Hike along the Base of Mount Stanserhorn from Wirzweli to Dallenwil

Sunday February 4, 2024 -- After the long hike we did on Saturday, we still wanted to do a Sunday walk, but not a long one, and not far away, but once again a thick blanket of fog covered the landscape up to an altitude of about 900 meters in most of the areas we felt like going to, where there wasn't ugly and half-melted snow.... Apparently though, the fog was supposed to lift after lunch. 

What we had planned was a walk on the upper plateau of Wirzweli just south of Mount Stanserhorn, where we had been often, but had never walked down to the valley bottom from there. As this recreational mountain village is on an east side of the mountain range, leaving late meant getting into the shadow of the mountain on our descent, but leaving too early meant descending in the fog. I'd pick shadow over fog any day, so we opted for a later descent.

It wasn't a long hike in all, just 2¼ hours, but lovely and mild. We walked from the mountain station of the Dallenwil/Wirzweli cableway to Wiesenberg on the flank of Mount Stanserhorn, where there is also a small cable-car which we have ridden once before. At the chapel we waited in the sunshine in the hopes the fog would lift, but it wasn't looking hopeful. Just as we started on the descent, withing seconds the fog was gone, and we even still had some sunshine while waiting for our train in Dallenwil. 

Sure, the mountainside opposite, i.e. on the east side of the valley, had loads of sunshine as we descended in the shadows, but.... still better than fog!

We are just emerging from the fog as the other Wirzweli Cable car heads down to the valley station. 

From the cable car I can see the vehicle road that we will be crossing on our descent after our hike to that hillside (coming from the left). I can only hope the fog will lift soon!

This is the hillside we are walking across. The main peak is Mount Stanserhorn

It should take a little over an hour to walk to Wiesenberg, and 2 hours 20 minutes to get all the way down to Dallenwil.

We phoned ahead for the free shuttle bus to pick us up at the Dallenwil train station, to take us to the cable-car. From the summit station at Wirzweli, we then walked toward Mt. Stanserhorn, then along its flanks to Wiesenberg, and then down the mountain back to Dallenwil. We started at noon, and were back at the train station at 15:20, for the 15:29 train. 

In the village is an owl voliere, which we knew about from the first time we were here almost 10 years ago. So we stopped by to look at the pretty owls again. There are three large enclosures. One of them holds two magnificent Siberian owls, one of which was born here in 2013. 

Two gorgeous Siberian owls. They can turn their heads 270 degrees! The old latin name for owl is BUBO. (This one: Bubo Bubo Sibirius)

In the other enclosure are barn owls and great grey owls. 

The Great Grey Owls, another magnificent bird. 

Two barn owls asleep in the hollow of a tree

The best one was this weirdo, the Little Owl (that's its real name, in latin its name is Athene Noctua). Since the 50's, these have pretty well disappeared in Switzerland, apparently. 

Heading out on our Sunday walk... the first part was on these cement roads, quite alright to walk on 

A look toward Mount Rigi and the fog over Lake Lucerne and into the Engelberg Valley

A lovely sunny afternoon up here, for a leisurely 2-hour walk. 

The cows can chose if they want to be outside, or prefer to stay in the barn

I was quite intrigued about that very tiny house there! It turns out, this was an exact replica of the farmhouse further to the left (off photo). Not sure if it's used as a house for animals or not. 

That's the farmhouse that they made an exact replica of! And finally, some nice soft meadow trails. 

Looking straight to the east now across the Engelberg Valley, the mountain on the left is Mt. Buochserhorn, in the center is Musenalp, and on the right is Mt.Brisen. We have been to the top of all three of those peaks! Also, we are headed to the chapel on the left at the red arrow. 

I love bridges

Here we found a nice bench in the sunshine, to eat our sandwiches. (1 p.m.)

That little barn is leaning!

