Today was my special day to do whatever I wanted on vacation.
I spent the day hiking and playing with my camera.
CAUTION: insanely beautiful pictures to follow… proceed at your own risk!
I got the “Peak pass” which allows me to get on and off the lifts, trains funiculars or whatever they have that goes up, as many times as I want for one day. The earliest way to get anywhere is the train to Gornergrat which leaves at 7:00 AM. This is a pretty early start for me on vacation. I wasn’t ready for the clock to go off when 6:00 hit. This gave me just enough time to eat some breakfast, throw on some clothes and hoof it to the train station.
I was supposed to get off at the Rotenboden station but the map isn’t super clear (in my defence, it even confused Jeff who is Mr. Map Guy) and I got off at Riffelberg. This meant that instead of a 15 minute hike to the lake I wanted to see, I had a 1:15 minute hike! I was hoping to catch sunrise colors in the lake reflections but that didn’t happen, unfortunately but, it was a lovely hike which I very much enjoyed and the pictures are beautiful.
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| This was right after I got off of the train. It was so hard to actually hike because the light kept changing on the mountain from minute to minute and it was so beautiful to watch. |
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| As I was walking I did stop once in a while to catch the changes in light. It was so pleasant. I had the whole trail to myself and didn't see a single other person until I got to Rotenboden lake. |
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| This is a small un-named lake that no one goes to. Everyone goes to the next lake and takes pictures. I stayed hear a long time and captured the changing light. It was peaceful and wonderful and I had the place all to myself. |
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| This is the popular lake to take reflection pictures. I didn't think it was as pretty as the one down the trial 5 minutes and preferred the solitude but it was still beautiful. However, people looking for lovely lake pictures, think about the un-named lake 5 minutes away... worth the walk. |
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| Some more beautiful glacier mountains |
I took this one while waiting for the train.
From Rotenboden I hopped back on the train and went down to Zermatt and changed stations and modes of transport and took the funicular to Sunnegga, the gondola to Blauherd and hiked to a lake called Stellisee. As a bonus there was a herd of goats right off of the trail that I stopped and took a couple of pictures of.
Stellisee was the lake that I really, really wanted to take photos at. I was hoping to get pictures of it in early the morning but the lift schedule changes in the beginning of September and so I would have had to get up before sunrise and hike up in the dark to get the pictures I wanted. I didn't feel confident that I could get there in the dark without getting lost so I took the earliest train that went up and went towards Rotenboden instead. Even with the less than ideal lighting Stillisee, didn’t disappoint. The only disappointing thing was that this lake was a bit crowded at this time of day so it was necessary to wait a while to get the shots I wanted.
From there I hiked towards another lake called Grindjisee.
I stopped and had a snack along the way. It was wonderful and peaceful. I found a nice rock to sit on overlooking the lake and ate a chocolate bar. It was awesome. Then I finished hiking down to Grindjisee. It was beautiful and also a little crowded.
I was glad I had my snack in a more isolated location. There was a poor girl that kept jumping in the water in a bikini for some sort of advertisement photo, which is fine but the photographer was rude. I took a couple quick pictures and moved on.
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| This is my snack spot. You can see the lake down and slightly to the right. |
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| The water is still a little ripply from the girl in the lake. |
As much as I loved those classic pictures from the lakes, there were a lot of other beautiful spots in between that I really enjoyed stopping and taking in.
I was pretty much on my own at these other spots and they were really peaceful and wonderful.
I hiked to a little town called Findeln for lunch.
I had osso bucco ravioli which was AMAZING!
I think part of my enjoyment was also the fact that I only had to feed myself.
No one had needs or wants.
I was just me and oh so wonderful.
I LOVE my kids but on vacation I have had very little time away from them and they are both a little bit more needy since there are so many new things so it was so good to have a little break.
I hit the trail again after lunch and went to Winkelmatten station at the high end of Zermatt and up to Glacier Paradise. This is a newish building as it is still very much under construction. It is built in to the mountain but there is a viewing platform at the top. Many people ski from here onto certain parts of glaciers that are smoother and more stable than what we saw on our way up. You can ski down 2 directions, one is on the Swiss side and one is on the Italian side. To get up to Glacier Paradise there is a huge gondola that holds 36 people. It is massive. It is also crazy high and steep. Definitely worth the trip up. This wasn’t part of my original plan for the day but it was a good choice.
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| Back down at Zermatt in the valley from the Trokner Steg station. |
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| More awesome alps. |
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| Another glacier field that you can see from the Trokner Steg station. |
We went for an easy dinner tonight because I was tired and Wren requested dinner at the apartment instead of going out. Jeff found an amazing burger place that does take-away and that was perfect and made Wren really happy. I think she is a little homesick and some comfort food seemed to help her feel a little happier with vacation.
I sure wore myself out today, time for sleep!
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