Our Excursion: 2021-09-30: Schwende Day 1
(Part of trip: )
Date of our excursion: 2021-09-30
Location: Shaefler, 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 15 of our Switzerland trip and our first day in the Appenzell area! This area also has mountains and cows like Murren did; however, there is a completely different look and feel. I have never seen such green grass! The buildings are less of the iconic look of the Murren area house and more farm house like. Interestingly, the barns are connected to the houses. Less distance to travel in the snow to care for the animals and likely less wood you need for your fire if you have animals heating up the abode. But, don’t quote me on any of that.. I know quite little about farms and farm life.
Today we plan to see some cool mountain buildings, hike some, and finally eat some Rosti from a mountain hut. But first, we must have breakfast! Breakfast is a feast: meats, cheeses, breads, jams, crackers, yoghurts, cereal, meusli, juices, coffee, water, hot chocolate, tea, and much more. We stuff ourselves because we know we have a hard hike in front of us today (or because we are gluttons and the food is delicious).
Next we get to go down the steep hill to the train station (down is easier than walking up while dragging our luggage). The train takes us to Wasserauen where we catch the gondola to Ebenalp. Construction is happening on the path (and the gondola we just rode) so we have to create our own path in slippery mud and grass. Thankfully no one slips too badly. We see the Hermit’s Hut, the church in the rock, and Aescher – the hotel built into the rock wall. The views of the surrounding mountains and valleys are also amazing. A helicopter has landed on a tiny patch of grass on the cliffside so the crew can have a lunch break at Aescher. These guys are very talented with the helicopter. They take off and dive into the valley. They are bringing supplies/huge logs to one of the mountain homes so they can repair their roof.
Our trail is somewhat on the edge of a cliff. We aren’t in danger unless we slip off the cliff. It has poured the previous night but we all manage to NOT DIE. At the mountain hut under construction, we split into two groups. One plans to take the longer meandering path while the other plans to head straight up the cliff to the restaurant.
The path going straight up the cliff is tough but doesn’t feel precarious. If you slip, it feels like you will just roll down into the farmer’s field and have to climb up the path again. The long meandering path turns out to be a bit more terrifying. This path is narrow, on bare jagged rock, and on a cliff edge. At some points there were cables to hang onto for dear life while other times, you had to trust your balance and lean into the side of less doom so you didn’t topple over the cliff. It was reported that ‘This is scary. This is scary. Don’t trip. This is scary. Hold on. This is scary.’ was repeated a few times during this excursion.
At one point, both the paths meet up. The meandering path climbs a ladder and joins the steep path on some rock and metal stairs which all of a sudden plops you on a cliff edge on the other side of the mountain. So, this point is rather dangerous because there is no warning that as you take this step, you could step right off a cliff because the trail sharply and suddenly veers to the right. This next portion gave everyone anxiety. We walked on a cliff edge high above the valley. There are cables to hold onto on the right side but the left side (cliff side) is wide open. Passing people is awkward. You basically hug strangers. Right hand on the cable, reach around them and grab the cable with your left hand, and scoot by. Very much invading personal bubbles here. But, at the end of this treacherous walk is the restaurant! We all enjoy sitting in the sun and eating rosti and ham loaf and drinking hot chocolate or water. Yum, that hits the spot! Sonja’s opinion of the hike: I’m glad I did it but I don’t ever want to do it again.
The clouds engulf Schaefler and we begin to freeze so we decide to head back to the gondola, but we are not going by the same path. The path back is pleasant and not life threatening. At the bottom of the gondola is a stream full of glacier water. So, it’s cold. The crazies of our group decide to soak their feet. They seem to enjoy it.
Once again we have dinner in the hotel restaurant. We are getting better at reading the menu so we don’t take as long to decide our orders. The food is delicious tonight as well. Beef, deer, spatzli, chamois, many vegetables, and other sides. After dinner. we check out or pics and videos for the day.
My mouth was watering when I saw that breakfast table with the croissants. I didn’t see any eggs until evening with the rostis. Had to chuckle with Sonja’s remarks about climbing that path again. Why didn’t you just take the path up that you took down??? And I was relieved to see that you do laundry occasionally What fantastic memories you are making!.
I could hardly read and look at this dangerous hike – let alone even thinking anyone would attempt to do it!! This has to be the Good side of the family tree – no one on the Kauffmann side of the tree would even consider it!
The planning it took for this trip – the detail – is might impressive.