Dear readers, I am Sam's Mum and hope you will enjoy my report about our family hike in Central Switzerland! My husband and I were longing for a change of our daily stay-at-home routine, so we asked our son to go on a hike with us and Sam was willing to plan it, too. It was permitted and even recommended to go for walks during lockdown in order to maintain physical and mental health and traveling within the country was basically not restricted either. We agreed to meet on 6th May 2020 at the railway station in Baar (ZG). However, Sam insisted on keeping the route a secret. It was initially planned to be a hike for the three of us but our daughter surprised us by taking a day off from work and joined us, too. We parked our cars at approximately 11 o'clock and headed off towards the Protestant church close to where the proper hike started. We first followed the unpaved road along the forest which took us to a rural area called Oberallmend. Some people walked their dogs and a few joggers passed by. It had been raining the night before and wafts of mist rose from the meadows but the weather was going to be dry with plenty of sunshine in the afternoon. Flowering shrubs lined the forest edge and we spotted many caterpillars and snails.
We slowly but continuously gained altitude and not only enjoyed a good view of Baar but also of the city of Zug with its beautiful lake. We then entered the forest and walked until we reached the main road, Ägeristrasse, right next to the bus stop Tobelbrücke/Höllgrotten. We crossed the street and checked the various signposts. A white one warned us that it was life-threatening to leave the trail. Good Lord, this was actually the one we were going to follow!
It was a little steep in the beginning and my husband moaned that it can't get any steeper than that! Of course, he was massively exaggerating and Sam told him, tongue-in-cheek, that hiking is bound to go up and down. We soon entered the forest again and descended into a ravine where we crossed a wooden bridge over the river Schwarzenbach that offered a stunning view of the Schwarzenbach waterfall.
We stopped to enjoy the magnificent scenery and once we resumed our walk, we reached the Wildenburg (635 metres above sea level) within five minutes. The castle was built in the 13th century and its remnants were excavated in 1938. The ruin further deteriorated and has eventually been restored in 1985 thanks to a private initiative. The Wildenburg sits on a ledge high above the river Lorze and its main purpose was to control traffic between valley and mountain communities. The castle's landmark is a round tower with a wall thickness of 3,5 m.
The entrance was cordoned off due to lockdown restrictions. Under normal circumstances, a fireplace could have been used for a barbecue. As it was almost 1.30 pm, we looked for a spot to sit down at the castle wall and enjoyed our picnic lunch. After this well-deserved break, we walked back 200 metres to a turnoff we previously passed and headed straight through the woods towards Allenwinden. An official road sign warned that all vehicles were prohibited. In fact, nothing but a mountain bike could have been ridden on this footpath. The trail led along the crest to a farmhouse and we turned left passing the barn where two horses got new shoes from the blacksmith. We now started our descent into the Lorze ravine and the root-covered path was a little slippery due to the recent rain. Proper hiking boots are therefore recommended, also for a few high steps that had to be taken. In this part, the forest ground was full of blooming bear leek, Bärlauch in German, also known as wild or wood garlic or buckrams. It was very beautiful to look at but the smell was very intense, almost too intense for our taste.
Meanwhile, the sun was shining and once we reached the bottom of the ravine, we crossed a bridge over the Lorze at the historic hydro power plant and followed the industrial path (Industriepfad) along the riverbed towards Baar. While we never felt exposed on the trail on the crest, we could now see the impressive cliff, no wonder there was a warning not to leave the trail! The three famous bridges that span the Lorze ravine now came closer. We first passed the new one which was inaugurated in 1985, the second one, an arch viaduct completed in 1910, was right behind it and the wooden one a little further down was built in 1759. They serve as a good example for bridge construction technologies over the centuries.
We passed another hydro power plant and then proceeded to the Höllgrotten caves which were closed due to the Corona pandemic, as was the historic restaurant. The dripstone caverns are a popular tourist attraction and we certainly would have taken a tour if it would have been possible (please allow a minimum of 45 minutes). By the way, Höll means hell in Swiss German. We soon reached the outskirts of Baar where we crossed the river near the camping site. The Lorze's hydropower was important for the industrialization of the city of Zug and its neighboring towns. Several houses called Fabrikhäuser caught our eye. They accommodated the workers of the nearby spinning mill (Spinnerei) which is the biggest preserved 19th century factory building in Switzerland. It is over 200 metres long and the main building has six storeys and a vast number of windows. The Protestant church which I mentioned in the beginning and a brewery were also built for the workers. Various business premises can be found in this area and there are plans for future development. We reached the railway station at 5.30 pm, so it took us longer than predicted to complete this circular walk of about 15 km but our goal was not to rush and allow plenty of time for taking pictures. It was an easy hike and there were no special requirements, except for using caution on the crest. Sam did a perfect job in guiding us and we thoroughly enjoyed our family hike. We should do this more often!
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