Cherry Blossom Hike on our Local Mountain, Mt. Zugerberg

(This album was created a year after this walk. We had a wonderful Spring in 2018, temperatures were mild and the cherry trees blossomed beautifully, although the entire blossom season seemed to be over in less than 10 days. This year, April 2019, temperatures are cold with excessive amounts of snow in the mountains, and for me no walking weather, so I am catching up on creating old photo albums....Plus who knows if we will experience the blossoms so beautifully in 2019)


Sunday April 22, 2018 -- Canton Zug is known for its fine distilled spirits made of cherries, namely "Kirschwasser" which translates to "Cherry Water". Furthermore, the exquisite dessert called "Zuger Kirsch Torte", first created in Zug 100 years ago, is made exclusively with Kirsch made in Zug (or also Rigi Kirsch), and the recipe itself was recently placed under Cultural Heritage Protection, meaning this dessert may only be produced in Zug according to very specific guidelines.

Cherries are a major crop in Canton Zug. There are 50,000 cherry trees, and in fact, the cultivation of cherries in the canton has been officially included in a UNESCO list of living traditions in Switzerland. End of 2018, Zug planted the 1000th new cherry tree since the "1000 new cherry trees for Zug" initiative started in 2005.

This was a very easy 5-km Sunday Afternoon walk through a blossoming landscape on Zug's local mountain, starting at the summit station of the Zug funicular and ending in Allenwinden, where we caught the bus back home. Other highlights along the way, besides the nice views over the city of Zug and the many pretty farmhouses, are the dozens of paragliders who use this mountain as a take-off spot. The sport is fun to watch and exudes a sense of beauty and peace to this likewise serene landscape.

View over Lake Zug on the ascent with the funicular

Mt. Zugerberg Funicular takes you up the mountain in 8 minutes

To the South you get a view across Lake Zug to Mt. Pilatus

Usually if there is another Bear, we take a photo (Urs = Bear)

Popular place for paragliders. The City of Zug is down below.

Paragliders enjoying flying over the lake

I've walked this path many times, usually back down the mountain to Zug

 

Up here on this hill, the calves get to stay with their mothers in the pastures

Mmmmm that sunshine feels good!

Lots of farming going on up here

The first of many gorgeous blossoming trees

 

Another very nice view with the city of Zug in the background

Typical Swiss farmhouses

More interesting farmhouses

A very old growth cherry tree. The farmers sometimes leave these trees because they are habitat to birds and insects

This is on the stretch to Allenwinden

 

Cherry trees on the road to Allenwinden

Near the end of our walk, in Allenwinden

A 5-km downhill walk is perfect for a Sunday afternoon stroll. We have done several walks up here, usually to return back down into the city of Zug. 

Fields and Fields of Spring Meadow Saffron in Canton Valais

April 20, 2018 (Friday) -- The small village of Eischoll in Canton Wallis is nicknamed "Heimat der Lichtblume" (home of the "Flower of Light", actually the Spring Meadow Saffron flower). This purple long-petalled flower is found in only a few areas of the Southwest Alps, and in Switzerland it grows in the Canton of Valais on the shady side of the mountains. Eischoll has earned the nickname because nowhere else do these flowers grow in such abundance, so that the hillsides sometimes look like purple carpets.

Thanks to my wonderful colleague, I was able to take the day off on Friday to travel with my dear former colleague to the village of Eischoll, to spend the day in search of the flower. At first we thought we were too late, as we found only a few wilted flowers at village level, but as we climbed to higher altitudes where there were still patches of snow, we stumbled on clearings full of these so very pretty flowers, so obviously just having emerged after the very recent snow melts. We were thrilled that we had caught them at the right time, and spent five wonderful hours in the area, mostly on hands and knees photographing the flowers....

An added bonus: Part of the upper trail was along one of the many irrigation channels in this area (called Suonen or Bisses) which are always a pleasure to walk along.

Heading up from Raron to Eischoll by cable car: These slate roofs are typical of this area, and so very pretty!

Village of Eischoll as seen from the cable car, shortly before arrival at the summit station.

First view of the Rhone Valley looking NE: Below is the ancient church in Raron, and at the back the city of Visp

First we headed West of the village before going uphill and making a loop back.

The first sightings of single flowers got us all excited, but they were finished flowering in this area. That's why we headed uphill.

Birch trees with early spring leaves.

