Faulhorn Adventure!!!!!

September 15, 2014--Daddy's Travel Log
This morning was go on the hike morning.  We packed for the next four days and headed out to Wilderswil, a small town between Lake Thun and Lake Brienz where we caught the cog train, climbing over 1,200 meters to the end of the line, a little train stop called Schynige Platte.  

On the cogwheel train

gorgeous views

my cutie pie

cogwheel mechanics

We were surrounded by high mountain peaks and all we knew was that we had a 4  hour hike to Faulhorn where we would be spending the night.  I was a little concerned because we were starting out at around 2:30 pm and had no idea what weather we would encounter, when it would get dark and how we would fare along the way.  We started to hike, slowly climbing, though the trail went up and down along the way.  Cows were everywhere, all wearing cowbells.  The melodies from the various cow bells was surreal.  Most of the hikers were doing out and backs from Schynige Platte, where we had a destination to go to so we set out, snapping photos along the way. 

And we begin the hike!

lovely vista

Lake Brienz

The hills are alive!!!!

first run-in with the cows!

feeding Bessie....

....and Betsy!

go Mama!

made it to another saddle!

love this pic

 Tammy took a small tumble and tweaked her knee.  I began to worry.  We still had 3 hours of hiking left.  The knee worked well, though and we soon had a steady pace.  We hiked over one saddle after another, bringing with it a new view of a new valley or mountain range.  We soon came over a ridge and looked down into another valley with a lake at the end.  As we examined the map, we saw that the lake marked a place where we would double back up to a restaurant.  As we hiked, the weather worsened.  At the switchback we started first to feel rain drops, then hail pellets.  We could see the Berghaus Manndlenen restaurant, though which gave us a shot of adrenaline in the arm to continue on.  We staggered into the restaurant to find a couple eating and the owners also eating stroganoff.  The man was a nice fellow with a smile and the wife was not happy with life.  We were barely acknowledged as we asked if they had room for us to stay there should we decide not to go on in the weather.  None of us felt good about staying but asked to call Faulhorn anyway and see if we could cancel our reservation.  We got word through translation from Helga the restaurant keeper from hell that we would be charged CHF 50 each if we didn’t show as we had rooms reserved that had not been given out to others.  CHF200 thrown out the window plus the cost of staying at the Berghaus was enough to push us on (along with clearing weather which helped immensely).  I asked how the trail was going forward and Helga grunted there was some climb, then up and down before the actual climb which she described with a wave of her hand as the final assent.  Glad to be out of her clutches, we went on up the hill like children out of Egypt looking for Israel. 

The hike after the first 10-15 minutes did level out and we traversed across the hillside looking at the ever-changing views.  We rounded a corner and spotted what looked like a little house on the top of a very steep peak.  That couldn’t be it.  Too small and literally the highest point in the whole area.  It turned out we were looking at the generator shack for Faulhorn and the lodge was around the corner out of site.  We would occasionally pass a sign telling us we only had an hour thirty, or hour to hike.  By whose measure?  We were not breaking any land speed records.  The highlight as we hiked was seeing a double rainbow over this valley dotted with Swiss chalets.  Beautiful. 

hikin through the storm!

rainbow

Andy and Bethany finally volunteered to go ahead and let the kitchen know we were coming (we were told the kitchen closed at 7 pm and we were going to be close).  We arrived at a sign pointing straight up a hill to get to Faulhorn, or a fairly flat trail that went to First.  We put on our Billy Goat faces and headed up the hill.  Tammy was a trooper and we could see Andy and Bethany up at the top as we started up.  20 minutes later, we found ourselves walking into the restaurant of Faulhorn and finding Bethany and Andy with smiles on their faces waiting for us at our reserved table.  Funny how significant exertion cuts my appetite, but I was not hungry.  I ended up having some Chicken broth and a salad.  Tammy had sausage and potatoes and did Andy and Bethany. 

dinnertime!!!!

 I think we were all ready for bed by this point.  After a 15 minute delay, the waitress/ chamber maid/ manager took us to our rooms.  The rooms had to be 40-45 degrees.  Burrrrrrrrrrrrrr.  Fortunately we had down comforters and wool blankets.  Tammy and I jumped into one of the twin beds together until we were warm enough to stop shivering.  Then we split up to our own beds.

September 16, 2014

At 1 am, Tammy woke up nauseas and needed to throw up.  All we had in the room was a bucket for dumping wash water.  She soon figured it would be better to throw up in the toilet down the hall and stairs and headed that way with Bethany wrapped with her wool blanket.  She returned 10 minutes later feeling somewhat better.  I gave her a blessing and we hit the sack.  My left hip had become quite sore and I could not get comfortable in bed.  To top it off I kept having dreams I cannot explain, except that I thought I was going to miss breakfast and kept waking up to a totally dark room and a clock that said 1 am.  I finally took some melatonin and think I got 2-3 hours’ sleep before the alarm went off.  Breakfast at 8 am! We were told.

Tammy was feeling better.  Even better, the weather had cleared and we had cloudless skies and a view to beat all views.  The Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau were there in all their beauty along with the rest of the Alp range.  WOW!!!  

sunrise at Faulhorn

Morning Glory!

the Monch (middle), or Monk, is protecting the Jungfrau (Right), or young maiden, from the Eiger (left), or Ogre. Swiss Storytelling in all its grandeur!

we saw some Edelweiss!

The Mountain lodge. Those are our two windows!

 We all ate a complete breakfast of bread, honey, cheese, tea, hot chocolate.  As we sat there, a helicopter was delivering supplies to Faulhorn.  It was spectacular to watch the precision and work this helicopter could do in so little time up and down the mountain.  Once the excitement subsided we packed up, shot some photos and headed toward First.

supply helicopter diving down. crazy!

bringing the supplies

our room

brushing our teeth....mountain style

sign in the WC. Sit, don't stand!

  Fortunately for my hip, the trail was mostly downhill which seemed to work the un-sore side.  The trail was steep, but gravity was on our side and we kept going.  Soon we were in the cows again listening to cow bells and looking back to see how far we had come.  We were now glad we had not stayed at the restaurant because we would have likely have walked back to Schynige Platte and taken the train down instead of going on to First.  The hike down was on a newly maintained trail and we came across two beautiful lakes and more fields with cowbell clad cows grazing.  We were not far off of street sign pace as we arrived at First.  This ski resort is fed by a three-station tram and other chair lifts.  

On our way down to First

Faulhorn behind

wow!

almost there!

 We had a snack at First while overlooking the Grindelwald valley and watching hang gliders tool around overhead.  We had the choice of taking mountain bikes down or the tram.  We chose the latter and watched in awe as we descended to Grindelwald, a Swiss ski town fed by train and a two lane highway.  We took the  train down to Wilderswil where the car was and enjoyed the changing view as we descended.

at First

On the gondola heading down to Grindlewald

Grindwald Chalet

The car was fortunately right where we left it.  We climbed in and headed down the valley to our next Air B to B stop, Weylerhof, run by Helga (a nice Helga) on the 3^rd floor of her home overlooking the surrounding farm.  What a score.  $200 for two days!!!  We hauled our day bags up to our bedrooms then headed out to explore Brienz.  This town seems to be a small Park City of sorts with Swiss architecture of course.  Everything was overpriced and all we bought were supplies for dinner; pasta, salad, bread and treats along with supplies for breakfast. 

Lake Brienz

Helga's Wylerhof

  Tammy, Bethany and Andy threw dinner together while I answered some e-mails.  After dinner was a movie on I-Tunes: Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.  The end to another great day.

dinnertime!