Day 30 - North Face Trail and Luzern

If someone moderately adventurous asks me to recommend a hiking trail in Switzerland, I would tell them the North Face Trail.  I loved it!  It was thrilling - it had cows and cow bells - it had soaring heights - it had wild flowers - it was laced with electrified fences - it had a variety of scenery - it was peaceful and not crowded - it had impressive peaks Jungfrau and Schilthorn - it had waterfalls - it had gates to pass through - it had trains and gondolas - it had Hollywood - it kept you on your toes... it was an adventure!  Want to go?

The North Face Trail is a spectacular adventure!

Start at the Lauterbrunnen gondola to get to Grutschalp, then immediately hop onto the train waiting there to take you to Murren.  (Adults CHF 11 for both gondola plus train.)

In Murren, turn left when you exit the station, and then go right at the fork ... you are headed to the funicular to Almendhubel.  (Adults CHF 8.)

High up in the mountain, the town of Murren has no vehicle access.

When you get to Almendhubel, to start the hike it doesn't really matter which way you go because both ways essentially meet in the same place:  Sonnenberg.  (If you follow the signs, the only one that says Sonnenberg says "Pension Sonnenberg".)

Right before you reach the Pension Sonnenberg, there is a sign.  Nothing pointed to our destination (Gimmelwald), so we had to guess by elimination.  We don't want to go back to either Murren or Grutschalp.  We are no way walking all the way up to Schilthorn.  Result:  towards Gimmeln sounds good!

Which way?  We had to guess by elimination.

Next our trail leads us right to the back of a farm/restaurant.  This can't be the right way?!  So we walk through it, and get to a gate.  Luckily I had already read it is ok to go through gates (just make sure you close them).

The trail led right to this restaurant, and then a gate, and then ... cows!

Right on the other side of the gate are 10 cows that we have to walk through.  Kate was a little hesitant to pass them.

The cows stop and look at you.

Kate wasn't in the mood for a hike, and complained that everything looked the same.  Not to me!  Every 5 minutes we were treated to a new view!

You open gates and walk over fences.

Here Greg started spinning around singing "The hills are alive..."

You are treated to classic Swiss views

I thought it was pretty cool that we could see all the way up to the Schilthorn!  It is famous from the 1969 James Bond movie.

The ideal hike took a turn for the worse when we reached the group of huts which make up Schiltalp.
  

I stopped at the signpost to read my notes but everyone else kept going (they are used to me always stopping).  This is where I wanted to take a side trail down so we could see a cool waterfall.  The sign here points to Spielbodenalp which is the way to Sprutz Waterfall.

Since my notes said the trail to the waterfall is steep and slippery (when wet), I followed everyone else straight - so much for the waterfall.

This can't be right!  After passing through Schiltalp, the trail sign to Gimmelwald pointed straight down a steep hill but the trail itself completely disappeared.  

"This is ridiculous - you don't even know where we are going!"

We decided to follow the sign, and headed straight down.

Eventually we were above the town of Gimmelwald.  The trail sign still pointed straight down...

North Face Trail

At the exit to the Gimmelwald gondola I saw a map that I wish I had all along - it would have been quite useful!

Kate liked the gondola back down to the valley - "You just drop!"

Of course now we were at the other side of the valley from Lauterbrunnen.  Rather than take the bus the short 4 km ride (~CHF 3.60 each), I had conveniently moved our car to the gondola station first thing in the morning and jogged home.

After lunch and a break, we drove to Luzern for a nice dinner.

Lowendenkmal - the lion monument in Luzern

The setting, size and detailed carving of the lion monument is impressive.  Having walked through the crowds of Luzern, I wasn't expecting to find such a serene spot.

The Musegg Wall

Luzern still has part of the rampart walls built in 1386.  I spotted them down a side street by the lion monument.

Luzern's Kapellbrucke - Chapel Bridge

Walking across one of the best-preserved wooden bridge in Switzerland.  Two-thirds of it was damaged/destroyed in a fire (1993) since my last visit.  Now there are sprinklers, video cameras, and no smoking signs.

We ate a touristy, very expensive meal along the water

Our view when we arrived late back to Lauterbrunnen

Logistics:
- North Face Trail total time from Valley floor:  3 hours 15 minutes (no lunch break)

- My notes said that this was an easy 4-mile hike.  No way, it was definitely moderate.

- The Gimmelwald gondola ticket booth was closed for lunch 12-2pm so we had to pay cash with the ticket machine.  (Adults CHF 6.20)

- Parking at the Stechelberg gondola station was CHF 6 for seven hours.  (12-24 hours is CHF 10)

My stupid mistake today:

- I didn't know what tickets to buy.  I thought the gondola down was called the "Schilthorn" so I asked for a one-way ticket down.  When she responded "CHF 294" I knew something was wrong - I was apparently asking for a ticket down from the very top of the mountain.  Instead we purchased each ticket as we needed it.