Walk along a Section of the Reuss River from Canton Zurich to Canton Aargau.

Saturday January 11, 2025 -- With the weather turning less nice for at least a week, the next walk we managed since New Year's Day was actually a spur-of-the moment decision, as this Saturday proved to be nicer than forecast, but only quite near where we live.

This is the time of year to do short walks along riverbanks, as the snow often disappears there first... as long as there is no fog of course. (Fog might have its charm, but it is too cold for me!). Located not far from us is the Reuss River, which flows from Luzern northward to join the Aar River and the Limmat River at Brugg. We have done many walks along this river, having just about covered this entire distance. It is my goal to some time have walked this entire stretch.

As we decided rather late in the morning to head out, we could not travel too far. An ideal starting point for us was the village of Obfelden in Canton Zurich, a 35-minute trip by train and bus. From there a pleasant walk along the Lindenbach stream brought us down to the Reuss River, where we continued northwards to join up at a spot we had ended another such stretch in December 2018 (those photos are HERE). It was just the perfect amount of walking, as having started at 12:30, we caught the 15:18 bus in Rottenschwil, for the just over one-hour trip back home. An interesting aspect of this walk is that at about the half-way mark we crossed from Canton Zurich into Canton Aargau. 

The only negative on this day was a cold wind blowing, but otherwise we rather enjoyed this 10-kilometer walk, pretty well our standard distance!

We started in a village called Obfelden, right at this stream called Lindenbach, which we were able to follow all the way to where it enters the Reuss River. It was about 40 minutes and almost 3 kilometers along this stream. 

Look at this fun sign encouraging us on our walk!

It was just so nice walking along this stream!

I'd never seen so many differently-coloured fungi on a tree stump!

This is the stretch along the Reuss River which we walked this day. We started in Obfelden for a 3-km stretch until we got to the river, and then another 7 km northwards to Rottenschwil, where we ended a different 9-km hike in December 2018, starting from the north at Bremgarten. We started at 12:30 and caught a bus at 3:20 p.m., so spent about three hours outdoors. 

These are the kinds of high-growth pear trees that blossom so beautifully in April!

We got too close to a grey heron again, which took off and then landed in a pasture where sheep were grazing. 

There's the grey heron, feeling safer with the sheep as he was now further away from us!

Continuing along the Lindenbach stream. 

We really enjoyed this long stretch along the Lindenbach stream, following it to where it enters the Reuss River!

A couple of small waterfalls in the stream!

A lovely picnic spot here!

We love bridges!

Still heading westward toward the Reuss River. 

What a fun-looking tree!

Always interesting farm houses along the way. 

At 1:10 p.m. we reached the place where the Lindenbach joins the Reuss River. Since we are still in Canton Zurich, this part of the river is called the "Zurich Reuss Valley". 

Heading northwards now along the Reuss River. 

The Reuss river is wide and high here, and was flowing rather rapidly. Up ahead we can see the intake gates where part of the river is diverted toward the historical Ottenbach power plant. (In the industrial age, the factories were dependent on the flow of the river water for power). 

This placard explains how the water is diverted into the Oberwasserkanal (Upper Water Canal) toward the turbines at the small Ottenbach power plant. Extra water returns to the Reuss River further down-river. 

These are the intake gates which regulate the amount of diverted water from the Reuss River. There is a gate on the far side which returns silt deposits back into the Reuss River. 

A look up the Reuss River from the intake gates. The dam in the center separates some of the water from the river to divert it into the side canal. 

On the right is the "Upper Canal" where the diverted water flows via the turbines at the power plant further to the north. We are continuing our walk along the Reuss River on the left. 

At the campground restaurant near the first Reuss Bridge near the powerplant in Ottenbach, we are surprised at how well the palm trees are growing here!

Here we cross the "Upper Canal" where the water reenters the Reuss River!

More bird sightings: Buzzards and kites foraging in the empty fields 

This small stretch of road is the border between Cantons Zurich (where we came from) and Canton Aargau to the north. Those people in the back are now in Canton Aargau, and the path heads down to the river again. 

Not visible on this sign are the words "Aargauer Reusstal", or "Aargau Reuss Valley", which is the new section of the river we are walking along. This section of the river until Bremgarten is a protected region and is part of the Swiss Inventory of Natural Landscapes since 1977. The stretch is also a witness of the effects of retreating glaciers.  

It's always a treat to witness storks in flight! This one seems to have come from the marshes in Rottenschwil on the west side of the river. 

North of where the Jonen River enters the Reuss River is a dike parallel to the river, which is nice to walk on. As we head toward a farm called Heftihof, we spotted a group of storks. This is always exciting! (The town at the back is Oberlunkhofen). 

We love the storks! There are certain parts of the country where there are clusters of storks. Having become extinct in Switzerland in the 1940's, there have been many efforts to help them re-establish themselves here.  

