Engelberg to Meiringen via Alpina Route 1 and then took Route 40
With the closest church being hours away, Sunday saw the start of our hiking excursion rather early. We got up, enjoyed a wonderful breakfast with our hotel mates from yesterday (the happy coupe with a baby and the grumpy couple from the Middle East). We checked out, left our bags for the delivery service (Eurotrek) and headed across the street to the Coop to get some lunch supplies. From there, we walked over to the gondola and rode up to lake Trubsee. This would cut off quite a bit of the hike in the rain, which was the right thing to do. At the lake, we found Schmuggli! It was probably the highlight of that part of the trip. We then walked around the lake in the cold rain to the chair lift that would take us up to the pass. Fortunately, the chair lifts had plastic covers, otherwise, we would have been even more cold and wet. It was a fairly mixed sky at the top and it was clearly snowing just a few hundred feet up from our location. Fortunately, we were headed down. Sara wanted to take some quick shots with her camera and promptly dropped her hiking stick in cow crap without realizing it. She then proceeded to smear the cow crap all over her jacket, hat, and hood. I turned around and she was covered in crap, it was raining, it was windy and cold. Not a great start to our long hiking adventure! Fortunately, we recovered from this moment and started hiking down the mountain. The skies would clear from time to time, but overall, it was a rainy day. By the time we reached the halfway point, the hotel at Engstlenalp, we were wet and tired. We stopped to use the restroom, ate some overpriced carrot cake, and met a young couple from the states. They were camping their way through the Alps and looked wet and stinky. She was from Vail, and he was from southern California. It’s good to be young and stinky!
We headed out from our latest Wes Anderson hotel and decided to change plans and follow the lower route to our destination instead of the higher route. This was probably a good decision and saved us from hiking in the snow. We also got to hike down this ravine with amazing waterfalls and followed Gandalf for a while until we found Rivendale. It was such a lush and beautiful canyon that the time passed quickly, until it didn’t. Going downhill for 12 miles gets a little rough on the feet and we were starting to get tired and needed a bathroom. There was a farm selling Alpine cheese and butter. So, we rang the doorbell and discovered that the young girl didn’t speak English, and as our kids will tell you, we don’t speak German. Fortunately, she spoke French so Mike negotiated the purchase of some Alpine butter and Sara got to use the bathroom in the barn. We then continued hiking briskly until we got to the Meiringen gondola. Oh, blessed gondola that took us down the last 1,000 feet to the town. I think we would have been found dead on the trail if we had to go down another 2 miles of steep rocky trails. In all, the first day saw us traveling 18 miles, so we didn’t feel bad taking the gondola down. We arrived at our boutique hotel and gave great thanks for the abundant hot water in Switzerland and their awesome water pressure.
After returning ourselves to human form, we headed downstairs for dinner. It was quite amazing. The chef prepared a five-course meal, and we enjoyed every inch of it. From the ceviche (yes ceviche in Switzerland) to the perfectly cooked steak, it was quite the treat after our long, long cold hike in the rain. After dinner, we promptly fell into a food coma. Someone must have taken us upstairs because we woke up the next day in our room.
We headed out from our latest Wes Anderson hotel and decided to change plans and follow the lower route to our destination instead of the higher route. This was probably a good decision and saved us from hiking in the snow. We also got to hike down this ravine with amazing waterfalls and followed Gandalf for a while until we found Rivendale. It was such a lush and beautiful canyon that the time passed quickly, until it didn’t. Going downhill for 12 miles gets a little rough on the feet and we were starting to get tired and needed a bathroom. There was a farm selling Alpine cheese and butter. So, we rang the doorbell and discovered that the young girl didn’t speak English, and as our kids will tell you, we don’t speak German. Fortunately, she spoke French so Mike negotiated the purchase of some Alpine butter and Sara got to use the bathroom in the barn. We then continued hiking briskly until we got to the Meiringen gondola. Oh, blessed gondola that took us down the last 1,000 feet to the town. I think we would have been found dead on the trail if we had to go down another 2 miles of steep rocky trails. In all, the first day saw us traveling 18 miles, so we didn’t feel bad taking the gondola down. We arrived at our boutique hotel and gave great thanks for the abundant hot water in Switzerland and their awesome water pressure.
After returning ourselves to human form, we headed downstairs for dinner. It was quite amazing. The chef prepared a five-course meal, and we enjoyed every inch of it. From the ceviche (yes ceviche in Switzerland) to the perfectly cooked steak, it was quite the treat after our long, long cold hike in the rain. After dinner, we promptly fell into a food coma. Someone must have taken us upstairs because we woke up the next day in our room.
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