This past weekend we went to Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland.  It was great!  The weather forecast was rain, so we were concerned we wouldn’t get to do the hiking we wanted but we were lucky and it rained very, very little.

We took the train from Basel to Lauterbrunnen and only had to change trains once.  It took about 2 1/2 hours to get there.  Once there, we climbed up the hill through town following the directions from our rented apartment (booking.com this time)  It was a hilly trek and we had to cross the cog train tracks but we found it, dropped off our stuff and headed back to town for some lunch, groceries, and a stop at the tourist information booth.

We hiked the Panoramaweg from our apartment (I’m guessing it was 1.5-2 miles) that evening while it was still nice out (expecting rain).  It was a lovely trail through the valley and along the Weisse Lutschine river.  The stony cliffs, green trees and grass, white river, and blue sky were quite a sight.  There is just something exhilarating about hiking in Switzerland.

Saturday, we hiked most of the Panoramaweg again on the way to Trummelbachfalle, picking up the Wasserweg trail which led to the  falls.  Trummelbachfalle cuts it’s way through the mountain, and they’ve dug caves into the mountain so you can see the falls at different elevations.  It’s amazing to see the shapes and paths the water has cut into the stone.  It’s really impressive and definitely worth a visit.  Afterward, we had lunch there at Trummelbach before hiking back to the apartment.  All told, we did about 7 miles and 700 feet on that hike .  Walnut loves hiking in Switzerland because he has a thing for large animals like horses and cows.  At one point, a half dozen cows walked over to the little ribbon of a fence to check out Walnut.  The animals are all vying to get a sniff of one another and Walnut sneezes.  The nearest cow, which had to be at least 700 pounds, jumped in the air in surprise.  He did most of the hike under his own power, maybe 6 miles before he needed a ride in the backpack.  Sadly, the pack wasn’t very cool so it was only rest for his legs at first.  Later, I filled a poo bag with near-freezing water from the Lutschine and plopped that into the bag with him.

We rested a bit back at the apartment and hit the trail again after dinner.  This time, we walked the opposite direction and hiked the Alpweg, which climbed up an opposing butte.  This trail was more forested than our previous hike.  This time we got a little rain but it was short lived.  This trail crossed a mountain bike trail several times and we glanced down those paths- they are quite steep!  From the elevation we climbed to, we had a birds eye view over Lauterbrunnen- beautiful green grasses interrupted here and there by the brown swiss houses or chalets.  Further down the way, we found a newly built reservoir just before the trail led us back into town.  This trail was about 5.5 miles and 800 feet.

We loved it.  It was great hiking with some elevation.  Beautiful scenery and fortunately great weather.  I look forward to going back to Lauterbrunnen, though I’m sure we will visit the surrounding towns on the next trip to that region.