When we woke most morning, we had a hike planned. It would normally be on a trail with a hiking-time of a couple of hours and involve an ascent of several hundred meters. To make a quick conversion, 300 meters is the same as about 1000 feet.
Sometimes we’d head out on foot from the village or take a local bus to the trailhead. One day we took a train up the mountain for a hike around the top, but on this morning, we took a cable car to the tree-line and then hiked from there.
The trail was marked with signs at every intersection. However, we were challenged with the German names, and then that was further complicated by the locations on the trail map not aligning with the names on the trail signs. Fortunately for us, our destination was the scenery, some exercise and the experience.
From our balcony, we could see a glacier which lay between 2 mountains, Eiger and Schreckhorn, and that was this day’s hike. The higher we climbed, the closer we got to the glacier. The trail was well maintained, but at times got narrow and the footing poor. We had only worn running shoes which did the trick when the going was easy, but fell short when the going got tough. The serious hikers had hiking boots and poles or as they call them sticks.
Every switchback on the trail provided a new vista, all of which seemed worthy of a photo. In some cases, the photo may have been an excuse for a moment’s rest. In other cases, it was only when we stopped for a rest that we noticed the beautiful scenery that had unfolded behind us.
Often there were sheep and goats grazing with their neck bells ringing. The southern exposed hillsides were colourfully decorated with wild flowers. If you close your eyes, you may be able to visualize the beauty and hear the music of the ringing bells.
As with each day, we packed a trail lunch; lunch meat cut into finger food sized pieces, tiny-tim tomatoes, local cheese, trail mix, buns, rice cakes and some wine. We’d look for somewhere dry, scenic, a rock to sit on, and another to lay out the lunch. One day however, it was only an empty woodshed during a downpour of rain, and on another, it was beside a rushing glacier fed river. However on this day, it was overlooking the glacier, mountain peaks, and the river gorge leading back to Grindelwald.
Eventually, our equipment or lack of it, along with either common sense or the lack of nerve supported the decision to turn back. We made our way down the mountain the way we had come until the trail branched off. We then hiked the portion of the mountain which we had ascended by cable car in the morning. This was through a dense spruce forest marred by avalanches of snow and rock in the not too distant past.
This day’s hike took us about six hours or so, with breath taking scenery and adventure. Everyday in Grindelwald was the same except different, as we tried to sear the experience of mountain life into memory.
By the end of the week, we hadn’t come close to hiking every trail but we had embraced the mountains, and experienced life in the quaint Swiss village of Grindelwald . As a result, we were satisfied to pack up and jump on the train back to Interlaken for week two.
Click here for the next story in this series:
http://travellingwithsteveandmarlene.blogspot.ca/2012/08/learning-lesson-in-interlaken.html
Click here for the next story in this series:
http://travellingwithsteveandmarlene.blogspot.ca/2012/08/learning-lesson-in-interlaken.html