A Weekend trip to the sanctity of Swiss Alps

Since I moved to Germany I had been wishing to get a car and make it a habit to drive for some solo trips which are mostly hikes to the mountains of south Germany, Austria or Switzerland. From Dusseldorf, all these locations are longer drives just for weekends. But the craze to meet the mountains and spend time in their vicinity had been compulsively growing within me since the beginning of this summer and now when I have my car, I do not shy away from long drives to pacify my soul.

This is the story of July mid when I decided to make a night stay under the stars in front of the Saxor Lucke, a beautiful mountain range with intensely photogenic sharp mountain peaks in the Appenzell district of Switzerland.

I had a planned leave on the Friday(the 14th of July) and that would mean I would have ample time in nature and wilderness for the long weekend. From my residence in Dusseldorf I had to drive 670 kilometers to reach the Luftseilbahn Staubern in Frümsen, a cable car that takes you to the top of the mountain region, where the hike begins.

I finished my work, by 6 and immediately went for a long power nap. My plan was to reach Frümsen by Friday morning and immediately start the accend. I woke up at around 9 pm had some light dinner. By the time I was done with packing my bags with my camera bag, tent, sleeping bag, energy bars and energy drinks, it was already 10:30. I took some more rest and started my journey at 11 pm. I know it is not the most sane travel tip I can give anyone, but I had plans and was comfortable with them. 2-3 hours of sleep in the evening was definitely not enough so I was sure, I would stop in gas stations and take short naps whenever I am tired during the drive.

I was full of energy when I started the trip, but eventually there were some road accidents and road constructions causing heavy disruptions in traffic. By the time I crossed Frankfurt, it was already 4 hours in the car. I continued ignoring the fact that the energy I had kept stored was getting over as I could not use it to the fullest due to uncertain traffic conditions. An hour and a half more behind the steering I decided to refuel my car and also my body. My recent trip to south Germany taught me ways to make a bed out of my back seat and now being solo I had ample space to pull out a comfortable sleep. The sleep got too comfortable in the parking of one of the gas stations and got stretched to for over 2 hours.

The tour restarted and another stretch of an hour or so and I had to take another nap of a couple more hours. When I opened my eyes the day light was already had already achieved maximum brightness. I decided to have a coffee and stop no more. Of course I had to stop for the toll sticker or Vignette as they call before entering Autrian highways as the route consisted of more than 23 kilometers before taking the exit to the Swiss borders. The cost was 10 Euros for 10 days and that was the minimum one can opt for.

Around 11 o clock I was there in front of the cable car. Unlike most places in Switzerland the parking was free of cost and there where free spaces. I settled down a bit stretched myself and started to arrange my bags so that they are easy to carry considering the weight I planned to carry during the hike. I placed my camera bag inside the Rucksack and then topped it up with my clothes and food. The sleeping bag was tied to the bag and I carried my tripod and the tent in both my hands. The cable car did not have any staff to control. Fully automated ticket vending machine, a queue of happy travellers and a cable car that runs almost every 15 minutes. Being solo I got approval from others who were travelling in a group to skip the line and sit in the only seat left after I had my ticket ready.

The cable car ride was a long one almost 20 minutes to reach the top i.e. to the Berggasthaus Staubern. From this restaurent to reach the grand view of Saxer Lucker was a walk of 1.5 hours a ridge walk 3 and a half kilometers that had both ascend and descend. Before I started my hike I settled down for a sumptuous lunch in the restaurent. A delicious traditional pork cutlet with mushroom sauce and some baked potatoes with salad a couple of beers was good enough to fuel myself for the day and the night.

I was not sure where to be first and where should I camp. I had marked the Saxer Lucke, the Fallensee and the Sämtisersee in my mind for the two nights. Initially I started descending towards the Sämtisersee, but within 5 minutes realised that it would take quite a lot of time and since the sky was clear I did not want to risk the chances of loosing the view of the Saxer Lucke in front of the starry sky. I made a u-turn but the ascend of that 5 minutes seemed difficult with the weight on. After I completed the short ascend, I sat on a rock to restore some physical and mental strength.

