[Idyllchat] An Excellent Hike (and more)

[Richard Stewart]

Fellow Travelers,

In recent days emails to Idyllchat have been infrequent to say the least.
With the sudden finish of the Red Sox/ Indians ALCS in our favor, the speedy
reduction of the Rockies to minor-league status in the World Series, the NFL
Patriots leaving all
opponents churned in their wake, and Boston College ranked two in the
nation, I hope the paucity is in no way related to a funky mood those in
other parts of the country may be in as the result of recent and remarkable
success on the part of the Boston/New England teams.  For heaven's sake even
the Bruins are winning their share.  Moreover, the Celtics prospects are
brighter with their first Big Three since the Bird, McHale, Parish era.
Please forgive the smugness, but this is a marvelous time to be a sports fan
in Boston.

Alas, with tropical storm Noel moving up the coast, it's a dismal Saturday
morning here in Boston, due to get worse as strong winds and significant
rain are expected to develop all day into evening.  Yet, this could be the
storm before the calm as the Pats play Indy tomorrow afternoon, and if this
Pats game is anything like their prior eight this season, it could be a real
snoozer for the Pats.  Of course, I'm kidding because Pats/Indy is by far
the most highly anticipated regular-season game this year.  We hear that
some Raider fans are passing on their home game so they can watch Pats/Indy
live.

But I digress, and badly so.  On bleak Saturday mornings I often think about
hiking in Switzerland.  Better than thinking about it is writing about it,
and given the present dearth of cyber missives and nature's gloom outside I
decided to take a small step toward remediation.  Besides, it will make at
least one of the hours between now and kickoff at 4:15 EST tomorrow go by
faster.

This past July we enjoyed another wonderful Untour in Switzerland, Reuti and
the Heartland to be more specific.  Many of us have enjoyed Grandmother's
Walk, Grandfather's Walk, and the spectacular hike from First to Grosse
Scheidegg.  One purpose of this note is to recommend for anyone who has not
done so the hike from Planplatten to Kaserstatt in the Heartland.  This hike
of two hours or less is called the High Trail (Hohenweg).  The hike starts
downhill with the Meiringen-Brienz valley as foreground.  Most of Lake
Brienz and the snow-capped Wetterhorn group are visible to the left and
several other ridges to the right.  Although we had done this hike before,
the view was sufficiently breathtaking for Joan to comment "it's like it's
not real."  Along the trail, visually, were wall-to-wall buttercups and
purple clover, while, aurally, cowbells and marmot whistles enhanced the
experience.  On this particular day, the dark blue sky overhead tapered to
light blue as it went over the mountains.  The midpoint is at Haaggen, which
consists of three or four rustic structures.  On one of the buildings,
Haaggenstubeli, is an impressive array of sixteen cowbells, among them, I'm
sure, some of the largest extant.  At Haaggen you can buy a soda or refill
your water bottle.  Beyond Haagen the trail rises steadily but gradually to
Kaserstatt where there is a fine restaurant.  Buying together the High Trail
tickets from Meiringen (or Reuti) to Planplatten and from Kaserstatt down to
Twing together saves some money.

This second hike we had not done before this year.  It's the Three Cantons
Hike from Brienzer Rothorn to Schonbuel.  What an experience!  OK, we're 67
and 70.  Nonetheless, we're fairly fit for our age and usually do hikes
reasonably close to the times specified on those yellow signs.  On this hike
we didn't come close.  With its rugged and narrow trails and many portions
that seemed to go either dangerously upward or downward the Three Cantons
Hike turned out memorable for the wrong reasons.  Sure the scenery is
spectacular, but to survive while looking at it required stopping and
holding onto something in order to maintain balance.  But another and
surprising disappointment came on arriving at Schonbuel.  We had fond
memories of Schoenbuel from our only visit in 2003.  Then, the place was
alive with visitors.  There were sensational views all around plus what has
to be among the best mountain restaurants in all of Switzerland.  Because we
were having such a bad time enduring the hike, we eagerly awaited Schonbuel.
It was to be the saving grace.  Yikes!  Schoenbuel was deserted.  At 3 p.m.
on a fairly nice afternoon the help inside the restaurant was seated at
tables normally occupied by customers.  Much worse was the fact that what in
2003 was a new quad chairlift up to Schoenbuel was not operating.  We
worried that we might have to walk down to Lungern, something it would have
been impossible to achieve given our exhausted state.  Fortunately, a
six-passenger minivan was doing shuttle service up and down between
Schonbuel and the intermediate stop down to Lungern.  Later, we heard that
the quad lift up to Schonbuel was in financial difficulty.  Some said it
should have been a gondola rather than a quad.  Perhaps Vance could
enlighten.

This will end upbeat.  To reach the Rothorn, we took the famous steam train
from Brienz.  Well, not exactly.  It was a beautiful day, and since we
arrived close to departure time and the steam train was full, we had to ride
in the diesel-powered backup train.  Our train followed at a safe distance
behind the steam train.  There are several tunnels on the way up to the
Rothorn and because we passed through the tunnels shortly after the steam
train, it was necessary to hold both breath and nose to avoid symptoms of
black lung disease.  Nonetheless, the ride up on either train, while
somewhat expensive, is a marvelous and truly unique experience.  The scenery
is amazing.  We are fortunate to have visited Switzerland many times over
the years.  The train ride up to the Rothorn is high on our list of
memorable experiences and highly recommended.  The views and restaurant at
the top are superb.

The hour flew by.  Thanks for your indulgence.  At the moment it's not
raining but winds are building.

Go Pats,

Happy travels,

Dick Stewart