Hiking Through Switzerland

Day 4: Lauterbrunnen and the Jungfrau Region

 

Hiking Through Switzerland

Day 3: Zermatt and the Gornegrat

We woke this morning to crystal clear skies and a gorgeous view of the Matterhorn. 

We had hoped to take the Gornegrat cog railway to the top[ of the Gornegrat and hike down, but the upper trails were closed due to snow cover, so we elected instead to take the train to the top and then train down to a lower station before starting our hike.

Along the route up we had wonderful views of the Matterhorn

which only got better as we reached the top.

Dave and I were tempted to join these paragliders, but Jeri and Molly put their respective foot down (PHEW!)

There were exhibits at the top including one of the  early train cars. The Gornegrat cog railway is the oldest electric cog railway in the world, though our Mt. Washington cog railway is the oldest  utilizing first coal and now biodeisel (1869). Celebrating its 125th anniversary, the railway introduced new, state-of-the-art trains (named POLARIS) in 2022 and 2023 to offer a more comfortable and eco-friendly journey. The trains' regenerative braking system generates enough energy on the downhill descent to power up to two uphill trips. 

We then took the train down to Rotenboden to check out the Riffelsee, famous for its reflection of the Matterhorn.

A short steep hike down through an alpine garden of rocks and wildflowers got us to the shore of the Riffelsee.

The effort was well worth it with breathtaking views.  The weather and timing couldn't have been better for reflection pictures with bright sun and nearly no wind.  The lake was like glass.

while we were there, we spotted the paragliders passing across the Matterhorn. Dave and I watched them loningly. 

We continued down below the snow line to Riffelalp where we began our descent on foot.

As we stood at the station trying to figure out the correct trail to take, a group of kids from Indiana who were hiking up from Zermatt suggested the trail that they had taken. "Not too difficult" means different things to different people. We picked our way down for the next couple of hours.  The views were quite nice but we were all pretty sore from the day before and this did not make that any better.

When we saw signage for the next cog railway station, we made a beeline for it and finished our descent by train.

On the bright side, this gave us a chance to partake in afternoon tea at the hotel again, and after an early Italian dinner, early to bed.

Tomorrow, we are off to Lauterbrünnen.