On my way to Grindelwald from Zermatt I decided to make a quick stop in Spiez. I had to change trains there anyway and I wanted to see a bit more of Switzerland. It turned out to be very quick; a walk down to the lake, around the church and the castle and back only took my 45 minutes. It was a nice small vineyard town right on the lake, and much more my speed than neighboring Interlaken which is jam packed with extreme sports and tourists.

I wasn’t sure what to expect of Grindelwald; I picked it because it was in the Jungfrau region which is known for amazing hiking, and the hostel sounded nice and at a good price. I arrived in the early afternoon and couldn’t see much. I could tell we were in a valley but the clouds hung low above us. I knew I wanted to get in a short hike today and had a loose plan, until I say down with the tram time table and realized the last one down the mountain was at 5pm! I expected the hike I wanted to do to take 3-4 hours so I literally ran out the door to catch the train up. I changed my plans to ensure I would get to my exit point in time, which I don’t regret because the ridgeline I was planning to do was in the clouds anyway. I took the tram halfway to Aliphlen at 1,615 meters and started my hike up to Männlichen at 2,227 meters.

It was an enjoyable hike but still I couldn’t see very much. Occasionally I got a glimpse of cliffs above me but not had no idea of scale. It was drizzling for awhile and I saw a rainbow over the valley. I was enjoying being surrounded by dairy cows; they are put out on the mountainsides, each with a big bell strapped around their neck. There were so many that occasionally I felt like I was in a church bell tower. There was one moment that three steers were tussling with each other not even 5 feet off the trail and I was nervous to pass them. They mostly have their horns intact and I had nowhere to go if they charged me. It ended up being fine, they stomped a little but didn’t move. It got my heart pounding though!

I made it up to Männlichen in 2.5 hours with plenty of time to take the gondola back down. I thought about hanging around to see if the clouds would clear up because it is listed as some UNESCO viewpoint but the rain was starting in earnest so I just headed down to eat some dinner.

(Nicole freaking out on her first gondola ride)

I had a quick walk around town and watched a beautiful sunset on the cliffs.

The next morning I woke up early, did some yoga, filled up at the breakfast buffet and headed out for my big hike. I took the gondola up to First (2,168 m) and I could already tell it was going to be a beautiful day. I set a quick pace and managed to keep it up the whole day, quickly outstripping the other folks who had started that morning. The hike is listed as taking 5:50 to 6:10. I finished in under 5 hours including a summit detour, a leisurely half hour lunch break and (as you will soon see) tons of photo stops.

The first feature I passed was Bachalpsee Lake.

From there the trail climbed up

And up

To Faulhorn. The peak of the mountain is not on the main path but a man who gave me a ride in to town this morning told me I had to go up there because it had the best views in the area. And was he right! Every time I turned around I could see more and more and more ridiculously beautiful mountains on all sides of me. I was so overwhelmed and happy I was just straight laughing for the 15 minute climb up to 2,686 m. Pictures can not do it justice but here are some:

As the clouds started coming in I forced myself to continue on, cutting back and forth across ridge lines and glacial valleys. I stopped and ate lunch with this view over Sägistalsee Lake:

The trail soon descended into alpine meadow where I counted at least a dozen different moths and butterflies, and lost count of the types of wildflowers somewhere past 30. These were two of my favorite:

The last hour was mostly sparse alpine forest and meadowland, all achingly beautiful with a most dramatic backdrop.

I passed a family who had decided to spend the night at a shelter and gave me their ticket for the trin down. Half an hour later I arrived in Schynige Platte at 2,068 m and was immediately put off by the scores of loud students and slow-moving families that were hanging out waiting for the historic cogwheel train down to Wilderswil. I found a secluded bench and munched on my carrot until it came, and then nearly fell asleep packed in to the super slow-moving train. One more connection back to Grindelwald, a creatively microwaved dinner, and I was asleep with the dorm room to myself. A wonderful day.