Hiking in Switzerland – Gabrielle and Urs

July 19, 2016

Five-Lake Hike at the Gotthard Pass (Our second Time!)

July 19, 2016 -- This 4-5 hour hike is one of the first I did three years ago when I moved back to Switzerland... and having lost all my photos of that hike I wanted to do it again.... and it did not disappoint!

I would say this hike rates as one of the very best tours that you can do in Switzerland. It is not extremely difficult and its accessibility means that just about anyone can experience the beauty of the rocky Alpine landscape smack dab in the middle of the Alpine chain.

The 13km round tour includes a decent hike up from the dammed lake called Lake Lucendro (fantastic) and a steep rocky descent on the other side, but otherwise it was a light up and down trail past a myriad of shimmering alpine pools which you have no idea exist up here when you are traveling along the Gotthard Pass road below.

From the Gotthard Road you see only the Lucendro Dam, and have no idea the lakes are up there

The source of the mighty Reuss River (one of Switzerland's more important rivers) is just above the Lucendro Lake.

About mid-way in the loop is a short detour to the Orsirora Pass (only 15 minutes) so we scooted up that for a fantastic glimpse into the Ursuren Valley to the West and the Uri Alps to the East.

Gatscholalücke (Orsirora Pass) looking West

Gatscholalücke (Orsirora Pass) looking East

Of course it helped my mood greatly that there was not a single cloud in the sky for most of the day, and the sky was deep blue, and the air was cool from a slight alpine breeze (here up at 2500m the temperature was about 24 degrees while down where we live it was a 31-deg. day).

So now for all the wonderful photos that I had a really hard time paring down:

Start of the Hike at the Piazza Lake near the Gotthard Pass (2091m)

Walking down the old cobblestone Gotthard Road toward the Lucendro Dam, and up along its right hand side.

Above the dam is the wonderful Lucendro Lake. Our tour took us up the hill on the right, but there is another trail from the back of the lake to the left over the Lucendro Pass.

We walked about 2/3 to the back then ascended 200m to the right.

200m ascent is rewarded with a great view of Lake Lucendro, the dam, and the Gotthard Pass Lakes at the back.

Zoom to the Gotthard Pass and Hotels. Most people make it only that far and have no idea how gorgeous it is up here.

After the first ascent, there is a lovely high moor landscape. We are too early for the thousands of Cottongrass flowers that will bloom in August.

The first set of three lakes is called "the Valetta Lakes"

The first of the three Valetta Lakes

First time I've seen the trail markers nailed to a rock instead of on a pole! We chose the 15-minute (x2) detour to the Gatscholalücke

Gatscholalücke / Orsirora Pass (2528m) looking West

Lunch at the Orsirora Pass, with views both East and West!

Heading back down the Pass to continue our hike to the left. Those are the Valetta Lakes where we came up from.

Next Lake is called the Upper Orsirora Lake (same as the Pass). Most other hikers this day were doing the hike from the other direction.

With views of the Lower Orsirora we head down to the next lake, Lake Orsino

This was the trickiest part of the tour and requires balance and sure-footedness

The last of the lakes on the tour, Lake Orsino, before heading down 200m to return to the dam.

Walking along Lake Orsino.

Walking along Lake Orsino. We descended from the dip at the back on the left.

Final 200m descent to return to the dam. The Gotthard Pass and Hotel are visible in the back (South).

Descent and last stretch past a waterworks and back to the Lucendro Dam.

One more rest stop to enjoy the superb views toward the North along the Gotthard Road, where it descends to Andermatt.

At the lakes back near the Gotthard Pass, the Cottongrass is flowering here (400m lower than at the high moor)

From the Gotthard Pass we return home with the Bus, traveling North along the Gotthard Road, ending up in Andermatt.

July 17, 2016

From the Klausen Pass to Unterschächen via Stäuben Falls

Sunday July 17, 2016 -- FINALLY a perfect day for hiking! Not too hot, not too windy, not too soggy, not too much uphill, not too many people (considering it was a gorgeous Sunday) blue skies, sunshine, cows, views.... and only 70 km from home.

The fastest way to get to the Klausen Pass is down the Reuss Valley and by bus from Flüelen (from the West side), but this time we took a train into the Linth Valley (via Glarus) and approached the pass by Post Bus from the east via Urnerboden, which is the largest alpine meadow in Switzerland, where about 1200 cows spend several weeks in summer between higher pastures, and winters in the lower valleys.

