We left Meiringen on August 15th and started our 4-day backpacking adventure through the Swiss Alps.
Day 1: Meiringen to Grindelwald up over the Grosse Scheidegg pass
Starting our hike on a beautiful day!
We passed some pigs chowing down in their pen along the trail.
Kat with a view of The Eiger (glacier) in the background.
Gene and Kat at the top of the Grosse Scheidegg pass. Behind us - "The Eiger!"
Bunnies that we passed on our way down to Grindelwald
Town of Grindelwald
Day 2: Grindelwald to Lauterbrunnen over the Kleine Scheidegg
From the top of the Kleine Scheidegg pass. This is a view of the "Top of Europe" attraction, one of the tallest peaks in Europe. There's a little building up there where tourists can take a train to.
View of the Eiger from the top of Kleine Scheidegg
Lunch break, surrounded by beautiful glaciers!
Now hiking down hill towards Lauterbrunnen
The town of Lauterbrunnen and the waterfall
Day 3: Lauterbrunnen to Rotstockhutte
Enjoying french press coffee for breakfast before our hike out of Lauterbrunnen
We just happened to be hiking up to the top of the Schilthorn on the same day The Inferno race was taking place (Saturday afternoon). The Inferno is a famous half-marathon that starts in Lauterbrunnen and ends at the top of the Schilthorn glacier (about 21 km elevation!). We watched the runners run by as we hiked up.
Top of the Schilthorn lookign down as the chair lifts approach the top. Schilthorn mountain's elevation is 2,970 meters - yea, just a little chilly on the top! The top of this mountain is home to Piz Gloria, the revolving restaurant, and it was the set for the James Bond movie, On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
James Bond Museum
Picture from the movie set. That's Piz Gloria, the revolving restaurant.
Helicopter that was used on set during the movie
The finish line for The Inferno race! Finishing strong after 21 km elevation!
Hiking down the Schilthorn to our hut for the evening. Check out the background of glaciers - so incredible!
Kat is down at the bottom of this picture, hiking along the ridge with the magnificent view ahead.
Rotstockhutte - our hut for the evening
Sleeping quarters upstairs in the hut. We shared the upstairs with ~40 other hikers. Gene and I managed to secure the far corner of the hut.
Ranchers cleaning the cow hooves
Corral of cattle heading towards water
Just a few of our German buddies from Rotstockhutte. We had a blast with these guys! They were on a work retreat, they work for a German bank near the Swiss border.
Kat in "contemplation mode" staring out at the famous trio of glaciers, Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau.
Day 4: Rotstockhutte to Kandersteg
Today was a long and challenging day. We started the day off by hiking straight uphill to one of the highest passes of the Alpine Pass trail.
View looking up to the top of the pass - almost there, but still a lot of elevation to cover. The trail literally went straight up the side of this mountain with very little switch backs.
Top of the pass looking down at what we had just climbed!
We decided to take the long way down from the pass to the town of Griesalp, by-passing our hut and continuing on to Kandersteg.
Heading down the side of the mountain.
Look very closely and you'll see a ladder that we had to climb to get over a collapsing glacier. The ladder is 50 meters, quite a scary and long climb hanging over a huge slab of melting ice!
Kat crossing the gorge between the glaciers
One of the many herds of sheep we passed throughout our hike in Switzerland
Day 5: Kandersteg!
We arrived in Kandersteg after 4 days of challenging backpacking, ready for a hot shower and a nice warm bed to sleep in. We spent our fifth day hanging out in the town of Kandersteg. We even were able to do some laundry while we were there before heading off to Italy for our next backpacking adventure!
Kandersteg.
The view in this picture is of a chairlift that takes you up to Oeschinensee where there's a beautiful high elevation lake. This day was very rainy so we decided to skip the chairlift and spent our day in the town of Kandersteg.
Pretty river running through the town
Despite the rain, we found a perfect fire pit and built a large fire that evening.
Bratwurst and grilled veggies!
Mountain frog (or toad?) we came across as we were heading back to our hotel for the night
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