Stranger in a Strange Land: Hiking in the Swiss Alps

On Sunday, we drove into Switzerland and hiked through the Swiss Alps. Or at least, Brian told me before we left that we were "hiking".... In reality, we climbed up Mt. Santis on Sunday. It turned out to be quite an adventure!! During our hike, we found that people around here LOVE to hike! In fact, in various spots throughout the mountainside, there are restaurants/shops for the hikers to stop and rest... nice!! Unlike Colorado, where there is virtually no one else on the mountain but you, this is like luxury climbing here! :)

The hike up was pretty intense... however, it was gorgeous scenery!! The one thing about the hike that shocked me the most was the fact that we were literally hiking with cows and goats! You know how Switzerland is known for their chocolate, well we went hiking with the cows that provide the milk for that chocolate! :) There were literally cows wandering all throughout the mountains.... it was quite a sight to see! At first, I was a bit unsure as to whether or not they were friendly; however, you know me, the animal lover, I decided that I wanted to pet a cow... and I did! After that, I befriended every cow that came across our path... and I've got the photos to prove it! :) About half way through our hike, we stopped at one of the "huts" (i.e. restaurants) for a bite to eat, where I enjoyed some food that was popular to that area... potato pancakes with cheese... yum!! But, word of advice, not something you want to eat when you still have 2 hours of mountain climbing ahead of you! :)

During our stop for food, we came across another little chapel and a few cottages where some "locals" lived and farmed. At one of the cottages, and man was selling goat cheese and goat milk.... So, us being the brave foreigners that we are, decided to go into the man's cottage to purchase some cheese.... I've attached a picture so you can see what it looks like in there.... (We were so excited about our cheese purchase at the time; however, once we got it home and it sat in the fridge for a day, we weren't so thrilled about our purchase.... Boy, did it stink! After a taste of the cheese, we decided that it wasn't such a great purchase after all, between the taste and the smell, we thought the best thing to do would be to toss it! :))

After our lunch, we proceeded to climb for another two hours to the top of Mt. Santis. Once we got to the top, I was surprised to see so many people, being that I didn't think that that many hikers had passed us! That's when I realized that the other side of the mountain had a cable car that took people up to the top of the mountain.... lovely! So, I hiked for 4 hours up one side, while other people rode cable cars to the top!! Nice!! We didn't stay at the top for long, because we realized that we still had to hike down.... Why we didn't take the cable car down is still beyond me????

So, as I said before, the hike up was intense.... but, we definately weren't prepared for the hike down! We chose to take a different route down the mountain.... this one was supposed to take less time. Not so much!! The hike down took us down boulders, loose stone and scree, at one point they had cables to hold onto so that you wouldn't fall down the mountain, we scrambled over rocks, went bouldering along the side of the mountain, etc.... Needless to say, it was quite a hairy climb down the mountain! And the route that was supposed to be shorter, ended up taking us longer... fun, fun! All in all, the hike ended up taking about 12 hours. After that hike, I told Brian that I get to plan the next outing.... most likely we'll be laying on a tropical beach drinking margaritas! :)

Looking back, it was quite an eventful day, but I have to say that it was an unforgettable experience! How often can you say that you went hiking in the Swiss Alps?! :) We definately plan on going back into the mountains a few more times during our stay here, but for now, I'm content looking at the pictures of our adventure! :)