Winter Hike in Sparenmoos near Zweisimmen

January 13, 2018 -- On average we spend about 6 hours of travel time total to and from our destinations for our day trips, but this one was an exception we won't be repeating often! We don't travel a lot to the Zweisimmen/Lenk region in Canton Bern for day trips because it simply takes us too long on the road, but on this Saturday this was the area where all conditions for us were most favourable:  Sunshine, mountains, views, prepared winter trail, perfect snow, non-proximity to "Alpine-Ski-Areas-with-their-crowds-and-noises-on-this-particularly-beautiful-day". 

Even though the extra bus ride up to the snow-covered plateau called Sparenmoos cost a fortune, and even though we spent altogether 9 hours on the road (what with train problems and missed connections) for just three hours in the sunshine, we still really enjoyed this barely 7-km round trail in an area mostly preferred by cross-country skiers. It was peaceful and warm... and I had a good book to read on the train....

Train station in Zweisimmen. There is a bus that takes us from here up to the snowy plateau called Sparenmoos.

The landscape here is wide open, lots of sunshine. The snow was perfect, not soft or wet.

One valley over lies the city of Lenk, just below Mount Wildstrubel. (The mountain right in the middle at the back)

Next to Mount Wildstrubel is the "Glacier de la Plaine Morte" ("Dead Plain Glacier" in French), a 10 km2 high plateau glacier (at altitude 2750m or 9000 ft.) on the border of Cantons Berne and Valais. In some places, the ice is 200m thick. 

Mt. Gummfluh on the border of Canton Berne and Canton Vaud

We crossed a patch of forest where the North side of the trees had not yet been warmed by the sun, which looked magnificent...

This is what you want winter to look like.

 

Heading back down by bus to Zweisimmen

By public transit it took us 3 hours 40 minutes to get to the upper plateau Sparenmoos near Zweisimmen.

Bird-Watching and a Unesco Heritage Site at Lake Greifensee near Zurich

January 10, 2018 --  Often we travel many hours to find sunshine up in our beloved mountains, but sometimes we just don't feel like going that far, so we have to take what we get close by: Sometimes that means walking in the flat-lands or in the fog.

But fog has its own charm, especially when the sun is trying hard to get through. Just one hour travel from our home is a lake near Zurich called lake Greifensee, which is about 20 km total to walk around, and almost the entire circumference is reeded shoreline and nature conservation area. So we made this a bird observation day (although at this time of year it's just standard swans, coots, gulls, ducks, herons, and STORKS), and I rather enjoyed it, except toward mid-afternoon when the fog lifted, but the clouds moved in.... then it got cold!

We were surprised at the end of our hike to see that we had done 14 kilometers in just over 3 hours.... I guess you can walk way faster when there are no ascents and there's a cold wind blowing! We covered the southern half of the lake and will go back in Spring for the northern half.

One point of interest especially: According to a billboard on one of the wooden piers into the reeds, this area was one of several sites in Switzerland where ancient lake-dwellers had established communities about 5000 years ago. Under lakes such as these, archeologists have found remains of stilt-houses, and these sites were declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 2011. It's always a thrill to come across these sites.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prehistoric_pile_dwellings_around_the_Alps

Our walk started in the village of Greifensee, same name as the lake. This town had the quaintest little old core with an unusual church and small castle.

The town of Greifensee on Lake Greifensee has the cutest little old core by the lake.

Castle in Greifensee. Mostly used for seminars and exhibitions

Fog at the lakeshore

The sun trying to get through the fog creates a lovely lighting.

 

In this area, early settlers built stilt houses about 5000 years ago.

Stilt houses were probably not built right in the lake as sometimes assumed, but rather near the water, on stilts for the times when the lake water was high.

This rock is called a "foundling", a rock left behind by a retreating glacier, beyond the margins of Alpine glaciers.

The ferry that crosses between Uster and Maur on Lake Greifensee

Lakeshore reed landscape

Various birds we observed as we walked around the lake

Uster Castle

At the South end of the lake

I am always thrilled to find storks along the way

A coffee break with the last rays of sunshine this afternoon.

Church tower in Maur, our destination after 14 km of walking. 

From Greifensee via Uster to Maur, this is about halfway around the lake although we walked a total of approx. 14 km in 3 hours, 15 minutes.

First Hike of 2018 in the Emmental: Schangnau to Eggiwil

January 6, 2018 -- Our first hike of the new year 2018, and we found a place that had sunshine and we ran into only a very few snowy spots as the snow has quickly disappeared on the slopes that have Southern exposure.

We hiked 12 km in the Emmental, a favourite area of ours for lower elevation hiking as the hilly landscape is varied and interesting and pastoral and much nicer than walking in the very flat areas.

It turned out to be like a damage-assessment excursion, as we had some hurricane-strength winds last week and trees got blown down everywhere around the country. So our forest walk was much like an obstacle course, going under large trees lying across the path and navigating over the upturned roots. And everywhere the farmers had already cleaned off the branches of the downed trees and laid them all side-by-side in the fields.... probably not really knowing what to do with all that wood as there is currently low demand and prices are not good.

But we enjoyed the walk, with views of the local snow-covered ranges (Schrattenfluh, Hohgant, and Brienzerrothorn), a winding (although muddy) forest trail above a gorge, and plenty of sunshine....  it felt like spring, right down to the sheep in the fields and the cats in the farmhouse windows. 

This is where we started our hike, in Schangnau in the Emmental region of Switzerland. 

We bought some cheese and bread in the local grocery and started with a picnic on a bench in the sun, overlooking Schangnau.

Before heading onto the meadow and forest trail, we admired some of the lovely Emmental houses

 

On the left (Schrattenfluh), in the middle (Brienzer Rothorn), on the right (Hohgant). And the first batch of prepared trunks from the trees uprooted by the storm

On the North flanks there is still plenty of snow, but on the South exposure we can do some hiking, although lots of places were very wet and muddy.

As about half of our hike was through forested areas, we had to deal with a lot of this. We found out later it was advised not to walk in the forests due to some trees being unstable.

From this vantage point it is hard to see, but that large tree on the left had come from way up the hill on the right and carved a swathe across the hillside on its way down.

That tree was originally way up on the hill to the left....

Here's a building that suffered "slightly" from the storm!

And it's always a pleasure to spot wildlife in the forests. There isn't a lot of it and the animals mostly stay hidden.

A pleasant surprise was this cliff made of molasse conglomerate, and the trail went right beneath the overhang... after first having to make our way under the blown-over tree.

   

On each hike we do there is always a surprise like this one.....

Walking across pastures is always a favourite.

We counted at least eight cats at this farmhouse.

Typical Emmental farm scene

Signs of new life, only a couple of more months until spring time!

We had a 40-minute piece on a wet and muddy forest trail and had to navigate over and under lots of downed trees. 

 

Finally out of the forest and into the last stretch, heading North.

Crossing the River Emme. The last portion of our hike to our destination of Eggiwil was unfortunately along the paved road, 3 km.

Last view South to the Hohgant ridge which separates this area from Lakes Thun and Brienz (Interlaken) to the South. It was 3 pm and we were already out of sunshine.

Altogether about 12 km (we had to make a detour at one point) and this took us 3 hours 20 minutes to walk.