The farm at Heftihof is a horse ranch. 

All this time we had been walking on the right side of the river (east bank) but at the bridge at Werd, we crossed to the left side, to continue the walk northwards from there. (It looked like there was more sunshine on that side, at this point). 

We crossed the bridge at 14:45, and might need another 25 minutes along the "Reuss Riverbank Trail" to the bus stop in Rottenschwil. We really wanted to make the 15:18 bus there, so the timing was right. 

Just before reaching the bus stop (on the left side of the bridge), we get a nice view of the Rottenschwil iron bridge, built in 1907. 

And now a look behind us along the Reuss Riverbank Trail, west side of the river. We got to the bus stop about 10 minutes before the bus came. It was a good time to head home, as the sun was quite low by now. 

The bus to the Muri train station is right on time, a 3:18 p.m. An interesting note related to the iron bridge over the Reuss River here: The traffic crossing the bridge from here to Unterlunkhofen on the other side have the right of way. The traffic coming from there (as this bus), have to wait!

As the bus heads toward the train station in Muri, we can see that to our south, there is a lot of cloud cover over the mountains! It was the same to the north as well, so we had the perfect weather window for this afternoon's 10-km walk....

As the train heads south along the Reuss River toward Rotkreuz, we usually get some really spectacular views of the mountains from here. But not today!  (It was an hour and 10 minutes travel time to get home, with a 15-minute wait at the Muri train station). 

Afternoon walk through the Freiamt Region from Muri to Rottenschwil

Monday Oct.19, 2020 -- For something different, we left work early on Monday to enjoy a sunny afternoon walk nearby in Canton Aargau, walking from Muri in the Freiamt Region down to the Reuss River at Rottenschwil to finish off Stage 6 of the Aargauer Trail, having done the Bremgarten-Rottenschwil stretch in December 2018 (for photos of that stretch, CLICK HERE). It was just supposed to be an afternoon stroll, but we ended up walking almost 10 km in 2½ hours.

We started with a visit to the fantastic monastery church in Muri, an edifice with over 1000 years of history and a very pompous Baroque interior. Our walk down to the Reuss River passed through several farms and marshlands, ending at the section of the Reuss River called "Stille Reuss", or "Sleeping Reuss", because it is a section of the original river which got cut off when the river was redirected, and now is a bird sanctuary.

This area is where my Grandmother grew up, and we passed just a couple of kilometers away from her home town. 

And this time the weather worked in our favour, as the morning fog cleared in this region in particular by the time we got there for our walk. On a really clear day, though, you can get some very nice views of the Alps from here, which was unfortunately not the case this day.

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First some photos of the fantastic church in Muri, one of the most important cultural monuments in Canton Aargau. Founded in 1027, it exhibits a variety of architectural styles from the Romanesque to the Baroque periods. Of particular interest are the organs. 

We seem to be following a trail called the "Habsburger Trail", starting in Muri and ending at Rottenschwil. Back in December 2018, we started on the north end at Bremgarten, and also ended in Rottenschwil. 

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After a look in the church, we headed northwards down to the Reuss River, passing through farms and along canals and marshes until we got to the bird sanctuary at the Stille Reuss in Rottenschwil.

Our afternoon walk turned into almost 10 km on this lovely sunny afternoon. Starting with a look at the monastery church in Muri, we headed down to the Reuss River at Rottenschwil, from where we caught a bus back to Muri, and then the train home.

One of many barn structures we passed along the way.

A small section was on a forested trail, plenty of sunlight even in the forest

At this spot we were only 2 km away from the town of Besenbüren, where my Grandmother grew up and my Dad's siblings spent summer holidays.

Very nice red colour among the rest of the green

Barn overgrown with ivy

We are walking along Trail no.42: "Aargauer Weg" or "Aargau Trail". This particular stage is from Muri to Bremgarten. But we have walked part of that already.
The southern part of Canton Aargau is called the Freiamt, and there are many additional official trails. 

We are being observed.

Passing through the village of Althäusern

An interesting little structure

Above this archway is the road into the barn. Typical of many farms here.

Walking along the canal toward the Reuss River

More canals

There is a colony of storks here in this area, we saw them a year ago as well. Several poles in the area have stork nests up high

Typical autumn birds here: swans, blue herons, storks, grey geese. 

This body of water called "Stille Reuss" used to be a river, but was cut off from the original river when it was rerouted.

Bird sanctuary "Stille Reuss"

Stille Reuss

Town of Rottenschwil. Large oak tree. We passed lots of oaks, crushing loads of acorns underfoot.

And this is a hot-air balloon we saw as we got back to the Muri train station!

From Bremgarten to Muri is Stage 6 of the "Aargauerweg". We did part of it in 2018, the other part this Monday.