Alpine Culture - Part I

Alpine Culture
Another weekend in the Alps - this time we ventured into the Eastern part of Switzerland – the Appenzell region, which is close to the Austrian border. We typically enter these trips with open minds and no preconceived expectations, but we know by now if you are going into the Alps, the views will be spectacular - Appenzell was no exception!

Fall is in the air...

Once we entered the valley, we looked at the map and decided, as Robert Frost would have, “to take the road less traveled” or in other words, the harder of the two trails.

Robert deciding which trail to take. His pack may not look heavy, but let us reassure you, it is!

The hike into our first Berghaus took about an hour and a half, most of which was uphill. We have yet to learn the art of efficient packing, therefore, we are still managing to lug a load on our backs, all quite heavy, while making for an amazing workout. We do this just to be prepared…just in event that a wicked storm blows in and we need hats, lots of food rations and first aid kits (I think we have read too many travel books, or just can’t seem to get past the latest read,

“A Walk in the Woods.”)

So anyway, enough about of heavy loads…we made our way to the Berghaus, thrilled to lose the packs and quickly spent another two hours exploring the area. Wow…this place is beautiful! As you can see, the lake was this amazing deep turquoise color and with the contrast of the leaves, which are starting to change color, we ate up all of the eye candy we could get before it got really dark!

So out of the mountains and into the Berghaus, we thought we would wrestle up some dinner. This is where actually knowing German would have come into handy. Robert really wanted an Alpine beer and when he asked the waitress for one, what came instead was a green plate of smelly noodle, type stuff that made my stomach turn. I am not being rude, I typically like the Swiss food, minus the Schnitzel, and horse (yeah, don’t this veggie started!) Anyway, Robert never got a beer that night, but managed to stomach the green stuff.

Off to sleep in our super cozy beds, and anxious to start the next day.

What a beautiful lake...

The next day arrived and we had some breakfast, packed our two-ton packs and headed up the mountain to our next overnight destination…Schafler – 1924m – or the Berghaus that sits on the top of the cliff. In one day we gained about 2569 feet (but who’s counting?) ok, we are counting because in case you forgot, we are carrying two tons of crap we don’t need up a mountain… hiked straight uphill and witnessed some amazingly rad (don’t you just miss that word??) and intense Alpine culture.

On the way up we witnessed the following:

Children, not teens, we mean little tikes, the ones that are still in diapers, transversing the landscape like mountain goats.

Wild crazed donkeys that are tearing through the mountain trails – blazing trail right in arms length. Now that is a sight!

This donkey almost ran off with this guys' backpack.

Houses built right into the side of mountains – whose idea was this anyway?

Trails that take you right through caves – dark, wet, incredibly cool caves.

And loads and loads of para- gliders taking flight right in your view.

Incredible views...

Robert and Melinda - taking in the views...

Notice the boulder... (I cannot tell if the house came first, or the boulder?)

We love the fall!

Amazing...

Misty lake scene...

Robert and Melinda on the lake...not in the lake!