Switzerland

Interlaken

Few places on earth are as majestic as Interlaken, in the Swiss Alps. Intense emerald green meadows. Rough jagged peaks poking holes in the sky. Charming villages with Alpine houses --steep tiled roofs, dark wood shutters, porches and flower boxes. Flowers everywhere, in vivid red bloom.

Interlaken is a large tourist destination, a perfect destination for the winter skier or summer vacationer combining outdoor activities with partying. Activities include paragliding, gondola rides, boat trips, and day hikes. It is a bit too touristy for us, so we continue south to Grindelwald. Even there, it is a bit touristy. The hikes recommended by the information center are rides along the ski gondola and trains, and walks back through the ski runs, huts and hotels. Friendly bear loves the tourist center (see the photo), but we are looking for more rugged hiking in the mountains, so we just head up a canyon on a well-marked trail towards a glacier. We don't have a map, but this seems more like what we are looking for.

We are not disappointed. We hike across some meadows, past farming houses, up a foothill, and climb into the canyon. We meet a few hikers who took the Pfingstegg gondola up. We continue into the Gletscherschlucht canyon, not really sure how far the trail goes, but it is a good trail with no chance of getting lost. We just keep heading upward. In fact the trail rises on the side of the canyon above the glacier, so we look down on it and don't get to touch it. The season is well advanced with no white snow left. The glacier surface is dirty, and the cracks show the blue ice. Water comes from underneath. The glacier tells a story to those who read it. You can see the recent breaks and tumbles, and ones from long ago, and the ones to come. Some of the canyon walls are solid rock; others are sand deposits from the glacier and the creek. We think about how much you can learn directly by observing nature, and how rarely we do. We keep an eye on the clouds, which swirl through the peaks, hiding the very tops.

We continue hiking, and stop for lunch. It is time to turn around, but there is always one more curve that we must peek around.... There we find the Stieregg restaurant, which just closed. It sits on a gravel meadow, and a few sheep wander outside. The people that we met on the trail earlier had probably taken the gondola up, walked the moderate hike to the restaurant for a leisurely lunch, and then descended back to town. Not a bad way to hike. We find that most hiking in Europe is indeed hiking from hut to hut, staying and eating at established places along the trail. Some huts are small, but many are in fact full-scale hotels. This makes hiking very accessible to many people, and in fact maybe half of the people we encounter on trails are in their fifties or older. But then, there is also something special about spending the night in the quiet with just the stars, and the wind blowing through the tent...

We are thankful that we have our health and can enjoy such sights, and wish for our friends that they could or would also get on the trail more. There are simple hikes everywhere in the world, and the trails cleanse the mind as well as strengthen the body. At least it does for us, so we want to share it with others.

The rain comes by nightfall, and looks like it may stay for a few days. The last rain stayed a week. We know that we have more stops in the Alps ahead, so we leave paradise for now. This little 8-mile hike with 2200 feet of climb was just a tease and we want more, but we'll have to wait for better weather in the mountains.