We thought we might have missed the Saffron Flowers, so we concentrated on other pretty ones!

After walking around the town of Eischoll we headed up the hill. Altogether this was about 6 km

As we climbed through the forest, we came across more and more of these flowers.

Where the snow has recently receded, the flowers pop out as long as the ground is still wet

Perfect spring day for our outing into Canton Valais

The upper part of the tour was along one of the many irrigation ditches in this area: "Suonen" or "Bisses".

This structure didn't survive the heavy winter snows very well.

At a couple of places we had to carefully cross the snow. On the other side of the valley, the famous viaduct from the Lötschberg South Ramp is visible.

 

Finally, we came across the first large field of "The Flower of Light"

The photos don't do it justice. It was just so pretty.

Large areas of newly-melted snow, and the flowers pop out for a few days.

The crocuses were a wonderful sight as well.

Crocuses and Spring Meadow Saffron

On the East side of the village, more and more slopes full of the flowers. 

We spent several hours just admiring and photographing the flowers. 

We spent several hours just admiring and photographing the flowers. 

Spring Meadow Saffron, nicknamed the "Flower of Light"

Fields of Spring Meadow Saffron above the village of Eischoll in the Rhone Valley.

Long days now means we can head down at 5:30 pm for the 3-hour ride home!

Eischoll in Canton Valais, home of the "Flower of Light"

Evening Walk around the Moated Castle Mauensee in Canton Luzern

(Note: This Album was posted on May 1, 2020 during a time when we are doing less hiking, so I can catch up on sorting some photos that I had not previously had time to do. This particular hike was a small after-work hike we did in mid-April two years ago, just before our trip to Canada that year).

April 18, 2018 -- On this wonderful day and it being a Wednesday, which is usually a day off for both of us, Urs was required to work... but not wanting to waste this beautiful Spring day, we made the following arrangement: I would meet him somewhere close to his work, so that we could still enjoy a walk together in the beautiful Spring evening. We decided to meet in Sursee, a town that is only an hour's trip for me, and 20 minutes from where he works. Nearby is a small lake called Mauensee, wherein sits a castle on an island in the middle of the lake. I saw this once passing by in a car many years ago, and always wanted to see it up close.

As it turned out, you could not see it that well up close. The lake is ringed in thick bushes, being a nature reserve for some rare and protected species, and so the trail around the lake does not offer many views of the castle (which together with the lake, are in private ownership). The best view of the castle on its little island in the lake was definitely from the road higher up and to the West.

Nevertheless, we had a few windows through the bushes as we rounded the lake and saw the building from various angles, but as the tour around the small lake was just under an hour (not counting the walk through the woods to get there), we decided on an alternate route through a small farming hamlet. Altogether our little 7-km walk took us about two hours, and was a great option for having also had to work that day. Furthermore, the air was crisply clear and we had the most spectacular views of the mountains on our trip back home at 6 p.m.

Starting at the train station in Sursee, we walked northward, then through the forest to the lake from where we got the first glimpse of the castle on its island. After almost completing the walk around the perimeter, we walked through some farms before heading back to the train station

Zoomed view of the castle on its island across the lake

Another view from the side: Mostly we were looking through bushes and rushes

  

At the front entrance to the island is a gated bridge, and somewhere a sign that says "Private Property, no Access!"

I walked toward the road a bit to see if I could get the "road view", but you really had to go higher up.

    

At just one or two places we actually were able to get down to the waterfront

A sign reminds hikers that the lake also is private property, and there is no swimming allowed, also not for dogs!

Last and maybe best look at the island as we got back to near where we started

Marshes and ponds before heading into the farmlands

  

Pond dweller

It is always a treat to walk through the farmyards

So many farms have in-house shops where you can buy milk, eggs, cheese, syrups, and homemade crafts and teas etc.

See that fellow? He had to make sure we weren't making any trouble!

  

I'm not a fan of dogs, but the Bernese Mountain Dogs are exceptions

Oh and every walk has to include some of these Spring Babies!

And once in a while an animal that is NOT a cow

Back at the train station there were two of these marvellous magnolia trees in full bloom

Lovely 7-km late afternoon walk. We started at about 4:30 p.m., and it took us about 2 hours.

On the train back to Luzern, the snow-capped mountains loomed up so clear

And the last stretch from Luzern to Zug along Lake Rotsee, with Mount Pilatus in the background.