We had no real trail map, but had been assured that all trails were clearly marked and that at the most it would be a 3 hour hike. We hiked through the snow along the ridgeline, fairly certain we were following a trail. Ursula had been right, the views were wonderful and once on the trail, we were completely alone. There was some deep snow still on the trail and every so often one of us would be knee deep in snow. Crocuses were popping up through the snow and as we slowly descended below the snowline they began to carpet the hillside.
For the first 2 hours, most of the trail was indistinguishable due to snow and rocky terrain. By hour 3, we started finding trail markers painted on trees and rocks. However, when we would come to trail signage, they always seemed to conflict what the last sign said. At one point, there were 3 different routes marked to get back to Beatenburg. We chose the one that went down through the tree line, but as the trail started to ascend and snow patches began to appear, I was getting that bad feeling that we chose incorrectly. When we reached the next trail signage, it said Beatenburg was back down the trail we had just come up (round trip, that was a 1 hour mistake).
Back at the mystery sign post, we chose
option 2 for Beatenburg. Around the next bend was a marker nailed to the side
of a cow hut pointing down the mountainside. Unless you were a local, most
would miss it. The “trail” was not really a trail, but a guideline to get down
the mountain. At some points there were no visible signs that a hiker should
even be hiking where we were. Some parts
of the trail were just laughable, especially when we got to a pretty intense
drop-off cliff to descend and the “path” consisted of logs pounded into the
cliffside along with a cable to hang on to.
Towards the end of the hike, we crossed
through private farms. They had signs on
the gate politely asking hikers to close the gates so the cows would not
escape. Many farmers were chopping and stacking wood. The wood stacks were the
ultimate Jenga game!
By the time we finally made it down, it
had been 6 hours of hard hiking. My knees felt like jello. I had only brought 2
apples and 2 granola bars along with water for 3 hours of hiking, so by 5pm we
were starving. The trail dumped us out at Beatenburg on the far east side of
town. Our car was parked at the funicular at the far west of town (a 45 minute
walk). We had bus passes, so instead of walking more, we waited at the bus stop
for 20 minutes. When the bus arrived, I flashed my bus pass and heard a “No,
No, Not Good.” It would seem our bus passes were not good and the bus driver
wanted the equivalent of $7 to drive us 2 miles down the road. We did not have
$7 in Swiss Francs on us so we had to exit the bus and hit the pavement.
On the way to the car, we found a market with a bakery who accepted plastic. As we sat outside eating our first real meal of the day at 5:30pm, a car pulled up to the abandoned hotel across the street from us. A mother and daughter got out and started digging up the landscaped plants that were in front of the hotel and tossing the plants in their car. I guess the nursery must have been closed? They seemed oblivious to anyone who drove by and only wanted certain bedding plants.
On the way to the car, we found a market with a bakery who accepted plastic. As we sat outside eating our first real meal of the day at 5:30pm, a car pulled up to the abandoned hotel across the street from us. A mother and daughter got out and started digging up the landscaped plants that were in front of the hotel and tossing the plants in their car. I guess the nursery must have been closed? They seemed oblivious to anyone who drove by and only wanted certain bedding plants.
Finally, we made it back to the
B&B. It was late and we were very tired. Matt had 2 Francs in his pocket
and bought a ½ litre bottle of diet coke from the gas station across the street
for our liquid snack. What a long day, but it’s not everyday you get to hike
the Swiss Alps!
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