Arriving now in the small hamlet called Wiesenberg, where there is also a small cable-car going down to near the train station in Dallenwil. We are descending into the valley from the little church building at the end of the road. 

Close-up look at the little church in Wiesenberg where we are headed, before descending into the valley bottom. The cable car is on its way down right now as well. 

A very attractive chalet building

The grass on those steep slopes in the background is also harvested in summer. 

Here comes the other cable car from the valley bottom!

The little church in Wiesenberg. We got here at 1:45 p.m. and sat on a bench on the terrace on the south side for a half an hour while waiting for the fog to disappear!

Inside of the church. It's actually not that small at all!

Across this side valley is the mountain village of Wirzweli where we started our hike. 

We watched another run of the cable car at 2:20 p.m. just when we started our descent, and the fog finally lifted, in just seconds!

VIDEO:

This is a very fast cable car! It travels at 5 meters per second!

Another look up at the church as we make our way down into the forest.

Nice sunshine on the forest trails! About 15 minutes earlier, and there would have still been fog here!

I could hardly believe my eyes, that the first violets and liverworts were already brightening up the forest floor!

Unfortunately, our trail descends next to the stream in this small ravine, which is already in shadow. There is lots of sunshine on the other side of the valley, though!

The little stream is called Steinibach

I'd still much rather walk in the shadow of the mountain, than in the fog. 

A look up the Engelberg Valley. 

Now back at the base station of the Wirzweli cableway, the 3 p.m. scheduled run is on the way up to the mountain village of Wirzweli

Across the valley is the Maria Rickenbach Abbey in the small mountain village of Niederrickenbach. And the mountain is called Musenalp. This would have been a good day to climb to the summit of that mountain!

Walking down main street in Dallenwil toward the train station for the 15:29 train home. It takes us less than an hour to get home from here. 

Another look up the Engelberg Valley.

Here's the base station of the Wiesenberg cableway.

One of the little cable cars has just arrived from above, passing the church where we had sat watching the cable cars. 

These are all the hikes we have done in the region of Wirzweli and Mount Stanserhorn. The pale pink line is the one we did this day. 

Location of Wirzweli and Mount Stanserhorn in Switzerland. 

Another Farmer's Cable Car at Oberrickenbach in the Engelberg Valley

Sunday June 27, 2021 -- Because we did a long hike the day before, this one we kept short and close to home. We traveled to Oberrickenbach off the Engelberg Valley, the starting point for several cable cars to higher elevations. The most popular are two cable cars to Lake Bannalpsee, a family destination for barbecuing along the lake, and the start of the popular Walenpfad Trail to Engelberg (currently closed due to too much snow still).

The other three cable cars are farmer's cable cars (called Buiräbähnli), one of which we had yet to ride, so that was the main point of this day's excursion. And as most people are not familiar with these, we were, once again, the only people who got off here to ride the cable car! We called the lady who owns the Schmiedsboden Farm at the top, and she instructed us on how to operate the cable car. These cable cars also give us the opportunity to chat with the locals. She introduced us to her pet goat, who follows her like a dog.

The cable car costs only 5 SFr. each to ride, and saves us 300m of ascent to a hillside we hadn't walked before. We still had to climb another 400m or so to the highest point of our tour, but it was a lot through the forest which protected a bit from the heat. On our way we "borrowed" a bench from a farmhouse where the owner wasn't there this day, for our picnic lunch. Besides the fantasic views into the Engelberg Valley, the North end of our loop also overlooked the South end of Lake Lucerne (Bürgenstock, Stans, etc.). And on the way back, we followed the Nidwaldner Höhenweg (Nidwalden High Trail) all the way back down to Oberrickenbach. Altogether an approx. 3-hour hike, in a landscape we love.

From Luzern, we took the train toward Engelberg, transferring here in Wolfenschiessen to a bus up to Oberrickenbach.

