Into the Trupchun Valley to look for Deer

Deer sightings in British Columbia are pretty common (in fact, the animals often walk through people's yards) but here in Switzerland they are rarely seen, and so it is a treat in autumn to walk into the Swiss National Park in the hopes of spotting them on the higher altitude meadows. Here in the park they know they are safe and will chance coming out of the forest.

Quite near where we are staying is an entrance to the park, and not far into the valley is a special cliff wall where natural salts leak out onto the rock surface, and ibex are known to descend to lick the rock. So in the hopes of seeing deer and ibex, we hiked into the back of the Trupchun Valley and were rewarded with several deer sightings and lots of bellowing as this is mating season. (most of the deer were too far away to photograph properly).

Unfortunately, by the time we had to leave the valley to catch the last bus back (in this case, a car would have been an advantage), there was still too much sun on the rock wall where we hoped to see the ibex. So I will have to be content with another lovely hike and sightings of dozens of ibex sculptures and wall paintings all around the area, as this is the state animal for the Canton of Graubünden.

The bus runs every hour from S-chanf to the National Park... EXCEPT at 13.30, so we took the tourist "Train". (I swore I would never do that).

Heading across the River Inn (here it is called En), at S-chanf

At the start of our hike. Everywhere here on all the meadows, the Autumn Crocuses are blooming.

The rules in the Swiss National Park are very very strict. You may not leave the path at all, and you cannot even pick up rocks or sticks as everything has to remain as is.

The Swiss National Park is the oldest national park in the Alps and is rated a "strict nature reserve"

Heading into the Swiss National Park to the back of the Trupchun Valley

The beautiful Trupchun Valley in the Swiss National Park.

Every once in a while we spotted deer way far up on the hill. Zoomed photos are not very focused, but still...

Toward the back of the Trupchun Valley

Toward the back of the Trupchun Valley

More deer far up on the hillside.

This one hiding in the forest is a little boy.

Side Valley to the Trupchun Valley.

Always fascinated by the rock formations.

These stags that we saw just above the ridge were about 800m up the hill from the trail.

More deer above the tree line

More deer above the tree line. It is rare to see so many deer here in Switzerland (as opposed to the smaller roe deer).

On this cliff halfway up the valley, the ibex descend to lick the salt that sickers through the cracks. 

On this cliff halfway up the valley, the ibex descend to lick the salt that sickers through the cracks. It was still too warm at 5 pm and we didn't see any.

Last hope for a view of an ibex before heading back out the valley to catch the last bus home. 

Another 10-km hike: We started about halfway in (came up with the tourist train), then walked to the back of the valley, and then all the way out again to the parking lot. The bus ride back "home" was only another 15 minutes!

The Ibex is the state symbol for Canton Graubünden (Grisons / Grischun)

Hiking down Mount Diavolezza after Reveling in the Glacier Landscape

What's wonderful about Switzerland is that you don't always have to hike up hills to participate in the glorious world of snow and ice at 3000 to 4000m altitude, because the Swiss love building cable cars as much as they love building tunnels.

While vacationing in the South-Eastern part of Switzerland we decided to take one of these fantastic cable cars up to Mount Diavolezza, to a hotel/restaurant located at almost 3000m overlooking two glaciers (Pers and Morteratsch) which flow into each other below the stunning peaks Palü and Bernina, both over 4000m tall. From here we walked along the ridge for about a kilometer to get views both East and West, and then returned to the restaurant for lunch, before our planned hike down the mountain - a descent of about 900m in altitude and 10 km distance.

When we first arrived at the top, we had about an hour of blue skies before the clouds quickly moved in (as so often is the case in the mountains) and our hike down was partly quite chilly and it even started to rain a bit.

At the bottom and for the final 45 minutes of our walk back to the base station of the Diavolezza Cable Car we had pleasant evening weather, so all in all the day wasn't too bad. 

Morteratsch Glacier

On the way to the Diavolezza cable car, we pass a place where we get a head-on view of the Morteratsch Glacier. Three years ago almost to the day, we hiked up along the moraine on the right hand side of the glacier. This day we are going to the left of the second glacier, the Pers Glacier, which flows onto the Morteratsch glacier.

This outing with the Diavolezza cable car is a popular one.

On the way up with the cable car. 

In the back is Lago Bianco (Lake Bianco), below is Lej da Diavolezza (Lake Diavolezza), where we later stopped for a break on our hike down the mountain.

Reflections of Piz Palü (Mount Palü) and the Pers Glacier

Reflections of Piz Bernina (Mount Bernina), the highest in this group at 4049 m (13,283 ft)

We picked a nice sunny spot along the wall for our lunch.

And this was the view we had while eating our lunch!

Details of the Pers Glacier

Pers Glacier with the Piz Palü Group

Behind me is Mount Pers. 

You can climb to the peak of Mount Pers for a 360 deg. view, which I am sure is fabulous, but we only walked about 20 minutes along the ridge for a different view of the glacier landscape. Plus the fog on the peak was a bit off-putting.

Panorama view of the Pers Glacier, and behind it the Morteratsch Glacier.

View Eastward from the Ridge

View Eastward from the Ridge

Along the ridge trail from the Diavolezza Hotel / Restaurant / CableCar Station

Walking along the Ridge toward Mt. Pers

Pers Glacier and Piz Palü

Pers Glacier and Piz Palü

Time to head back to start our descent. The clouds are moving in.

We took the cable car up, and walked back down (900m, 10 km). Took us 3 hours, 15 minutes.

The first part of the descent is a bit tricky! They really could clear this.

The first part of the descent is a bit tricky! 

Lej da Diavolezza (Lake Diavolezza)

Our original Plan was to walk down to Lago Bianco, to the Bernina Pass, which is about half way along the lake on the far side. (Interesting fact: Because Lake Bianco is at the top of the pass, it drains from both sides, once into the Black Sea, and once into the Adriatic Sea). As we got to the valley though, to the lower of the lakes, we realized we wouldn't make it to the train station in time, so we headed to the left instead.

Approaching Lej da Diavolezza (2575m) 

A small break at Lake Diavolezza. Just 5 more minutes of sunshine, then it got cold.

A small break at Lake Diavolezza. Just 5 more minutes of sunshine, then it got cold.

Arriving down in the valley at Lake Bianco

We weren't sure we'd make it in time for the train at Ospizio Bernina, so we went the other way, back to the base station of the Diavolezza Cable Car, where we started our excursion.

Heading back to the Diavolezza Base Station.

Diavolezza Base Station.