From the Raten Pass to Unteraegeri via Mount Gottschalkenberg

(Note: This publication was made on April 12, 2020, almost two years after the actual hike. In 2020 the Spring seems to be much more advanced, as the snow on the Raten Pass is now long gone, and most of the early fruit trees are now already in bloom.)

April 14, 2018 -- There was nothing particularly spectacular about this Saturday afternoon hike we did.... we picked it because it was close to home, and we knew there would be some views. Most of the hike was through forests, though, and although the week before we had done a different forest hike with lots of sunshine showing through the leafless forest, this particular forest was a dense fir forest and therefore rather shady and cold.

And for this time of year, there was still quite an amount of snow up here near the Raten Pass, a low pass road (1077 m) between Lake Aegerisee and the Rothenthurm High Moor in Kanton Schwyz. But the weather was fairly mild and it is always a thrill to do a "mountain" hike in early Spring. Except for the ascent to the restaurant on Mount Gottschalkenberg, the rest of our hike was along the "Aegeri Valley Panorama Trail", with some very nice views down both sides of the ridge, i.e. Lake Zurich to the North and Lake Aegeri plus the Uri Alps to the South. Furthermore, this trail is a piece of National Trail no.3, the "Alpine Panorama Trail", of which we have already done the other section from the Raten Pass to the pilgrim city of Einsiedeln.

From the bus stop at the Raten Pass, one can immediately start on the Aegeri Valley Panorama Trail (Panoramaweg Aegerital), but we decided to walk up to the restaurant at the top of Mount Gottschalkenberg first

As usual, we did not stop at the restaurant as there are usually too many people smoking. But we had a look around at the interesting set-up

On a clearer day, you would get a really nice profile of the Glarus Alps from here

Starting at the Raten Pass, we first walked up to the top of the hill called Gottschalkenberg (a short and easy ascent) and then joined National Trail no.3 across the ridge and down to Unterägeri. This was an almost 12-km hike

Now joining both the "Aegeri Valley Panorama Trail" and National Trail no.3: "Alpine Panorama Trail"

In the winter of 2017-2018 there were some pretty extensive storms which did a lot of destruction in Swiss forests. We saw a lot of uprooted trees and large trees "snapped like matchsticks". 

Large, seemingly healthy trees, were snapped by gale-force winds this winter (2017-2018)

It made our walk quite interesting to always have to be scrambling over the downed trees!

Along the ridge we got a couple of peeks down to Lake Zurich to the North

Most of the view was to the South over Aegeri and Lake Aegerisee. Here to the Southwest is the standard view for this region: The low ridge (Mount Zug, where we live on the other side) and Mounts Rigi and Pilatus in the background. 

And to the South across Lake Aegerisee to Morgarten (site of an important historical battle in 1315 where the young Swiss Confederacy vanquished a much stronger legion of Austrian Habsburgers)

  

Although the section through the forest was rather cold, out in the open it was a mild Spring day

Farmers with mountain cabins or barns often offer refreshments to hikers and bikers along the popular trails

Another view SE across Lake Aegerisee

A beautiful old farmhouse at place called Schneit, on our way down the hill

Some sort of meeting of old tractors!

An album would not be complete without at least one cow photo!

In the background is one of my favourite mountains: Mt.Schärhorn (Schäre = Scissors, looks like Scissors) 

 

Sandstone "Trail Cross" on this trail which was the old trail between Aegeri and Einsiedeln

 

Back down in the town section called "Unterägeri", this is one of several old farmhouses typical of the area

Catholic parish church in Unterägeri

The orange trail is the one we did, from Raten Pass to Gottschalkenberg to Aegeri (Unterägeri). We have walked many kilometers over this terrain, as it is very close to our home town of Zug

Finsterwald to Schwarzenberg in the Entlebuch

In April, our weather was so great we did several hikes over two weeks:

Thursday April 21, 2018 -- With lots of snow down to 1000m and refusing to melt, we plotted a lower-elevation trail through the moor landscape in the Unesco World Heritage area of Entlebuch, always an interesting landscape. The cows were just starting to come out of the barns, so happy to be outside that they could barely be contained by the farmer's kids. And through all the wooded portions we crossed, still masses of fallen and snapped trees from the powerful wind storms we had in January. It will take a long time to clear out everything. 

This hike was a hefty 13 km that took us 4 hours 30 minutes. For the last part we chose to walk along a river in a ravine instead of heading up from the river on the other side. I wonder if it was the right decision? We saved ourselves a second steep uphill, but the wide road along the river proved rather monotonous, which is almost worse...

The cows are eager and happy to be let out of the barns!

The first part of the trail was a short hike through a forest, which took twice as long to cross as it should have!

Like an obstacle course trying to find the trail through all these fallen trees

This area is called Fuchseremoos and is a large area of soft ground and peat bogs, very pleasant to walk across

Everywhere large trees were simply snapped by the strong winds

Great weather for our walk in the Entlebuch

The highest part of our trip: Alpliegg at 1280m. Here were were sure not to encounter snow

We're always pleased to find these pleasant picnic spots

Heading back down the hill to the farms below, then into the ravine and back up the other side to Schwarzenberg

   

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Heading into the ravine: We're lucky that tree didn't fall exactly onto the trail or we might have had a hard time going on!

