Ascension Day Hike
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June 2nd, 2011
Thursday was Ascension Day, which is a public holiday here in Switzerland. We decided to spend the day hiking in the beautiful Swiss countryside. We decided on this route in Appenzell around the Seealpsee and up the Ebenalp mountain. Emily and I managed to convince David Jaffe to join us on this “leisurely stroll”. Little did we know what we were getting into…
Instead of starting with the cable car and hiking downhill, we decided to do the reverse route which meant hiking all the way up and then taking the cable car down at the end. The beginning was mostly flat with a short climb up to the lake. It was a really beautiful area, an alpine lake in a valley surrounded by meadows full of cows. Sidenote: This is the area that is on the label of the Hell Quöllfrisch Appenzeller Bier label (pictured on right).
This was the easy/relaxing part of the hike; then we really started climbing. From the Seealpsee to Mesmer there is a steep path of switchbacks that crosses a stream twice and climbs over 500 meters in elevation. There was even still snow at the top. Once we got to the top, we stopped for lunch at the Berggasthaus Mesmer, where we ate some of the best rösti ever. It is really amazing to hike to the top of the mountain, in the middle of nowhere, and have a restaurant with delicious, warm, high-quality food waiting for you. Only in Switzerland!
After lunch, we thought that the hardest part of the hike was over. The elevation at Mesmer is 1613m and the final elevation at Ebenalp is 1644m so we (falsely) assumed that it was going to be flat the rest of the way. However, that was not the case. The trail was never flat as we climbed over and around two more mountain peaks. We climbed right into a thick layer of fog too, so we couldn’t really enjoy the view. The second half of the hike was much longer and more difficult than we had anticipated, but we eventually made it to Ebenalp and found the cable car station (which was actually quite challenging with all the fog). In the end, the hike took a little over 5 hours, and we were all quite ready for an Appenzeller beer on the train home.
Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tim_church/sets/72157626879602635/
