There might be some clouds or fog in the morning but they should vanish soon and the sun should be shining the rest of the day. That was the weather forecast for last Sunday. As that sounded good enough to me I set off for another day of walking. My starting point was the parking lot of an area called Atzmännig. This place is well known for it's summer toboggan run and as there is also a chairlift that brings you up the mountain it attracts a lot of families that come here for a gentle hike and a BBQ. The start for my hike was rather steep, but luckily that changed soon to a steady ascending slope. After about half an hour I found myself on a plateau with a good view of the surroundings. The sun was shining, the view was clear and the predicted fog and clouds seemed far away. It looked like a lovely day ahead. I kept on walking and after another 30 minutes I came up on to the ridge I intended to follow and was able to see into the valley on the other side. The view from there looked really cool! :)
So the fog was not that far away as I thought it was and unfortunately the trail I was taking led straight towards it. Nevertheless, after enjoying the amazing view, I walked onwards and found a pretty cool sight a couple kilometers later. As the wind was blowing as well it pushed the fog over a nearby hill and that made it look like a wave of fog. It was moving pretty fast and was a really entertaining sight to behold. Soon after that, the view vanished entirely and I was surrounded by dense fog. Luckily the path was clear and well marked, so it was impossible to get lost. The weather forecast in my mind I hoped that it would clear up soon. But as it happened, the prediction turned out to be rather wrong. For the next four hours I didn't see anything, neither the sun nor the view. Bad luck I thought and focused on other things, as nature still had plenty to offer. There were nice spider webs, some huge snails, tons of blooming flowers and even a butterfly that posed as a model. :)
The hiking itself was not too exhausting as the trail was more or less straight, only going up and down in some places. Towards the end of the hike, I reached the summit of Schnebelhorn, the highest mountain in the canton of Zurich. Unfortunately there was still no view and as there was no restaurant, there was also no possibility to get myself a summit beer. Well, bad luck again! :) After a long break on the top I started the descent towards Steg and about 15 minutes later the weather finally cleared up. It was two o'clock in the afternoon and I was glad to see the sun again. As I already left the ridge, the panorama was nice but not as spectacular as it would have been before. The exception was a viewpoint on the way down. Other than that the trail just led downhill and I reached Steg just in time to miss my train. Haha. :) So even though the weather wasn't that good today I still enjoyed being outdoors a lot and the fog gave me a good excuse to come back to this area again some day in the future.
Lowlight of the day: the fog
This hike is for you if:
- you're looking for panoramic views of the eastern part of Switzerland
- you want to cover a fairly long distance without going up and down too much
- you're looking for an area to hike with your children
- you need a BBQ for lunch (as there are tons of fire places along the way)
This hike is not for you if:
- you want to ditch the crowds
- you like it steep and exposed
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