I was carrying almost 25 Kg and I could feel how difficult it is for the Sherpas to carry so much to help others for mountaineering or longer treks that too in the far more difficult terrains of the Himalayas. I started my stroll with the load at my back on the trail. There were other tourists and groups including families easily walking through the ridge. I was confused, if it was the discreet sleep that is making feel weary or the burden on my back. After halts and around two hours of hike the first glimpse of the Saxor Lucke popped out from round the corner. There was an open place to park my luggage off my back and lie on a rock with the amazing view of the valley. Soon I took a brief 2 minutes nap - I often use this process to regain my vigour when I am out on a trip may it be on 4 wheels or two legs. Naturally, the trick worked. I had to walk 20 minutes more get closer to the mountain which was stealing the show from all the beauty the valley was showcasing.

There were already some tents at the edge of the ridge with a direct view beautiful mountain ranges of Appenzel, a valley where Austria and Switzerland meets and glorious change in colours of the sky above. My new Quecha MH 100 tent did not give me too much trouble while setting up in such windy conditions. May be because just a day before I practiced setting it up. The wind was cool and gusty but the small size of the tent and it being filled up with my heavy luggage plus some small rocks in all four edges never gave me a feeling that it would be uprooted. Soon I had a neighbour, a couple from Denmark who works in Switzerland, setting up their larger tent a couple of meters away from me.

As the golden light was illuminating the top of the surrounding mountains and the sun setting behind the distant one, I went out for a quick stroll around. It was a far more relaxed walk with no burden at all. Looking at the Fallensee from the top, the mighty mountain range surrounding it and the bright golden sun slowly hiding behind them marked the stage set for the colourful night. The sky had no clouds at all and based on my planning on Photopills the milkyway should start appearing around the mountain range as soon as the clock strikes midninght.

I finished my light snacks for dinner and grabbed a nap by ten as it started to get dark. When my alarm woke me up at 12:30 and as I had my head out of the tent, I was greeted by a millions of stars; the core of the galaxy was just over the valley full of glittering lights from the sub-urban civilization downstairs. I took a sip of water, prepared my camera and tripod and set my camera on a timelapse after clicking a few images and determining a suitable frame. A short alarmed nap and the core of the milkyway was exactly aligned with mountain peak. I enjoyed every bit of the night and again woke up after another short nap to witness the crescent moon rising in the same direction as the sun had already started to emit its golden glow, being still hidden under the horizon. I was so expecting to see the crescent with the burning red Helios. But in mountain often it is difficult to capture the orange ball popping out of the horizon unless you are at the top and no other mountain is bloocking your line of sight. In my case, by the time I could actually see the sun peeping from behind the mountain it was already a lot of daylight to keep the visibility of the crescent intact. To enjoy the dawn I walked up as close as possible to the best view of Saxer Lucke. There were some more tents around and like me many were enjoying the freshness of the morning. I am not sure how to express in words, how it felt waking up with such view on the top of the mountain, but I think everyone popping out their respective tents exactly knew how I felt.

As the light started getting a little flat, I went back to my tent for a sleep to recharge myself. After a sleep of just an hour or so I woke up by some conversations outside my tent. The couple who camped near me had already packed their stuffs and started to get ready for some breakfast and other tourists had started to come out in numbers for hiking around the place. The tents that were in the vicinity had already vanished. I too started packing my stuffs after some short chit chats with the Danish couple and a British girl who had already hiked up to the spot in the morning.

After munching a couple of energy bars I started descending towards Fallensee. The mesmerizing blue lake kept appearing and disappearing as the trail led me down. There was another path that could take me to a different peak but I was not confident I could do that with so much luggage so I decided to continue the descend. The way back was equally wild and there were loose gravels one needs to be carefull of but the good side of wilderness is its purity- there were free jersey cows grazing around at different elevations with no boundaries.

