Walenpfad Day Hike

Sali,

This is how Swiss people say "Hi" in an informal way.
In this post, I am going to talk about the last Sunday when everyone went for a fantastic day hike.
The hike is named Walenpfad. The word "pfad" in German means "Path" or here we could use it as Trail.
The word "walen" means Whales. I forgot to check it with Swiss people to see if it really means the same thing that I have translated.
We started the hike around 8:30am in the morning. After a great breakfast at Helen' parents place.
There were an old couple having breakfast with us too (they were some people who rented one of the rooms for a night).
They were obviously talking Swiss and Alireza and I did not.
It is a bit weird when you are labeled as "foreigner". Why?
Cause when I started having some cherries, the old man jumped in and "warned" me that I should not eat the corde inside!!!!
For a moment, I was not sure if I was an alien coming from Mars or maybe a 2 year old kid!
It is not easy all the times to think absolutely positive! Just inside, you shout with all your energy:
"Come on people! Be smarter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Anyways. Thanks to Helen's mom who speaks English (here I should say since the last time that I met her in the US, her English improved a lot. And the interesting point is that she is learning it by herself and some friend's help), we had the tickets for the public transportation.
Another interesting point: We bought the round trip ticket for 20 CHF. But, interestingly enough, this ticket will be a pass to use the train to a high elevation. Also, the cable car to the higher spot. And finally, a cable car from the peak to the bus station back!
This is what Swiss people should be proud of! All the public transportation are under the same category. Even the boughts are also considered the same way as all the others.

We first took the train which started from Wolfenschiessen. The views were absolutely fantastic. We were lucky we had a good day start. Almost sunny and warm.
It is also interesting to realize how weather in Swizterland has changed people's lives. In other words, you could see a lot of people doing the same thing just because of the weather. The train was full of people going hiking. Here in Zurich, you could also see people going swimming in the lake everytime it is sunny.
At some point, the train had to stop completely and change gears (I did not know how to say it technically) since it arrived a much steeper area. It was incredible to see how far the train would go deep into the valleys and up on the mountains.
Finally, it was our stop. And we took the cable car. Judith asked me if I have ever used it before. And I guess I never, (or maybe when I was a kid). So, as always, she started teasing me with some subject.
Judith is just happy all the time. At least when Helen is around her. And she likes to make jokes. And I somehow like to do the same. So, we were in the same club.
The big cable car. And we went to a higher elevation in just 3 minutes or so.
And that was the start of the trail.
Since it rained the day before, the trail was muddy. And I had not brought my hiking boots with me from US. Not a good decision, I know.
Anyhow, we started the wonderful hike. I would not talk about it that much. I am sure the pictures speak much better than I do.

Since Helen's dad knew the area, we all took a secret trail which made it a much harder one. The tradeoff was that we went through really nice forest areas. Also, every once in while, you could see some color codes on the rocks. Helen told me that those colors informs you of the difficulty of the trail ahead of you. We started with medium, but when we got to the secret path, that was the most challenging one with the color red.
Also, you could see (and hear the bells too) cows everywhere. One interesting point was that, some gates were installed on the trails so the cows could now pass them. Why? Cause opening and closing those gates needs some brain rather than force and muscle.
Also, some areas were surrounded by wires with electricity. You could feel it everytime you touched it.

I lik generally like to go off trail. Why? To see something unpredictable. And a bit more fun and challenge.
Helen's parents were really in good shape. They were alot of times ahead of us. Well, if you grew up there all your childhood and your life, I guess you will probably be a very good hiker and skier at least.

When we got to higher elevation, the weather started changing. It got foggy and cloudy and too bad we could not see that much good view. It was constantly changing though.
I found myself ahead of everone with 10-15 minutes difference. It was not easy toward the highest point.
I got there and waited for everone to join me.
A break. Food, food and food. And my extra water bottle was helpful too. At least three people had some water!
The elevation was around 2Km.
We could even see some glaciers too which was a bit strange for this time of the year.
We headed back by making a loop. Our next stop was a Cafe at the top of the other mountain. Helen's uncle were supposed to be working (or even owning that Cafe) there.
That was out next stop. It is not a bad idea to be at the top of such mountain and have some drinks too. I certainly would like to try it sometimes (but not always though).
There was a traditional coffee with some whipped cream on the top and also some (either beer or wein). Almost everyone except Alireza and I had that. We had out own version. :-)
It was a very good break. A lot of goats were also heading back to this place too. It seemed liked that the bussiness for that Cafe was going so well that they almost finished building a new house next to the Cafe. This was supposed to be for the people who wanted to stay there for 1-2 nights. Not a bad idea to spend some time there.

Helen's brother and his girlfriend also joined us there. Steffan was really quiet all the time. His girlfriend, Sussane, was shy at the beginnig since her English was not that good. But then later, we tried to talk a bit more. With some of my German and her English! What kind of convesations you can get! :-) We started making fun of Alireza and Judith for being fat! :-)) I know it is a bit mean. But I got some help from Sussane too. So, this is how we started talking more and communicate better. :-D

And then, we started going back. At some point, he took the cable car again to go to the bus station. It took almost 5 minutes to go down. I was really impressed by the view.
Also, I was told that sometimes if there is not operatot with the cable card, you need to call them using some phones installed next to it and ask them to come up and fetch you down.
The lovers (Steffen and Sussane) needed to take the second ride. Everone else fit in the small cable car.

When we got down, we were all tired, but in a very good way. And muddy (in a bad way!). Yet happy.
A very brilliant day hike with a wonderful family and friends. I really did not know how to thanks them since they took care of everything.
And it is also harder since you can not speak their language either.

Helen, Judith, Alireza and I went back to Luzern right away. And everyone went back home.
That was a great weekend plus some hard times too.

Sorry if I do not write in a very organized way.
I will be back with another fatastic hike.

Ciao,
Momo

---

---

---