September 16, 2011

Trip 4: Speer, Switzerland

Trip date: September 10, 2011

I have found a new addiction in Swiss hiking. My eyes can't drink up enough of those rolling green hills. There's often a faint fog present when looking out into far distances and it slightly distorts all the colours and makes everything look dreamy. I like to think this haze is a protective shield provided to obstruct your vision so you don't go insane from how beautiful it actually is.

Okay, enough of my nonsense.

All in Attendance: Bikram, Mohammad, Philip and Kristen

We're in the tail end of the hiking season. In a desperate effort to save money, I tried to find somewhere to go that is relatively close so we wouldn't need any hostels or pricy trains. This location is just under 2 hours traveling time from where I live in Baden.

We took the train to Ziegelbrücke and then a bus to Amden (16.90 CHF total). From there we took the Niederschlagwald chairlift (8 CHF) up and began our hike to Speer. Mohammad is from Jordan and has never taken a chairlift (or even a hike until this one) and it really boosted my own experience to share in someone else's new discovery. Especially when the discovery is something as beautiful as Switzerland's mountains.


I can't get enough of how beautiful it is here! I hope the green contrast to my familiar Rocky Mountains never gets old. The grass is so vividly green and perfectly groomed that it almost feels impossibly natural. It's more like neon carpet than plant-life. I also love the random instances of mountain bovine chilling on the hiking trails.

We followed the hike on this site.
http://activityworkshop.net/hiking/switzerland/speer.html
Right before the switchbacks to Speer, at Oberchäseren, is a big restaurant. I'm still not use to these types of establishments that seem to be placed in the middle of nowhere. As usual to Swiss way of life, the bathroom in this restaurant, regardless of all the sweaty and dirty hikers who visit on a daily basis, is absolutely spotless. I think the average Swiss would be horrified at the state we keep our apartment in which is still better than most rez rooms. They also sell milkshakes here from the fresh milk of the mountain cows but that's only in the earlier part of the summer.

There were so many nice look out points and the inclination isn’t too bad, which I was thankful for since my knees aren’t the strongest. We reach the peak (Speer) after around 2 hours and 30 minutes of hiking.



There is such a large window of time for train and bus connections too that you could definitely do this hike even if you started in the early afternoon. In fact, we prolonged the hike down as long as we could so we could gleis7 home without having to wait at a bus or train station for too long.

Things I learned:
  • Don’t touch that low white rope fence that goes along the hiking trail – it’s electric and it will hurt you.
  • Swiss mountain cows are not afraid of hikers but they are afraid of cameras
  • Jordanians get embarrassed for you when you moo to the cows
  • Fearlessly sharing utensils might just be a Canadian thing