The day to day Trip Journal my wife kept will give you final details.
You are also welcome to see my Post Trip Video for the full experience until you have a chance to walk it your self.
Via Alpina All Days Version 3
Trip Journal
8/6 Meetup Day 0. good easy travels but not for all. Parks suitcase finally arrived 8/5. Yeah! All together for dinner except Parks. Lovely walk along Montreauxs waterfront to Chillon castle. Mountains out sailboats bobbing. Many swimming.
8/7 Hiking Day 1. liftoff up to Rochers de-Naye. Through the clouds to beautiful peaks all around at the top. Incredible! Parks hiked a hard trail on Via Alpina. We took a shorter route down the mountain. 7-8 mi 3000’ down. Very challenging with a steep rocky rooty trail slowing Kandy and Debbie a lot. A Swiss couple helped Debbie down and they got a ride to Rossineare. The rest of us got rides to the train station to make it in time. Overall thankful for cool weather great views on the top no rain no accidents except minor falls, made the train with a ride, wonderful hostesses at B&B delicious dinner outside lovely evening.
8/8 Hiking Day 2. had a sumptuous breakfast with Anna Marie and Caroline filled to the brim. Six of us left at 10:30 on the high trail to Chateau D’oex with a long lunch at the boulongerie. A lovely walk mostly up to L’Etavez. 8.6 mi 1600’ up and 1100’ down. . Recovery day for Debbie and Kandy.
8/9 Hiking Day 3. With Corrie and Thom. L’Etavez to Gstaad. 8:20 hiking time. (5:20 Swiss time was not accomplished by us). 10.2 mi 3100’ up 3500’ down. 1.4 mph. Beautiful hike, weather, peaks all visible. Up in 3 hr but many more ups and downs. Stopped for ice cream and beer at the top of the ski lift. Then fast down the ski slope to Gstaad. Refreshed ourselves at the sports cafe while Thom walked to Lauenen. Got there by postal bus at six. Shower felt so good! The rest took the train and bus.
8/10. Hiking Day 4. Lovely breakfast at Hotel Wildhorn. Left with Dani and Monika by 9 and had a lovely walk up to the Trutlisberg pass. Corrie and Thom caught up to us along the way. They headed down to Lenk. We headed along the ridge to the gondola and down to Lenk. Took a short bus ride to another gondola to above Hahnenmoos pass and walked down by just after four. Beautiful views of new mountains and waterfalls. 7.2 mi 5 hr 23” 2600’ up down 500’. After the gondola 1.4 mi 100’ up 500’ down. 2 gondola rides. 36 Fr for both rides. Dorm room for 12. Wonderful raclette buffet.
8/11. Hiking Day 5. Great breakfast buffet. Left shortly after nine with Best’ heading downhill from Hahnenmoos following the gondola to Adelboden by noon. Found an ice cream stand along the way and had lunch at the bus stop waiting for the taxi to take Monika and our backpacks and the rest. The three of us walked up to Berghaus Bonderalp in two hours and made it by three with a refreshing drink and shower. Lovely cheeses with potatoes salad and sausage with chocolate pudding for dessert. Monika and I walked up to the trail markers to come back to a lovely Swiss concert and dancing in the street! Hike time 5:38” including an hour stop. Up 1700’ 2400’ down 9.2 mi.
8/12 Hiking Day 6. Had a simple bauern Brot for breakfast and lunch and hit the trail by 8:30. Lots of switchbacks cows flowers to the pass. Barely could keep up with C&T with heavy breathing but was able to climb the Bunderspitz with them with fabulous views all around. Felt good to make it. Very steep downhill switchbacks even with a cable briefly. Bests and us stopped at farmhouse for a beer before riding an 8 person tram down the cliff to Kandersteg. A bakery and ice cream gave us energy to walk to the gondola and hike up to Oeschinensee. Found the group enjoying cafe beer and Apfel strudel. C&T walked the whole way of course. Dinner outside was lovely and walking along the lake at sunset with the glaciers and peaks peaking out ended a very nice day. Hiking time 5 hr 7 mi. Up 2600 down 2800
8/13 Hiking Day 7. said goodbye to C&T for two days. Left Oeschinen See at 8:30 and made good time to the gondola and the train. 2.6 mi including the gondola ride. 1.9 mi. W/o. Up 300 down 300. Train to Lauterbrunnen with three changes. LiftTrain to Mürren Bahn. In Mürren the Bests and us decided to take the tram up to Schilthorn Peak since the weather was as good as it gets. No clouds in the sky! We took the tram part way down and hiked steeply down to Rotstuckhütte. Thank you that the rest made it too! A tortellini dinner with vanilla pudding dessert. But had a hard conversation about the hike up.
