Another day on the Rigi: Rigi Hochflue

We did the Rigi at the end of last season, but here we did the other side.

The day started with an Andrea Special: after taking the train to Brunnen we more or less immediately climbed 750m, past Obertimpel, to the ridge above Schwand. From here it was up again to Gottertli to enjoy the view (unfortunately a bit too hazy for the full view). After heading down to Egg we continued on the blue-white path toward the Rigi Hochflue. This quickly turned into a really nice scrambling path with steep drop offs along one or both sides. Fun, if a bit angsty for Greg, until Greg managed to smack his knee pretty hard on a rock during one of the scrambly bits. This was enough to evaporate his confidence, so we turned back and headed back down to Egg. From there we went along the path to the Gätterlipass and then down the same trail to Goldau that we took last time.

Nice walk, too bad about the knee-whack.

Frick -> Laufenburg

A dayhike to enjoy the cherry blossoms and, at the same time, complete a nice line on our map.

From Frick, around the Frickberg to Ittenthal, up to the Schinberg (did this at a somewhat higher-than-normal speed as training. ;-), then down and around to Laufenburg.

The cherry blossoms weren't ideal (it's a bit early), but the hike itself was great.

Hiking above Thun

The weather was supposed to be quite good, so we took the train down to Thun and did a "Spring hike". After a bit along the lake, we headed up through the Cholerenschlucht (always nice to have a gorge in the hike). At the top of the gorge we did a bit along the road then back into the woods. The way back across the gorge was on a cool footbridge (almost a suspension bridge). From there through Heiligenschwendi, around the Winterberg, and then up through the woods to Blueme, where we ran into a Peter and Katja (now that's a funny coincidence). We missed the great views from Blueme since the day was massively hazy; oh well, at least it was sunny.

From Blueme, down past Tschingelallmi, down through Aeschlen, and then finally to Gunten where we enjoyed some refreshment and then took the bus back to Thun.

Visit to the Bay Area 2010: Peninsula/South Bay

Thursday, April 1:
Stanford: drive down to Palo Alto, meet Marina for lunch, Ed and Solomon lab in the afternoon.

Friday, April 2:
Palo Alto/Menlo Park: trip down Memory Lane in Menlo Park (including visit to Trader Joe's) and Palo Alto, gaming at Dereks in the evening.

Saturday, April 3:
Hanging out with Jamshid, Jon and Cati.

Sunday, April 4:
Hiking Pinnacles Natl. Monument with Chris, dinner in Mountain View, shopping at Walmart.

Monday, April 5:
Meeting Evan and Greg's parents at SFO, family lunch in Burlingame, walk around Stanford campus, flight back home.