Even though Corona had messed with my plans for this summer, the initial idea to explore my home country was still possible and so I embarked on a little "Tour de Suisse" as soon as the campsites were allowed to open. Although I had been there before, I decided that the first stop would be the Alpstein, as there were enough places that I hadn't explored yet. Among them was the Säntis, the highest point of the area, but unfortunately there was still too much snow for an attempt to get up to the summit. So I focused on other hikes and opted to do a more challenging one on my last day in the region. In the mountains of Switzerland there are two types of trails: red and white indicates a normal mountain trail without any major difficulties and blue and white indicates an alpine trail with small or big challenges along the way. Although they're called alpine, they don't necessarily need to be alpine, as there are some that are way below 2000 meters above sea level. If a trail is blue and white it usually means that there are exposed sections en route or that there is some scrambling involved. Two of those blue and white trails were what I was aiming for today, as it was possible to combine the Marwees ridge with a scramble up to the Hundstein. While the Marwees was a popular trail and pretty straightforward, the Hundstein seemed to be more challenging, but as the Marwees was up first anyway, I intended to decide on the way if I wanted to give the Hundstein a try or not. So early morning I took the train from the campsite in Jakobsbad to the starting point in Wasserauen and headed directly into the clouds. :) The weather forecast actually had been quite decent, but once more the reality looked different. It also started to drizzle as soon as I was out of the train and as I didn't want to attempt the scramble up to the Hundstein in wet conditions, I spontaneously decided to change my plans. Hoping that the weather would be better later on and that at least I could do the walk over the Marwees ridge in reasonable conditions, I opted for a detour over the Alp Sigel. That meant a few additional kilometers, but I knew that it was the best thing to do. Heading out of Wasserauen while the drizzle intensified, I made my way slowly upwards through some meadows full of cows.
On one of those meadows, two cows spotted me and immediately began to run in my direction. There were no calves to be seen and I wondered what they were up to. They were still running when they were about five meters away from me and when I started to worry, they suddenly skidded to a halt right in front of me. Uff, that was close. :) It turned out that they were just a bit coltish and after a good sniff at my clothes let me continue my ascent. Steadily I walked upwards, passing more meadows, cows and the occasional alp until I reached a turnoff and entered the woods a couple minutes later on. Being already pretty wet because of the drizzle before, I was even wetter once I was out of the forest again. The steep ascent and the humid conditions made me sweat like hell and I was soon walking in shirts and shorts, even though the weather wasn't made for that at all. Taking a first short break, a few things could be seen ahead of me: the continuously steep ascending slope, the clouds and fog that surrounded the massive rocks that had to be conquered to reach the Alp Sigel and two female hikers that also were on their way upwards.
Moving on and ascending steadily, I overtook them just before I reached the foot of the huge rock wall above me. While from far away the wall had seemed impregnable, things looked once more a bit different from up close. A rather challenging way had been built into the rock and a fun scramble towards the Alp Sigel ensued. Luckily, there were enough chains and poles to hold on to and that definitely helped a lot to keep a good foothold on the wet rocks. Overcoming that lovely part, I entered a vast plateau and had a superb view of ... nothing. :) Fog surrounded the plateau in every direction and not much changed when I arrived at the few houses that gave the alp its name. A longer break was necessary now and so the two ladies from before overtook me again. Moving on after the pause, I headed towards the Bogartenlücke, which was the starting point for the walk up to the Marwees ridge. Again, not much changed. Walking amongst the mandatory cow meadows, I came across another couple farms and still could see nothing except the whiteness of the surrounding fog. At least the trail was more or less straight ahead now, but as it was really muddy, my newly bought shoes soon looked like I had them since a couple years. :)
It all changed once I came closer to the Bogartenlücke and straight ahead became a steep ascending slope and muddy became rocky. A few more hikers passed me in that part, just before a strange noise could be heard from far above. Coming to the Bogartenlücke, two guys were standing there, taking pictures with a drone. What exactly they were capturing on camera remained a mystery to me, as the fog around us was as thick as ever. A couple minutes later I had reached the turnoff to the Marwees ridge and while I hadn't been sure if I really should attempt it, my concerns were blown away right there. Two people just came down from the ridge and the two ladies that I had met before were already in the middle of the first ascending slope. Well, if they can do it, I can do it too. :) So I turned right and soon struggled upwards on a steep, rocky, muddy and extremely slippery slope. It made for quite a challenge, but overall it was still manageable and I brought the ascent behind me without too many difficulties. The two ladies took a break after that effort and so it was my turn to overtake them again. Exchanging a few words, I moved on before long, but didn't came far, as I was suddenly beholding two teenage ibexes battling each other in the middle of the hiking trail. Wow, what a sight to see!
They didn't really bother about me and just blocked the trail, while they played around. The two ladies soon joined in and we marveled at the animals for about ten minutes. Once we had seen enough, we edged a little closer, but only when we were about two meters away, they made space and walked down the mountain slope a few meters. Never before had I experienced something like that and it wasn't only the highlight of the day, it basically was the highlight of the Alpstein. :)
Moving on, a pretty exposed part with wet rocks made for the next challenge, but once that section was behind me, a lovely dirt trail started to lead through grass and I knew that that was the beginning of the actual ridge walk. Unfortunately, I still could see nothing and so the cross, that marked a peak on the ridge, appeared more or less out of nowhere. Sitting down for about half an hour, the weather eventually had some pity with me and for the first time the fog broke up for a moment to reveal what he had been hiding from my eyes for the whole day so far. Actually, the panorama on a sunny day must be absolutely stunning, with all the major attractions like Säntis, Altmann and Seealpsee in sight, but today there was only a part of that view, as the clouds and fog never entirely disappeared. Nevertheless, my gamble with the detour had paid out well enough. :)
Resuming the walk along the ridge after my break, the weather in the next part was by far the best and I enjoyed the sudden sunshine together with some beautiful views. As the cross wasn't the highest point on the ridge, I opted to do the side trip to the summit of Mount Marwees as well. Climbing up on an unofficial beaten track, I reached the top right at that time when the fog moved in again. Well, bad luck I guess, but it didn't really stop me from taking a second lunch break on the peak. :)
Heading back across country to the official trail, the turnoff for the Hundstein appeared not much later on. Looking at the rather scary rocks above me, it was just appropriate that I didn't give it a try today. It definitely looked like a scramble that should be attempted in dry conditions only and with more people out and about than there were today. So instead of scrambling up to the Hundstein, I turned right onto an abandoned track and started to descend towards the Meglisalp. The descent was steep, but had some nice views, as there were quite a few openings in the clouds. Arriving at the bottom of the descending slope, it was time to return to my starting point, but instead of going the obvious way down to the Seealpsee, I opted to use the path above it. Being more or less straight ahead and boasting some scenic views of the lake, it turned out to be a really pleasant trail.
The time flew by and rather sooner than later, the final descending slope to Wasserauen was ahead of me. It was one last lovely part in the forest with a few waterfalls in between, but I was glad once Wasserauen came into sight, as my legs were pretty tired in the meantime. Arriving back at the train station, I chose to end the day with a beer on the terrace of the restaurant in Wasserauen. With the sun back in the sky and some cold liquid gold heading down my throat, it was more than a fitting ending of an eventful day. :)
Highlight of the day: definitely the two battling Ibexes
This hike is for you if:
- you like ridge walks
- you always wanted to try yourself on a blue and white alpine trail
- you're looking for stunning views over the Alpstein
- you don't mind some steep ascents and descents
This hike is not for you if:
- you don't like challenging trails
- you have trouble with exposed sections
- you're not into scrambling
Comments