Last night I met an Australian woman, Katina, who had the idea of climbing part of the way up Mt. Rigi. Almost any itinerary that involves climbing means that I am game.
So we headed out of the hostel at 7:30am, headed into town, and boarded one of the many passenger ferry boats from Luzern, down the Vierwaldstattersee to the town of Vitznau. The attraction of climbing up Mt. Rigi is the potential view. It is known as the “Queen of Mountains”, not because of its height, but because of the view of all the surrounding mountains from the summit.
Unfortunately, the day’s weather was not cooperating and a heavy fog hung over the lake. We opted out of taking the first cog-rail train up the mountain, deciding it would be a better idea to let the cloud cover burn off for an hour before heading up the hill.
So we walked the shore of the lake taking in the local novelties, like this porcupine made entirely of firewood. It made me wonder if they were going to torch the creatures at some point?
With no decernable weakening of the grey blanket overhead, we “took our lumps” and boarded the train.
There are actually two trains that leave one minute apart. The first is slightly more modern and this is followed by the full service antique version.
On the older train the staff wear vintage clothing, serving snacks and drinks, from slanted glasses specifically designed to counter the steep alpine ascent.
A beautiful thing happened on the way to Rigi Kaltbad; the train pulled right through the clouds to a sunny stop. This was perfect because our plan was to hike from here to the summit.
It was a relief to feel the warmth of the sun on our faces. Even the local cats shared in the approval.
As we hiked around turns and bends the fog would occasionally make a reappearance. It felt like we were hiking at home in the Marin Headlands, on the way to Arch Rock.
We turned one last left-hand corner to receive a beautiful view of the trek to the summit. As we continued to climb, the temperature dropped in spite of the beautiful sunny morning.
The summit is marketed with a communications tower and is perched on the edge of a cliff’s face.
To keep people from accidentally wandering off, there is a fence that runs for hundreds of meters. It is made without a single nail, relying on gravity to hold everything together.
The view from the top did not disappoint. Even with the heavy cloud cover the view of the surrounding mountains was impressive. On a clear day it would definitely be stellar.
There are many choices of train style to ride. This old steam engine added to the ambience.
This was one of the coolest viewing inventions seen to date. In order to view a mountain or city, simply rotate the pointer, on the orb, to the name and look through the eyepiece. No guess work, simply point and shoot a line.
Katina was on a mission to get a photo of a Swiss cow with a big bell hanging around its neck. So as we wandered down the hill towards the town of Goldau we listened for bells. The challenge was actually not "finding bells", but trying to locate them amongst the echoes. There were hundreds of bells sounding and resounding off of the slopes.
We came across a farm with a hand written sign out front advertising yogurt. So we were definitely ready for a “side track”.
What we found was a family dairy and to order yogurt you walked through the operation to the kitchen.
What we received was 400 ml of alpine bovine goodness in a glass mason jar. The yogurt is not thickened with gelatin and was definitely not of a low fat variety, but boy was it delicious. (Strawberry for me, please.)
We even got to see a calf, with his baby bell attached.
Walking down the 6,000 ft mountain, we actually got to see so many cows with bells that it almost became a Swiss cliché, and then we realized it already was.
There was even a donkey with a bell and that just seemed like overkill.
But then there was this poor little cow without and bell and we agreed that it was just plain cruel that the donkey got a bell and this future milker was left out.
Off in the distance Goldau seemed farther away than anticipated.
As we approached, from the farmer’s fields, the town of Goldau gained in charm for its appearance and closer proximity.
Around the corner from this hotel, dating to the 1700’s, was the bahnhof and that was a welcome site.
All in all we had hiked up 1,200 ft. and down 5,000 ft. in about six hours. We were tired, but Katina managed to eek out a smile for blogging posterity.
I loved her stories about walking daily with her grandmother, as a child. When she would get tired, her grandmother would tell her to "go hug a tree and it will share its energy with you." She shared, with a rye smile, that this is still a habit sustained to this day when she gets really beat. Awesome!