Making our way to the river at the bottom of the ravine

From here we had to decide to head back out of the ravine (steep up the hill on the other side) or follow the river 

We followed the river but the trail was a wide forest road and rather monotonous

At the end of our tour in Schwarzenberg. The striped hill in the back are called Mittaggüpfi, an extension of Mount Pilatus near Lucerne.

This was a long tour. Over four hours and almost 13 km. 

Jura Crest Trail between Aarau and Olten

(Note: This publication was made approx. 3 weeks after the hike)

Sunday April 8, 2018 -- Second nice day on this weekend in early April, but also hazy, so we did an easy woodsy walk this time, on the Jura Crest Trail in the Northern part of Switzerland. The Jura mountain range actually runs North/South in the Western part of the Switzerland, but this is the very tail end (West-East), and you can walk all along the ridge of this low range.

On a clear day (which this was not) you can see the entire range of Alps to the South, but we had sunshine and although most of the walk was through forested areas back and forth across the border between Cantons Solothurn and Basel Land, the lack of leaves meant we still got to enjoy the sunshine. Also, we had a coffee break at "the highest point in Canton Aargau": 908m!!

The Jura Crest Trail is one of seven Swiss long-distance trails (No.5), altogether 310 km long from Zurich to Geneva. The 13 km we did this day is one half of Stage 3... We started at the pass called Salhöhe and walked westward to Hauenstein near Olten. Last year in May we did the other half, starting at the same place but walking to the East, ending at another pass called Staffelegg, North of Aarau. The description of that tour can be found at this link:

https://swisstravelgirl.blogspot.de/2017/05/on-jura-crest-trail-from-salhohe-to.html

Start of our hike at Salhöhe, on Trail No.5: Jura Crest Trail. We walked 13 km across the ridge to Hauenstein.

After 2 km, we reached the highest point of Canton Aargau, which is only 908m! Had a coffee break here.

Coffee Break at the highest point in Canton Aargau

The trail crossed back and forth across three Canton borders (Aargau, Solothurn and Basel Land) so we often came across these border markers

Border markers between Cantons

At the top of the rise called Geissflue, this is the view North into Canton Basel Land

Much of our hike was through forested area, but as the leaves had not yet emerged, we had lots of sunshine

At the foot of Geissflue is this hostel, open mostly only Sundays, where we enjoyed a reasonably-priced grilled Bratwurst. (Naturfreundehaus Schafmatt)

Even though we had brought our own picnic along (no restaurants were marked on the map), we took advantage and treated ourselves to a grilled Bratwurst.

More of the early spring landscape in Canton Baselland. 

Some of the first indications that Spring is on its way

13 km from Salhöhe to Hauenstein on the Jura Crest Trail (took 3.5 hours). A year earlier, we did the other half of Stage 3: Salhöhe to Staffelegg

Thurgauer Rebenweg (Thurgau Vineyard Trail)

Saturday April 7, 2018 -- The weather was ideal for hiking the weekend of April 7&8, so we hiked on both days, both times in the low hills in the Northern part of Switzerland. If the air had been clearer (very hazy both days) we would have seen the Alps, but never mind.... Canton Thurgau's agricultural landscapes are pretty, so it was a fine walk just the same.

On Saturday we chose a local trail, officially named the "Thurgau Vineyard Trail", a wide easy trail above the vineyards parallel to the River Thur (from which the Canton takes its name), starting in the quaintest of villages called Oberneunforn, and ending at the Ittingen Charterhouse (Carthusian monastery, no longer used as a monastery, but for seminars and retreats) near Frauenfeld. The 14-km walk took us 4 hours and 15 minutes, but we detoured to some of the villages slightly off the trail, to admire the stunning half-timbered homes and barns in this area. 

This, by the way, is the part of Switzerland where my father grew up, the family home having been in the city of Frauenfeld, just a couple of kilometers from where we ended this excursion.

Church tower in Andelfingen, another pretty town worth a visit one day. We were only here to catch a connecting bus.

Half-timbered houses in the farming community called Oberneunforn.

Half-timbered houses in the farming community called Oberneunforn.

Half-timbered houses in the farming community called Oberneunforn.

After admiring the half-timbered houses in Oberneunforn, we headed to the Thurgau Vineyard Trail, which follows parallel to the Thur River all the way to Frauenfeld

Walking the Thurgau Vineyard Trail. Even though there were no leaves yet, it was still pretty landscape.

To the North of the vineyards are other farming lands.

This, we believe, is a linden tree, a BIG one!

Vineyards along the Thurgau Vineyard Trail

View across the vineyards and farmlands to the river Thur South of us

There were kites EVERYWHERE! Sometimes a half-dozen at a time in the fields where the farmers were freshly plowing. 

For the animals, already a very warm day.

At the end of the line: The Carthusian Monastery in Ittingen (no longer used as a monastery).

 

To get a better view of the grounds, we would have to go up to the chapel on the hill above. 

To get a better view of the grounds and buildings, we had to climb up this very long flight of stairs!

 

From above you can see the individual residences where the monks lived in semi-solitude, each one with their own garden in front of the houses.

Back down on the grounds, a closer look at the residences where the Carthusian Monks previously lived in semi-solitude.

The facility is now used for seminars and retreats, and the old mill has been converted into a restaurant. The 18th century mill wheel is 8.7m in diameter and weighs 3.7 tons.

 

A pleasant day's walk in the agricultural landscape of Canton Thurgau. 13.5 km total. The trail officially goes all the way to Frauenfeld, but it was enough for the day.