Here we are ascending from the Engelberg Valley into a side valley to Oberrickenbach, where there are five cable cars, three of which are the rustic farmer's cable cars. Across the valley on this photo, on the other hillside, are another four of these farmer's cable cars, and two more on this side. 

We were the only people who got off here, at the church in Oberrickenbach. All the others went to the final stop, where they will go up by cable car to Lake Bannalpsee

Here's the bus stop, behind the cable car station

The Schmiedsboden cable car. We phoned up from inside the car, and the owner told us which buttons to push to operate the cable-car

Of all the farmer's cable cars we have ridden, this was probably the least "rustic"!

Passing over another farm. See the shadow of the cable car?

Up at the Schmiedsboden farm, Mrs. Wicki-Waser met us at the cable-car shed with her goat-dog, and we followed her to the house to pay for the ride and buy some home-made sausages.

Instead of a dog, this farm has a goat.

And cows. These mountain farmers make a living from the milk of these cows. In fact, the owner's son was right then mowing one of the mountainsides for hay.

From Wolfenschiessen we took the bus to Oberrickenbach, then the "Buiräbähnli" to Schmiedsboden farm. We still had quite a bit of uphill to walk! But then we returned via the "Niedwaldner Höhenweg" past the Brändlen cable-car -- which is also a "Buiräbähnli" -- and finished the loop by walking down to Oberrickenbach. 

Heading uphill from the Schmiedsboden farm. There is no street access here, and the family relies on the cable car both summer and winter to access the valley. 

High above the village of Oberrickenbach

It was a very hot day. Even though we started at 10 a.m., we were glad that a large part of the hike was through the forest

There was another cable car which also started below at Oberrickenbach, but this one is massive and seems to be for forestry work. It is not open for public use.

Some interesting funghi

The Engelberg Tourist Bureau has created an official "Buiräbähnli" trail, a 46-km loop tour which includes rides on 7 or 8 of these cable cars. 

At the highest point of our hike, we could see down into the Engelberg valley, and the top of that hill called Wellenberg

Panorama view of this part of Canton Nidwalden

Down below is the village of Oberrickenbach

Narrow forest and meadow trails

On the North side of the loop, we are across from Wirzweli and Mt. Stanserhorn

We couldn't find a bench anywhere to stop for lunch. At this cute house, the owners weren't home, so we moved their bench out from behind the table a bit for a good place to rest. We made sure to put the bench back exactly where it was!

Daisies are the happiest flowers

Up ahead of us is Mt. Bürgenstock, and you can see a piece of lake Lucerne.

The northernmost part of our loop. Here we join the "Nidwaldner Höhenweg", or "Nidwalden High Trail" to return to Oberrickenbach

A long section through cool forests

Trail 88 is the Nidwaldner Höhenweg. Along this trail we pass above the Brändlen cable car, another of those Farmer's Cable Cars

Below is the Engelberg Valley. The river is called Engelberger Aa. On the left is Mt. Stanserhorn and the town of Dallenwil. In the back is Mt. Bürgenstock

Last stretch through lots of meadows before the descent to Oberrickenbach

A zoomed view of the two cable car "sheds" where we started. The one on the left belongs to the Schmiedsboden Farm. The one on the right is the larger, forestry-used one, not open to the public. 

Almost back in Oberrickenbach. 

Was this done on purpose?

A shady spot in front of the church, to wait for the bus

A look uphill to the Schmiedsboden farm where we started on our hike

Another group of hikers has joined us at the bus stop for the bus ride back down to Wolfenschiessen. There is no bus service between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., so starting at 10 a.m. on our hike, we timed it so we would be back down just shortly before 2 p.m.

This hike gave us the chance to try out the Schmiedsboden cable car. Starting at 10 a.m. at the top, we got back to Oberrickenbach at 13:45, 20 minutes early for the next bus. 

The loop trail as shown on Google Earth, with the other farmer's cable cars in the area (the ones we have already used). Most people go up to Lake Bannalpsee.

Another favourite area of ours to hike in!