

What our 8.7-km hike looks like on Google Satellite Maps

We have done a lot of hikes in the area of Zug, Mt.Zug, and the Lorze River.

Walking through the Maschwander Allmend and in Three Cantons!

Wednesday May 26, 2021 -- A local clearing of the otherwise cloudy skies gave us the incentive once again to venture out locally, because rain was forecast for later.

A year ago we discovered a nature reserve nearby called the Maschwander Allmend, in a triangle of land called the Reussspitz, which is formed where our local river the Lorze flows into the Reuss River. The region is interesting in that the triangle of land is in Canton Zug, but the Reuss River to the West forms the boundary with Canton Aargau, and the Lorze River on the East forms the boundary with Canton Zurich. So in effect we can actually do a nice walk in three Cantons! (Crossing the Canton borders three times:  Aarau --> Zug --> Zurich --> Zug.)

Last year the grasses were all yellow, and the leaves were just appearing (see photos HERE), so we thought we'd like to see it now that it's all green. Our hope was also to spy some birds, but other than the usual ducks and birds of prey, we saw only a couple of storks, and those were pretty far away. So we made it a flower-observation tour instead. Right now it's the very pretty purple Siberian Irises which grace the meadows, plus some yellow irises, poppies, daisies and others. 

We started in Mühlau in Canton Aargau, which we can access in 30 minutes by train, crossed the Reuss, wandered through the Maschwanden Nature Reserve in Canton Zug, followed the Lorze River for a bit in Canton Zurich, visited the Frauenthal Cistercian Cloister in Hagendorn ("Zisterzienserinnen" in German, a real tongue-twister!) back in Canton Zug and got back on the bus in Rumentikon. 

We had no rain, which we can be thankful for this month! But such a nice view of the mountains from here, unfortunately pretty dark due to the overcast skies. In the end, it was another 10-km walk, and good to get out none-the-less. And a surprisingly large number of good photos....

Our hike starts once again in the village of Mühlau on the Reuss River. This is still in Canton Aarau. We have started four or five hikes from this location!

Crossing the Reuss River, which forms the border between Cantons Aarau and Zug. The mountains of Central Switzerland, including Mt. Titlis on the left (the large slope of snow) are still nicely framed against the blue sky

Entering the Nature Reserve called Maschwander Allmend

We followed several rivers and canals

The Siberian Iris was the most notable flower in these meadows. 

The Siberian Iris is a protected flower throughout Switzerland, and so also are the regions where it proliferates, namely unfertilized, late-cut marsh meadows, which is the characteristic terrain for this moist area in the Reuss Valley. These marsh meadows with over 40 different types of plants form some of the most species-rich habitats in Europe.

Another look to the South, we still can see the mountains nicely framed against the blue sky.

Poppies in the grain fields

More Siberian Irises

By now the skies have turned overcast, so the contrast of the snowy peaks against the sky is reduced, but we were still pretty pleased at how much we could see of the Alps. Mt. Pilatus is the mountain on the very right.

All the various flowers we saw in the meadows. These are the first spring flowers!

From the Maschwander Allmend we crossed the Lorze River, which here is the boundary between Canton Zug and Canton Zurich. So now, I'm on the bridge in Canton Zurich! And Urs, taking the photo, must be standing right on the border of both...

After crossing the Lorze River we followed it South for a bit through the Hasplen Nature Reserve, which apparently has some very rare species of amphibians and plants. Three such amphibians are otherwise hard to find in Switzerland, including the small green tree frog. We looked hard, but didn't see any.

Urs in particular likes these reed-marshes

An interesting dragonfly of sorts

Vegetation along the Lorze River

Now we are heading South, with the spectacular mountain panorama always ahead of us

We did a detour to a small lake which we saw on our map, and were planning to walk around it and on to the South, but we found out it was privately-owned and access was not permitted. So we had to double back to the main trail.

It was windy, and these gorgeous fields of grain were swaying like waves. In the back on the left is Mt. Rigi. As usual, we can see this mountain from many places in the central North.

There were many swallows flitting over the grain fields, but they were too quick to photograph. So I was surprised to see I had captured one on this photo (bottom left) while I was photographing this fantastic barn with the spectacular backdrop.

This is an interesting spot: We are crossing Canton borders for the third time. Urs is standing in Canton Zug, and I am photographing him from Canton Zurich!

We peeked into a barn to see these cows enjoying a load of fresh-cut grass!

VIDEO:

The cows enjoying their very freshly-cut grass!

This is the barn where we saw the cows eating grass. So many barns around the country now have their entire (and sometimes very extensive) roofs covered in solar panels. It is such a clever way to use this space to generate power.

Up ahead are the grounds of the Frauenthal Monastery. In the background is Mt. Pilatus

This is a women's monastery (cloister or convent) and the order of nuns is called Cistercian. The order was founded here in 1231, although this building itself dates from 1669. This is the oldest order of Cistercian nuns in Switzerland.

Inside the courtyard at the Frauenthal Monastery. They had a small shop, but it was closed over lunchtime. 

Heading into the church to have a look. The doors are pretty low!!

The interior of the church at the Frauenthal Monastery

Not just one, but two organs!

It was time to head to the next bus stop in Rumentikon (20 minutes from here) as we had felt a few raindrops! One last look at the Frauenthal Monastery as we head slightly uphill again.

Another typical sight of the Swiss countryside: A farmer spreading liquid pig manure on his fields! It smells less when they do it this way, instead of spraying it from a large hose like fire-fighters spray water.... but we could still smell it....

We started at 11 a.m. in Mühlau in Canton Aargau, crossed into Canton Zug over the Reuss River, then crossed into Canton Zurich over the Lorze River, and back into Canton Zug between Maschwanden and Frauenthal. This spur-of-the-moment choice of a hike turned out to be over 10 km and 2.5 hours of walking.... plus we got home in time for an afternoon nap!