8/14 Hiking Day 8. rough night for the non-snorers. Had a simple breakfast and left by 8:40. The Bests headed down quickly in 2 hours and the rest of us hung together and got Debbie down the mountain without mishap in 4.5 hours. Lunch at an alm restaurant before running into Dani and Monika in Mürren. Took the train and the tram down to Lauterbrunnen. We and the Bests took the train up to Kleine Scheidig, the rest to Grindelwald and up to Alpiglen, our home for the next two nights. Got our ice cream and made it down to Alpiglen by 4:20. Tired feet! Overlooking Grindelwald and Wetterhorn Glacier and peaks. Underneath the Eiger. Rain held off all day thank you Lord. Lovely lights below. Stats: 1.5 mi up and down 300’ initially. Then we caught up to Debbie and Peter and successfully got Debbie down 1300’ of rocky switchback trail. For us 3 mi 1.5 hr 1400‘ to Alpiglen.
8/15 Hiking Day 9. Woke up to beautiful blue sky and dramatic clouds in Alpiglen. No rain predicted until after 4 instead of 1 pm. Our group had a leisurely breakfast as we didn’t have to rush anywhere! Four of the group rode up to Jungfrau, the Bests walked down to Grindelwald and Ron and I took the 9:05 train back up to Kleine Scheidig to walk the Eiger trail. First up then a long way down with wonderful views of the Wetterhorn and the Failhorn in the sun surrounded by clouds. A very nice but busy trail with many hikers. A few waterfalls at the end before ending back at Alpiglen for lunch and a nap. 4.6 mi 3 hr 700‘ up 2100’ down. Saying goodbye to Dani and Monika in the morning will be sad. They brought us good weather!
8/16 Hiking Day 10 sad goodbye to Dani and Monica and caught the 9:15 train down to Grindelwald. Snack shopping and then caught the First gondola up 25” with great views of all the peaks and sunny skies. Of course Thom hiked down and up but Corrie needed an easy day after 18.2 mi. The Duringer’s staying in town but Kandy and Rainer did fine except for his hiking boot breakdown. Views at the top were endless with clouds coming in. Listened to a group sing a hymn in German. Sat on the patio until dinner. Continuing cloud drama on the peaks. We each had our own room! Delicious dinner and up at the top watching the sunset and clouds. Call to Posts.
8/17 Hiking Day 11. Woke up to clouds and sun with some peaks out. Left around nine hiking down with beautiful views. Kandy and Rainer taking the gondola down to meet up with Duringers while we hiked to Grosse Scheidegg by 12:20. But got mixed up with bus times so had a nice lunch instead. We all caught the 1:40 bus changing once down to Meiringen. A beautiful 1:20 dramatic one lane windy bus ride with peaks and glaciers on the way down. A quick shopping for dinner and breakfast before heading up the ski lift to our ski hut. 7.4 mi 3:27. Up 250’ down 2500’ from Faulhorn to Grosse Scheidig. Thrilling bus ride down. 0.8 mi and 563’ up to our lovely ski hut. Corrie made us a lovely dinner. Finally started raining after dinner.
8/18 Rest Day #2. Woke up to clouds above and below. Views of Brienzer See. Five of us hiked to the top of Plan Platten for a snack. The view should have been fabulous all around but we never came out of the clouds. 4.8 mi 1200’ up and down. 3 hr round trip. Relaxed reading and working on the puzzle until risotto dinner while it finally started raining but done by after dinner for our evening walk.
8/19 Non-hiking day #1 (except Corrie and Thom who wanted to hike 14 mi 3000’ up 7000’ down but had to abort). Raining all day with clouds in and out. Hiked down to the gondola, rode down to Meiringen and train to Lucerne and then to Engelberg. We all got to finally wear our rain gear! Walked in the rain to Pension Jacob across from a little lake. Ron and I had an afternoon stroll above the river towards two waterfalls and found a family run me mini shop with homemade raspberry ice cream and many other gift items we didn’t buy. Had a great dinner at Aspen Club with lovely atmosphere and food. Walked back in the rain. Hoping for a better day tomorrow. Stats: 1 mi down 600’ to the gondola. Afternoon walk 2.6 mi up and down 200’. Dinner walk 1.6 mi. Total 5.2.
