Sunday, September 28, 2014

Back to the Rigi Hochflue

We tried the Rigi Hochflue four years ago but ended up not finishing the hike (Greg slammed his knee into a rock and that evaporated his self-confidence for the scrambling with steep drop-offs on either side). We took advantage of a great-weather day to go back.
view down to lake Lucerne
We followed the same route as last time: starting the hiking in Brunnen, then up, up, through the woods and then through the fields, up, up past the top of the gondola at Timpel, to the ridge. After a short snack break we continue along the top, skipping the Gottertli this time, to the turnoff for the blue-white path to the Hochflue. Now up, up again, again with good scrambling and drops to either or both sides, past the spot we turned around last time, cross the saddle to the main ridge (there are people climbing below us... an interesting one to think about), and then up, up the last bit to the main ridge. We've progressed a lot in the last four years (particularly Greg's self-confidence), and the route isn't particularly tricky, so it's all good fun. :-) On the ridge we continue for a bit until we find a good spot with views to the South for our lunch break. Now it's along the ridge until we get to the end with its cross and loads of people (we haven't seen many people, but there are multiple blue-white paths up). After some picture taking and a bit of waiting for the ladder to clear, we head down the ladder to the North. Now it's down, down, down, past a number of groups coming up, no scrambling this way, until we hit the Gätterli. This is, much to Greg's disappointment, closed, so there are no refreshing beverages to be had. We've got two choices here and opt for heading to Goldau (more efficient route home). More down, down, down, along an interesting path through the woods, down, through town, to the station and the train back to Basel.
views and lots of people
more views and even more people....

The track:

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