Sunday, July 08, 2007

Läufelfingen -> Hägendorf

The theme of the day was flexibility.

Our original plan was to get up early and head down towards Luzern in order to do a long gratweg up the Pilatus. The weather forecast (for rain and possible thunderstorms in the afternoon) nixed that idea. So Andrea pointed out that if we started a hike in Läufelfingen and crossed the last bit of the Jura we would have (by combining different hikes) completed a path from Basel all the way across the Jura. That's combining Birsfelden->Rheinfelden, Rheinfelden->Gelterkinden, Gelterkinden->Läufelfingen, and now this hike. If we keep this up and are systematic, we should be able to complete a path across Switzerland. :-)

The devolving weather conditions forced a couple of changes later in the hike as well; this is what we ended up doing: Läufelfingen (566m), Muren (718m), Schmutzberg (969m), Challhöchi (847m), Belchenflue (~1100m), Allerheilengberg (880m), Richenwil (~600m), Gnöd, Hägendorf (423m). We didn't go through the Teufelsschlucht (the big attraction along this hike) due to the weather.
on the Belchenflue

Bad weather coming from the west...

Total hiking time was about 4 hours, including a snack atop the Belchenflue, from which we had fantastic panoramic views of the Alps, the Jura, the southern Schwarzwald, and the clouds which were moving in. Here's the view to the North:

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