Why didn't I check the map before the hike?

Another weekend, another hike. :) But this time I looked for something shorter. I wanted to walk a maximum of 10 kilometers and after some research found what I was looking for in the Alps of Glarus. I intended to go up to Wildmadfurggeli, descend to the Leglerhut and carry on from there to Mettmen at the Lake of Garichti. Well I should have had a closer look on the map before I took off, but more of that later on. My starting point was Ämpächli, a tiny village to be reached by cable car from the town of Elm. Arriving there on mid Saturday morning I laced up my boots and started walking. First I followed a gravel road that led gently upwards. There was no one else besides a couple cars that overtook me and as I was walking in the fog with no view at all I passed the time with thinking about my future projects. :) After about 45 minutes the road ended and the real trail began. It went upwards a bit steeper now, but the view remained the same. I really hoped that the sun would break through the mist but half an hour later I kinda gave up and because there was nothing else I took some mystical pictures of a chairlift. :)

But right then when I thought it's not gonna happen anymore the fog lifted and revealed a beautiful panorama to all sides. Realizing that I was quite high and most probably close to Wildmadfurggeli already, I decided to made a short detour along a nice ridge to get some different point of views. Unfortunately the fog returned as fast as he left so I carried on and soon reached Wildmadfurggeli, the highest point of today's hike. Wildmadfurggeli is not a summit, it's a huge plateau and I stopped at the beginning of the plateau to have some lunch, overlooking the valley I just came up from. During this 15 minutes break the view changed all the time. Fog closing in, fog lifting, fog to the left, fog to the right, almost no fog, I had all the variations. :) Looking over my shoulder to the other side of the plateau, I noticed that there was no fog at all and so I made my way over there and took another break, this time with an unobscured and marvelous view in front of me. Deciding to keep on following the initial trail, I ignored the short cut on the plateau to the Lake Garichti and carried on in direction of the Leglerhut. The trail I was hiking on now was super nice. Flowers and bushes lined the way, a couple small creeks crossed the path and with the view always towards the mountains it was a most pleasant descent so far. To top it off I even saw a chamois from afar. :)

There he is. :) Can you spot him? He was unfortunately too far away for a better picture

Also the weather stayed fine, the fog was kept on the other side of the mountains and I walked with the sun shining most of the time. Coming to another turnoff I decided again to keep on going on the originally planed trail. But when the path led upwards again and went into a different direction as I actually liked to go, I wasn't sure anymore if it was a good idea to stay on this way. Luckily the next turnoff was not too far away and as the Leglerhut was still nowhere in sight, I chose to abandon the planed route and took the way in direction of Lake Garichti instead. As I was past the planed 10 kilometers already I realized that I might should have planed the whole thing a bit better. :) But now I couldn't change it anymore of course and I just kept on hiking towards the lake. After about half an hour I came upon Matzlenfurggelen and from now on I knew the way as I hiked this part on a previous occasion in spring this year. Another half an hour of pretty steep descending brought me down to the lake and like the last time I first enjoyed a beer on the terrace of the restaurant close-by. :) A look on my tracking app showed me that I walked 14 kilometers already.. Well so much for my initial plan. :) I actually was glad that I didn't walk all the way to the hut as this would have been another huge detour. Pretty tired but happy with today I made my way down to Kies with the cable car and soon was on my way back home to Zurich.

Highlight of the day: the views from Wildmadfurggeli

This hike is for you if:

- you want to be flexible and decide during the hike which way you want to take

- you want panoramic views of the Alps of Glarus

- you're looking for a technically easy hike

This hike is not for you if:

- you want to stand on a summit

- you're looking for a rush of adrenaline

During the ascent I had this nice view of the Lake of Chüeboden

The view from the ridge towards Wildmadfurggeli

The Wildmadfurggeli plateau

View from the plateau towards the unobscured side

A picture taken during the first part of the descent. In the back you can spot Lake Garichti

Hübschbödenseeli, the point where I decided to abandon the originally planed route

View during the last part of the hike just before the steep descent to the lake

If you want to hike to the Leglerhut you have to turn left at point number 3. From the hut there is a path to the point number 4. So it's possible to add this loop into the hike.