Hiking in Switzerland – Gabrielle and Urs

November 4, 2015

Warm November Day on the Wild Hay Trail above Lake Uri

(This post created on June 26, 2025)

Wednesday November 4, 2015 -- It's unseasonably warm here which is great for late fall hiking so we are taking full advantage. We took a cable car up a nearby mountain and walked to the Alpe Selez mountain restaurant for our favourite lunch of pork steak and Alp-style macaroni and cheese. THE BEST! But then we discovered that the cable car(s) we wanted to return down on (different location) were closed for revision (very common here in November!). So we decided on a route called "The Wild Hay Trail" which was not originally in our plan, and to top it off we hiked back down the steep mountain, a total of almost 1600 meters descent, which is really hard on the legs! Altogether we walked for 5 hours and about 13 km. It's always getting a bit longer!

A look down into the junction of the Reuss Valley and Schächen Valleys, as we head up the mountain on the Bürglen-Biel cable-car.

View out of the little cable-car as it heads up the mountain.

We got up to the starting point of our hike (Bürglen/Biel) at just after 10 a.m. Our ultimate plan was to walk 2½ hours to the Eggbergen cable-car (summit station), stopping for lunch along the way. Later we found out that the cable-car is closed for revision! So we changed plans and headed to Ober Axen, a much longer hike!

Start of what turned out to be a 16-km hike... view up the Schächen Valley. The distinctive mountain there is called Mt. Schärhorn.

This was a really long hike, 13 km and five hours of walking, and a total descent of nearly 1600 meters!

After about 45 minutes of walking westward along a wide and level trail, we get a view into the Reuss Valley and the town of Schattdorf.

Up ahead in the middle is the Restaurant we are heading to, it's called Alpe Selez and the owners live there and cook for hikers.

Alpe Selez, mountain restaurant. We got here at just about 11:30, a good time for a nice lunch on a sunny outdoor patio in early November!

Our favourite: Pork Steak and Alp-Style Macaroni and Cheese.

View south toward the Schächen Valley from our table on the patio!

After lunch (we spent an hour at the restaurant) the hike keeps going... our original plan was a small group of homes called Eggbergen, but the cable car there was in revision. So we just kept walking! (This view is behind us to the restaurant).

When we got up to the crest where one could descend on the west side, we headed to Ober Axen (instead of Eggberge), another almost three hours from here! Good thing it was still early enough in the day (1 p.m.)

There is a little lake up here near the crest. It is called Fleschsee.

Looking back to where we had walked earlier before continuing down the mountain on the west side. Really good view of Mt. Schärhorn.

On this side of the hillside we could expect plenty of afternoon sun.

Ahead is the Wild Hay Trail, which runs across the cliff face where the grass is brown/yellow. This is the Wild Hay and it gets harvested! At the arrow is a farm called Franzen, and that is where the descent starts to Ober Axen, on the other side.

When we got down to the Wild Hay Trail, we saw this sign that reads that the trail is actually "closed" for the winter because the handholds on the steeper sections have been removed. But we spoke to people who lived in a small cabin near this spot, and they told us that the trail is no issue for experienced hikers, if we were not afraid of heights. So we continued on the trail, and had no problems at all with it.

Wild Hay Trail, near Flüelen, Switzerland. These steep slopes of wild hay actually get harvested.

The trees on this hillside look unusual to us, as not many forests have this kind of tree, which I believe is a Scotch Pine.

Far to the south we get a look at that sunny mountain "terrace" called Eggbergen, where we were originally planning to catch the cable-car down to Flüelen, but it was currently not running due to revision.

The red line shows where we descended from the Fleschsee lake via that large meadow to follow the Wild Hay trail along the flank of Mt.Rophäien.

Here at the Franzen farm (there was no one here at this time of year) is the highest point along the "Wild Hay Trail" and from here we started the 450-meter descent to the OberAxen plateau.

