Our Excursion: 2021-09-19: Spiez Day 3
(Part of trip: )
Date of our excursion: 2021-09-19
Location: Kandersteg, Switzerland
Our Planned Itinerary:
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Travelers on this Excursion: |
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We hit some cool places.
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Continents: Europe |
Some featured areas we visited: |
Some points of interest we hit: |
It’s Day 4 of our Switzerland trip and the third full day in Spiez!
Today it was rainy. The previous evening, we checked the weather forecast for Kandersteg and saw the forecast called for.. snow!!! So we checked many sites and saw the majority call for cold, rain and lots of it. In the morning, the forecasts appeared accurate (surprising compared to all the other days so far). The smart ones thought we should stay in, relax, and avoid the downpour. We decided to forego wise council and head out to see how Kandersteg’s weather was. We rode the train over and walked to the gondola station. The gondola ride had very low visibility due to the clouds and fogged windows. Also the seats were wet because the rain was dripping in the windows. The webcam at the gondola station showed an overcast view but the view of the lake was clear. On to this next adventure!
The walk to the lake was pleasant, only a light rain, and the path was a wide gravel road. Finally arrived at the lake, which we could barely see through the mist. The plan currently is to do the lake loop hike – it does not go around the lake; it is a loop following one side of the lake and then climbing up a ridge and traversing back towards the start. We cannot take the loop around the whole lake because it is closed due to rockslides occurring, which we believe we heard during our trek. We also decided not to head up to the Hohtürli pass because it is far and possibly dangerous in these conditions.
The trail was very much downhill and filled with our enemy – the tree root. Not a good start to the loop hike (but still a far cry from the insane poop hike of 2 days ago!). Eventually, the path flattened out and the tree roots became more sparse. We came to a crossroads. Part of the group took the flat path along the lake back to the lake restaurant and the gondola. This group, from what I heard, encountered an intense downpour and became thoroughly soaked. No amount of umbrellas and rain gear was a match for the onslaught. The other group who seeks out pain and misery decided to head up towards Oberbergli and complete the lake loop hike which, according to the sign was much farther than we originally thought. This loop hike would have been amazing in good hiking weather and with good visibility. In our circumstances, the trail was good abuse in training our leg muscles and cold weather survivability. We did get good views of the lake, some waterfalls, and the mountains and cliffs surrounding the lake. We also got to ford some rivers and streams. Thankfully, we had waterproof shoes. Unfortunately, our socks, pants, shirts, gloves, and jackets turned out to be not that waterproof. The incline of the path was steep but the path was gravel with streams and was relatively easy to climb, as long as you stopped for breath and muscle breaks. As we ascended, the rain increased and then turned to wet, heavy snow. We arrived at the hut and scoped out the next part of the trail. It appears to be in snow, sometimes the clouds, on wet mud, and on the side of a cliff. Well, we don’t want to die, so we regretfully decided to abuse our leg muscles and descend the way we ascended. At this point we are thoroughly soaked and starting to go numb. There are not many pictures from her out because the phones gave up. It’s ok, because our fingers were having a hard time moving anyway. (This sounds miserable but it really was a lot of fun.) The trek down was faster. The waterfalls and streams we had to ford before were now much more full with raging water – made for some exciting river crossings on the edge of the cliff. At a few points, the path was a river itself because of all the water pouring off the rocks to our right and continuing on down the cliff to our left. After an eternity, we made it back to the gondola station, somehow managed to use our numb fingers to find our tickets, and pass through the terminal. Got to the train station and found a warm room where we began to return to the land of the living. We left horribly wet seats on the train. Sorry, next guy.
Interestingly, we were not the only group out hiking in the freezing rain. The traffic was light but we did see at least 5 or 6 other groups.
Dinner was leftover pizza, rosti, lefotver chips, apples, grapes, and tea with ice cream bars and hot chocolate for dessert. Good, filling dinner to rejuvenate the whole group after their memorable hikes today.
You guys rock. Not sure we would have been as tough, even at your youthful age – although even you guys are not so youthful anymore.
Thanks so much for sharing this. So meaningful and enjoyable – especially since you guys are special to us.