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2021-09-24: Murren Day 4

Our Excursion: 2021-09-24: Murren Day 4 (Part of trip: )
Date of our excursion: 2021-09-24
Location: Murren, Switzerland

Our Planned Itinerary:

  • Eat a hearty breakfast
  • Ride a crowded bus to Isenfluh
  • Hike to Grutschalp from Isenfluh
  • Head to Grindelwald and explore
  • Ride the Pfinstegg lift to check out the views
  • Hike from Murren to Gimmelwald to Tanzbodel to Stechelberg
  • Eat a pleasant dinner with too much food because we need to finish all the food so we don't have to carry it with our luggage tomorrow

Travelers on this Excursion:

    Neiderhorn, Beatenberg

    We hit some cool places.

    Continents: Europe
    Countries: Switzerland
    States/Provinces/Cantons/Regions: Berner Oberland
    Cities/Villages/Towns: Grindelwald Murren

    Some featured areas we visited:
    Some points of interest we hit:

    It’s Day 9 of our Switzerland trip and day 4 in Murren! Mature crowd is heading to Isenfluh and Grindelwald (Norman – this trip was inspired by your comments!). The crazy crowd is going to hike a mountain that Swiss hikers categorize as difficult. They were not kidding.

    Breakfast is wonderful as always. Bread, jams, cheeses, granola, yoghurt, eggs, tea, hot chocolate, orange juice… We then head out to our separate destinations.

    The mature crowd rides the train to Grutschalp, the gondola to Lauterbrunnen, and a bus to Isenfluh. The bus is really a large van and is jammed with over 30 people, some standing. Thankfully, our group all got seats. They enjoy the quaintness and then head out on the hike the crazy crowd scoped out before. Maybe the crazy crowd did not quite relay just how steep these roads were or how large the construction trucks were on the narrow roads. The path eventually split from the road, leveled out a bit, and became an absolutely gorgeous path with excellent views of the mountains. The group arrived at Grutschalp and headed back down the mountain to Grindelwald and the Pfinstegg Glacier. This is the location where Christian Kauffmann lived before he moved to America, so we have been told by a wise informant. Grindelwald was toured, the graveyard was visited, and maybe a cave was seen (details may be given to me later). The group headed to the Pfinnsteg lift which plays Swiss traditional music and yodeling and has red checkered curtains and geranium flower boxes inside. The views from the lift and the top are amazing. You get a different perspective from this viewpoint as you can see Grindelwald and the rest of the valley surrounded by the cliffs. Simply amazing.

    The crazy crowd meanwhile was heading to Gimmelwald and then hiking up and up and up a steep mountain to Tanzbodel. It means dancing floor. There is a large grassy plateau on the top of a mountain. The views are incredible while climbing and from the summit. The hike was hard and there was a section before the summit that seemed precarious. The rocks were uneven and required some scrambling. We rested at the top for a while to enjoy the views, the sun, and the flat ground. The way down, we chose the high alpine path rather than the valley floor path. Our path pretty much ran along cliff edges and waterfalls. Very pretty but we made sure our tired legs didn’t buckle and send us hurtling down the cliffs. We met up with the other group at the lift to Murren.

    Dinner was an adventure in itself. It is our last night in Murren so we need to finish all the leftovers in the fridge. We have a lot of potatoes, soda, vegetables, and spatzli. It all goes in pans and gets cooked up then forced on everyone in the house. We successfully finished the majority.


    Here's a mapped route!


    Here are some of our pics...

    Click the button to see pics here. This pulls from google photos so it is a bit slow. It should load eventually.

    2 thoughts on “2021-09-24: Murren Day 4”

    1. Glad you got to Grindelwald. Was I incorrect about the ice caves? My memory may not be correct.

      There is no way – even when I was as young as Kristen and Ericka – that I could take the trail they did. I would still be there hanging on – waiting to be rescued !

      Where you with Dave and Sonja?

      1. I asked our host about the ice caves and she said there were some in the Jungfrau. We have never gotten to see them though. Have you? There are also some other caves we read about that were carved out by the glacier I think.
        That hike up Tanzbodeli was insane! It got a lot steeper than expected. Thankfully though, it was only a short portion of the trail. Only Erika and I were on this trail. The other 4 headed to Isenfluh, Grindlewald, and Pfinstegg Glacier.

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