The air was so clear and the temperature perfect for hiking, and made this one of our most memorable hikes...

Start of Klausen Pass bus ride at the back of the Linthal Valley

Ride up to the Klausen Pass along the Urnerboden Valley, the largest Alpine Meadow in Switzerland

VIDEO:

Riding the bus up to the Klausen Pass

View down to Urnerboden Pastures

The bus ride is a favourite of Sunday travelers as it continues over the Klausen Pass (1948m) into the next Valley over, the Schächental Valley. The winding road itself, on both sides of the Pass, is also a favourite of motorcyclists and regular cyclists alike (although our bus driver said that the best cyclist is one who loads his bike on the bus and stays off the road altogether)!

The Klausen Pass road is a favourite of motorcyclists and other travelers

We got off at the Klausen Pass for our planned hike, which was approx. 1½ hours to the Oberalp farm, from where we were going to take an old open cable car to the valley bottom to see the large Stäuben Falls. A wonderful and fairly level hike later (still lots of snow from the recent very cold weather) proved to be too short for us, so instead of the cable car we hiked down along the base of the massive cliffs and across the top of the source of the water falls.

Original plan was to walk from Klausen Pass to Oberalp and take the cable car down to the Falls, but we decided to walk it!

A good place for a coffee break!

What's a hike in the Swiss Alps without cows on the trail? And goats on a roof-top!

VIDEO:

A cow came to walk with us

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Typical Swiss View (westward out of the Schächen Valley) including Bernese dog. Only the flag is missing!

Later we walked down to the valley bottom below this cliff

Klausenpass road on the other side of the Valley

Incredible the amount of snow at this elevation still, for middle of July

Approaching the Oberalp, our original destination where we were going to descend with the cable car

VIDEO:

Panorama view of the Schächen Valley

Looking down at the Oberalp pastures

Near Oberalp

Instead of taking the cable car down to the valley bottom, we watched other people ride it, as we had our lunch break near the cable-way. We felt the walk to here was too short, so we decided to walk down to the valley bottom.

VIDEO:

Watching the Oberalp cargo cable car!

Starting our descent below the cliffs and above the waterfalls

Lovely alpine flowers everywhere!

This landscape reminds me a bit of British Columbia

View down the Schächen Valley as we reach the bottom of our hike

Stäuben Falls

At the bottom of the valley we still had an hour to walk out to the village of Unterschächen to rejoin the Klausen Pass Bus. The total 12-km hike took us 4.5 hours with a total descent of 1100m from the highest point to the lowest.

VIDEO:

The majestic Stäuben Waterfalls,

and Aesch at the back of the Schächen Valley

Walking to the village of Unterschächen

From the village of Unterschächen you look into the Brunni Valley (We did our first real mountain hike of the year in this valley, in May 2016 --> Those photos are HERE)

This was an almost 12-km hike with a large amount of downhill section, but a fabulous hike with best temperature for hiking and fantastic air clarity

July 10, 2016

Nature's Pyramids in the Furna Ravine in the Prättigau

Sunday July 10, 2016 -- We don’t usually spend a night in a hotel within Switzerland because most of the excursions we do can be done as day trips, but we had a good deal on a nice Gasthof (Inn) and the weather was supposed to be gorgeous on Sunday, so we treated ourselves to an overnight “on site”. (Photos of the first of the two days are HERE).

Gasthof Sommerfeld in Pragg-Jenaz, included the breakfast

After a great breakfast we took another of those little bus-vans up another steep windy road on the other side of the valley for what we thought was an easy, fairly level walk through the shade of the forest to the ravines near Furna, which we had read had some pretty nice pyramid formations created by erosion of the ravine walls.

Pyramid formations in the Furna Ravine

What we didn’t expect was that the entire 6 km there (and another 6 back!) were along a wide hard-surface forestry road with no shade at all, and steep slopes on either side with no option of resting in the woods somewhere. AND IT WAS HOT! Locals told us it was unusually hot that day.

Reminded me a lot of hikes I had done in the Okanagan Valley.

Not my favourite hike by far. Rather monotonous. But I got the views I didn’t get the day before, have to say that.

View East toward the Schesaplana Alps which form the Swiss/Austrian border. That middle green clearing was where we had been the day before.

And when we got back to the bus stop, there was a nice mountain restaurant where we enjoyed the shady terrace for an hour and a half before heading back home.