We started the morning off enjoying breakfast with our friends from last night. It was a nice way to start out what was supposed to be a beautiful day of hiking to St Niklaus. Gator and I put on our packs and headed out. The trail started out right next to the hotel and rose steadily through the woods and after about an hour emerged to an alpine pasture, a classic of the Alps.
It was a beautiful scenery with panoramic views of the Turtmanntal. Gator and I stopped for a snack and enjoy the breathtaking view the mountains surrounded by the rocky green pasture with a stream passing through. This was the kind of place that made me fall in love with hiking when you can truly live in a moment and see all the beauty around you. We decided to continue up our way the pass. After a few more hours of steady hiking, we made it the top of Augustbordpass where Jeremy, Anne, and Jeb were gathered enjoying the view. We stopped to chat for a bit.
Gator and Nuthin hiking up to the Augustbordpass
We started to make our way down from the pass to Jungen where we planned to catch a ski lift down into St Niklaus. Gator lead the way over a few quick ice fields, and down the rocky terrain. The trail started to ascend over a large sloping boulder field. Climbing over boulders takes patience and becomes tiresome after a while. We started to get a little unsure if it was the correct path because there were no hikers in sight, but as we rounded a corner there was a patch of grass everyone was sitting at enjoying a breathtaking view of the Matteral with the glaciers surrounding the majestic Dom. We stopped to take a few pictures but were eager to get into town so continued on.
View of Matteral
The trail zigzagged its way down a steep slope to Jungen. It is a small village that lies on a cliff 900 meters above the valley where St Niklaus was below. We made our way quickly to the ski lift where we saw people getting into a tiny cable car that couldn’t fit everyone. The cable car descended and Gator started to look at the posters on the wall, but they were all in German. Unable to determine the schedule or any idea how the cable car operated, we waited. A cable car started coming up, people unloaded and we hopped in and sat patiently. After about 10 minutes of sitting in the car, another couple appeared and we told them we could all go down together. We sat for another 10-15 minutes starting awkwardly at each other, unsure of what to do. The other girl in the car knew a bit of German, and hopped out to speak to a gentleman standing nearby. Suddenly an intercom came on. After a few fumbled exchanges of German, and hand motions, we learned that the operator watches from a camera below. He could not see us since we were all in the cable car. Finally, we were on our way down! Since Jungen sits on a cliff, the tiny cable car went over the edge with no caution in an almost vertical descent. It was the scariest cable car ride we experienced so far.
Gator with a graffiti gator in St Niklaus
Once we safely made it to the ground, we made our way to our hotel La Reserve. We checked in and finished our chores of laundry and grocery shopping. We went down to the patio to enjoy the view for a while, and in walked Anne and Jeremy. They were planning on taking the Europaweg tomorrow and were staying at the hotel as well. We sat at the bar for a few drinks before having dinner together. We spent dinner discussing traveling, food, and pets. They told us how they met in the bakery of one of Gator and my favorite chefs in the Napa Valley and about their own bakery, Bakery Lorraine. We told of our adventures hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, and our plans of becoming travel bloggers. We realized it was getting late and retired for the evening. Tomorrow would be the highly anticipated portion of the Haute Route on the Europaweg.