The sunshine in the area had invited hikers and tourists to take a dip in the blue alpine lake. I am not best of swimmers to boastfully drift into the middle of the lake but was enthusiastic enough to plunge into the cold water and flutter for a while to have a feel of the depth of the blue water. After of couple of plunges and resting on the pebbles to dry myself up near by I changed to to make a move.

Time for lunch! I made a move towards Berggasthaus Bollenwees. Two beers and a satifying pork dish was enough to order and pay around 50 Euros. I used their washroom to brush my teeth and empty my stomach before I fill it up again. Eventually, I had to charge my phone, gladly I found a Bengali couple who helped me out with an iphone charger. A few conversation with them about the potential hike back routes and suing my other phone to finalize my plan for the day was all I could do while satisfying my hunger.

I had the option to trace back the same path or walk up to another lake called the Sämtisersee. Here I had to take a decision to camp somewhere near the lake or go up before 10 and take the last cable car down to sleep in the car. But I decided not to waste too much time discussing the same within me and make my move towards the Sämtisersee. The area had other hiking trails but the burden on my shoulder did not shed any weight.

The path was pretty scenic. After walking a while I was feeling a bit sleepy because of the sumptuos lunch and I also wanted to give my shoulders some rest. It was a mostly a flat walk through a trail so there were many trees and I was smart and Bengali enough to find a good sleeping spot for my post-lunch afternoon nap. A vacation is often defined for a time one can spend to find peace and relaxation in the daily hectic life and it was the perfect one for me.

A perfect nap under a big tree was just too relaxing and refreshing. after waking up the next stop was definitely the beautiful Sämtisersee. The lake was beautiful but honestly I found Fallensee more beautiful. The lake was pretty open on most sides and that feeling of being hidden from humanity was lacking as it was in the middle of the trail. I discussed with a couple who had hiked the whole day and they mentioned that there was this path that leads to the cable car but the way is quite steep. The clouds had started to accumulate and there was no chance I could camp near the lake. I decided to accend and may be camp somewhere on the way where above the treelines as this is what the camping rules in Switzerland is.

By the mid way I was very exhausted as it was a 2 hours steep hike with the weight on my back and I had just made half of it. The signs said I have to hike up 55 minutes more to reach the ropeway. I had plans to either camp somewhere at the ridge to go down and sleep in the car if I see that the nightsky would have a blanket of clouds.

The half way was a pretty cheese farm, a flat piece of elevated land where I could rest before I started the last leg. The sky showed no signs of pretty colours except some part which I assumed would be better visible if I hike further up. The beauty of hiking in Switzerland is that you either make it or you can choose to camp in a suitable place if you have run out of energy and conditions. In my case, I was pretty charged up to continue. I made steady walk up as the second half was even steeper. There were a couple of people whom I met or rather let pass by me but I had no sense of hurry.

The sunset on the way was obscured by thick cloud on the horizon, but by the time I reached up, the blue hour had crept in. Blue hour here means almost 9 pm. The blue hour had this typical blue aura but there was consisitent cloud hence no drama in the sky. TThe forecast called for storms and showers, so I decided to ride the last cable car down, but first get a cold beer from the Berggasthaus Staubern, which was still serving drinks. When you have walked around such stenious terrain to reach the summit a glass of beer is always a heavenly bliss. Another guy I met while taking a taste of my beer, had walked nearly twice as far as I did in a single day. Of course, he only carried a tiny pouch with a water bottle in it. He even saw some mountain goats on the way as he took the way up from the spot I camped and did not decend to the Falensee.

The night spent in my car was not too unpleasant. It was rather hot downstairs, and astonishingly, no rain or storms hit during the night. I even could realize that the sky had some open pockets in between dense clouds to see the stars. I had no energy that night to go out in search of some astro-photos but the trip was still fulfilling and relazing for my mind and body.