8/20 Hiking Day 12. A hearty breakfast and then hiking up the river by 9:35 with an occasional drizzle but eventually stopping until our arrival. We hiked four miles to the Fürenalp Bahn for an ice cream cone for me. We hiked up the road with waterfalls every direction. Tremendous clouds drifting in and out all day. At Stafeli we took the 4 person Bahn up to Abnet where there was a WC, cheese shop and a restaurant for beer and meat plate. A 15” walk brought us to Hobiel up in the clouds. It started raining after Corrie and Thom arrived but before the rest. Cozy in the Stübe. Alpen macaroni for dinner. Evening call to prayer at taps. At 5500’. 7.4 mi in 5 hr up 2200’.
8/21 Hiking Day 13. Woke to blue skies and clouds! Simple breakfast and on the trail with Corrie and Thom. So many waterfalls and dramatic views of Titlis as we hiked up. They waited on the pass and we shared Lucerner lebkuchen 1.5 mi above our Seilbahn. Small holding nine of us. Then caught a bus to the train to the boat. Lots of windsurfers and kite surfers. Shopping didn’t happen so we are pooling all resources. Peaks in and out all day. Spectacular! Up 2200’ to Susenan Pass. Down 2600, with a lunch and kuchen stop. 7.44 mi 4:45” 1.6 mph. Two small lifts down 3600’.
Post-Trip Journal
8/22 Day 1. in Vierwaldstätter See. Ron and I left at 8:50 after a hotel supplied our breakfast. We stepped up the stairs from Bauer for over 40” and then rolled along the hillside until Seelisbergersee. We caught the bus the 8 person Bahn at Niederbauen Seilbahn up to the plateau. We watched some parasailers take off and then slogged up an hour/1000’ to a spectacular view from Niedwrbauem Chulm at 6500’. Up 5000’ from the lake. Ate a small lunch ( some plums from a tree we passed along with a small sandwich so stopped at the restaurant for some beer radler and chocolate cake. We watched lots of paragliders take off before heading down on our Seilbahn. Shopped for beer and wine which we then had to carry with us on the bus to the funicula and the the ship back Bauen. Had a great spätzli dinner by Peter. Evening walk. Stats 2.9 mi up 1200’ down 200’ to bus stop. To top 2.82 mi in 2 hr up and down 1100’. Up 1900’ in tram down 900’ more down to the lake.
8/23 Day 2. in VWSS. After breakfast we said goodbye to Corrie and Thom as they head to Lucerne. The rest of us got on the 10 am ferry. R & K went to Niederbauen, D & P went to Lucerne and we went to the Rigi from Vitznau. The train took us all the way to the top and the views back to where we came from were unbelievable! We even e saw Titlis and the Eiger. We hiked down a few stops taking videos of the train the helicopter and a digger. Train down the mountain and long lovely boat ride back to Bauen. What an amazing day! Chat with Erica Teddy and Kai. Evening walk to see the lights.
8/24 Last day of our trip! Walked two hours to Seedorf through amazing rock tunnels with Scripture plaques along the way. Didn’t realize the bus was very infrequent. So walked two hours along the lake and finally caught the bus to Altdorf to shop quickly so as to catch the right bus on time to catch the 1 pm boat back to Bauen. Had a lovely swim in the lake. Fondue for dinner as our last hurrah. Evening walk for recycling and exploring the village above.
Trip Impressions
Total hiking 120 mi up 24k down 31k, 459 mi on bus train gondolas. Up 51k and down 41k. Thanksgiving: we made the trip and a bucket list. Good weather, No major injuries,No Covid , Beautiful views, Great clouds, Good company, Gracious people, Good conversation , Warm weather , One day of rain only, Great lodging , Free concert and an alpen horn, Saw cows being milked , Evening prayer at Hobien
Gondola trains buses. Pretty much on time. , SSB app!, Good food fondue raclette alpen macaroni schnitzel , Mattressenlager and snoring, Rainer’s one shoe survived the trip w/o a sole, Prayers: Kandy’s memory, safe travels home. C’s visa extension. Nicaragua. Amy & Tom
Just Walking Together 