Looking down on Lake Uri and the high plateau called Ober Axen. That's our next goal, about an hour of downhill walking. (450 meters descent). Nice late afternoon sunshine over the Uri Alps!

Once we got to Ober Axen, we were met by this cutie!

From Ober Axen we glimpse the town of Flüelen on Lake Lucerne. That's the last leg of the trip. We could have taken a cable car down from here, but we decided to walk the additional 50 minutes (and another 570 meters descent, which in retrospect, was a bit much after already having done over 900 meters of descent from the little lake!)

Once we got to the bottom at 4:45 p.m., I wanted a photo of me in the cute little Ober Axen cable car, even though we didn't actually ride it! (There was a bus stop here so we could take a bus to the train station in Flüelen).

What our very long hike looks like on Google Satellite Maps!

October 30, 2015

A Walk to Lake Cauma near Flims, and a look into the Rhine Canyon

(This post was created on January 25, 2025)

Friday October 30, 2015 -- We are having some very beautiful late October weather here and lots of opportunities for some sunny fall hikes with all the lovely lighting and colors.

On this Friday we hiked from Flims (a popular winter ski area) to Tamins in the canton of Grisons/Graubünden, first to the magical turquoise lake called Caumasee, and then along the ridge above the Rhine Canyon. (We walked at the bottom of this same Canyon back in April, photos HERE). The views down into this canyon, where the Rhine River has carved out some fantastic cliffs after one of the largest rock falls in the world 10,000 years ago, were spectacular.

In all, it was a fairly easy 14 kilometer, four-hour hike, and almost too warm for the end of October!

A view of the bell tower of the Evangelical Church in Trin, as the bus heads from Chur to Flims.

And now, as the bus rounds a corner, a view over the village of Trin Mulin, another little village between Trin and Flims.

Castle in Flims Waldhaus, the starting point of our hike. (This is a hotel offering vacation rentals).

The signs indicate a viewing platform called Conn, 50 minutes from here. Lake Cauma is a 15-minute walk. We started our hike here at 10:50.

The beautiful colours of Lake Cauma (Caumasee).

The water is so still, and the reflection is perfect.

Lake Caumasee

Starting at 10:45 in Flims Waldhaus, we first walked around Lake Caumasee, then went to the look-out tower above the Rhine Gorge, and then continued along Trail no.43: "St.James Trail Graubünden" to Tamins, where we caught a bus to Chur at about 4 p.m. In all, about 4 hours and almost 15 km walk.

Near the look-out point, a good place for lunch break at noon.

Down below, the Glacier Express Panorama Train passes through the beautiful Rhine Canyon. This is the section of the canyon which you cannot pass through on foot, only by boat or by train!

A look-out point where we can see down into the canyon.

This is the large viewing platform at a point called "Il Spir". We got here at 12:40.

The view from the platform

Down below, the Rhine River makes a loop. This is 10,000 years' worth of carving...

Fantastic view into the Rhine Canyon, and into the Safien Valley

Continuing now parallel to but further away from the canyon, we are enjoying the fall colours and the great visibility.

We run into lots of cats on our hikes, but this was probably the prettiest!

Along the way, we get this view to the north to an interesting massif called the Flimserstein (Flimser Rock).

Beautiful fall colours!

It was too warm for pants, so I put on these little shorts I had along, which are actually just a pair of undershorts!

The trail we are following is part of Trail no.43: "St. James Trail, Graubünden", and also Trail no.85: "Senda Sursilvana", both trails that go along the entire Surselva Valley from Chur to the Oberalp Pass.

Those concrete blocks are all over the Alps, remainders from the war, to prevent tanks from crossing.

Up above us is the village of Trin, which we passed by bus on the way from Chur to Flims on the main road above. There is also a tower of a fortress ruins.

As we get closer to the village of Tamins we crossed another ravine (a side river which enters the Rhine River from the north), and saw this fabulous concrete arch bridge for the Autobahn.