Swiss National Day - the long hike

August 1st is Swiss National Day and we weren't really sure what to do. The weather forecast wasn't great, so we decided to go for a train ride and a short hike, but brought our gear with us in case we decided to go further. A short train ride and we were in Wilderswil. There we transferred to a very old cog train (1893) that took us up to Schynige Platte. It was amazingly steep on the way up, but the views were incredible. It took almost an hour to get up to the top where there is an amazing alpine flower garden.

From here we had several options, go for a short hike and take the train back down again, or commit to a much longer hike. We looked at the skies, check the barometric pressure, and decided to go for it. To say it was spectacular would be the understatement of the century. We hiked along a knife edged ridge overlooking the Thunersee and Brienzersee on one side, and the Alps on the other. It was probably the most perfect alpine trail you could ever imagine.

Climbing to the ridge

After some time we left the ride and began to hike through some amazing rock formations. There was a lot of up and down, but the scenery made you forget how hard you were working.

About three hours in we rounded the edge of a peak and spotted a mountain hut in the distance. We climbed up towards it knowing we would be able to get a cold drink, and sit for a few minutes.

We enjoyed a nice cold Coke...good for the blood sugar, and then carried on. We still had a long ways to go. We climbed even higher, stopping for a quick snowball fight along the way

We continued to climb another high mountain ridge where we eventually passed the Faulhorn, the highest mountain hotel in all of Europe.

From here it was a few hours of steep descent until we reached the Bachalpsee, an amazingly beautiful alpine lake with the Swiss Alps as the backdrop.

From this beautiful spot we descended to First. Total elapsed time was 5 and a half hours from when we started, and we were hiking for 5 of them. Boy were we glad to get onto the little two seat cable car for the 30 minute ride back down to Grindewald. A short train ride and we were back at our hotel where we showered and napped for a bit.

After another wonderful Swiss meal we headed back to the hotel and discovered that the parade was about to start. I've never known a parade to start at 9:00 at night, but what the heck. We sat on our balcony and watched the parade go right by. As soon as they reached the end of their route on the other side of the river, the skies opened up. A huge thunder and lightning storm was passing over the valley. I have never heard thunder like that before, each crash echoed up and down the valley and you could feel every one....it was amazing!

At 10:00 the fireworks started. It was an amazing show, puts most of the ones I have seen to shame, and this town only has about 900 residents. They take Swiss National Day very seriously. The best part was the flashes of lightning which lit up the sky behind the fireworks......a perfect end to am amazing (and very tiring) day!