What is hiking
For me, hiking is...
- being in nature
- being free to go as I please
- enjoying my surroundings without worry of what is around the bend
- avoiding bee stings (I have a whopper of a story about that and Sashi).
- cleansing of my mind and body - sounds a bit trite but it is true. These 6 days so far have proven it more than I anticipated
For me, hiking is not...
- a job (though, it would be nice to get paid to hike)
- a chore
- a compromise of one's self worth or being
- a 45 minute walk, not enjoying everything that hiking is (for me)
- an excuse to leave garbage in the woods, as if to shun nature
- a method to prove something
Why do I mention this first? It came to me on my marathon hike today, that I didn't need to go into Zurich and take photos of the competing banks, or the beautiful lake, etc. What I realized is, my goal in hiking is all of those things that hiking is for me, and, to share this with you.
Further, I am so happy I am able to hike in places most people probably do not think of. Want to go hike and see the Eiger? I am willing to bet in 10 minutes I can find you a hundred different trail maps giving you ideas. Want to go hiking in Wila, a small town in the canton of Zurich? Well, I found one map, and because I didn't properly print it, I missed a turn which added about 1.5 hours to my hike, and took me through some REALLY small towns, something I would have totally missed otherwise, thank you very much.
Let's move on to the hiking and the towns I visited, but before I do, I want you to know, while I carried my big camera, every picture I took today was with my Nikon Coolpix. Listen, I made the same mistake as yesterday and didn't start hiking until 11:10 am, and I was out there for 4 hours and 20 minutes. I ran out of water (3 liters) towards the end too. It was hot and I would say 65% of it was in the direct sun. Enough said
Part I: On to hiking...
The obligatory statistics
- Hiking distance: 16.16 kilometers - if I had a real map, it would have been about 12 kilometers at the most <- not a complaint, just a fact
- Time: 4 hours and 20 minutes
- Lowest Elevation: 1863
- Highest Elevation: 2847
- Elevation Gain: Not 100% sure, but I am guessing it is about 1025 feet.
When you look at the map (don't forget to click on the image), you will notice that at about 2 kilometers in there was a climb that went for about 1.3 kilometers, which was steady and steep at times.
My almost exact starting time would be....I decided to take a picture of my watch because I can never remember when I actually start walking..
As the hike began, it was lovely. The town is small, and the people are friendly. As I walked through the first 2k, everyone said hello and had a smile. I found the typical wanderweg directional, but of course, since very little matched my map, I just kept on my way.
The first picture below is the center of a town called Tablat (sorry for the lens flare), and the second, is about .5 k away, a, what I would call, very single family home.
As I started up the hill (and this is where things went wrong because I didn't have a clear map), I found a trail. The picture doesn't do it justice, but it was a steep steady climb, that I would say went on three times longer than expected. Up until this point, there were no trees I should add, and it was partly cloudy. In my mind, everything is perfect.
What I really liked about this path was it was narrow, had the feel of a good climbing trail, and it seemed relatively safe, which it was. There were some places with short bridges of maybe 20-30 feet to go over wooded cliff areas and one spot with a ladder, and yes, I held on with both hands.
About 2/3's of the way up the hike, I found a spot to stop, breathe, and get a drink. I noticed this plant growing there. I have not seen it any other time, actually ever, and for the rest of this hike, it was no where to be seen. If anyone knows what it is, I would be interested.
Once I passed this area I kept going for another 10 or so minutes and came to the dreaded steps. For anyone who is a hiker, you instantly know what this means... vertical! Ok, maybe that is a slight exaggeration, but they are there because it is too steep for the ground to hold itself together safely.
Just before I got to the ladder I mentioned above, I tried to create a panoramic of the path. On the left was a not so steep cliff, on the right, a steeper cliff, and then just the path. Unfortunately, you cannot get a good perspective of how steep the sides were from the pano, but here it is just the same
To move things along, I will conclude the hike section, and then talk about the little towns I went through, along with some information regarding the canton.
It was a long hike, and I wish I had started 2 hours earlier to beat a lot of the heat. I enjoyed it a lot, and while I am quite tired, I am glad I did it all. On the first day, when I hiked in Schwyz, the hike was the same distance, and I think the climb was roughly the same as well, but, not nearly as steep, which is what I think wiped me out some.
and the time is......
and the time is......
Part II: Canton Zurich, and the little towns
There is no doubt, Zurich is a beautiful canton. As a child growing up, whenever you heard the name "Zurich" it had a sexy appeal to it, quite alluring. When I moved here, it was my first trip outside of Basel was to Zurich. Click on this link if you would like to see a few pictures I took of that trip.
So, it was exciting to know that Canton Zurich was in the first 11 who joined the federation.
Here are the towns I visited, in the order I passed through them. I am sorry to say, most of the towns are so small, I cannot get any data for them, but I have some pictures from a few of them and what information I can recall, during my delirium, I will share.
Wila
Tablat
This was a small town, I would imagine maybe there were 20 or so homes. I did notice they have a bar, which seems to be a small town theme.
I posted two pictures above from this town so I will not post them again.
Hochlandenberg
Try not to blink when going through this town. I counted two houses, and they were about .5 k apart from each other. One was full of cows, and the other was full of something, but I don't know what that is. I didn't get any pictures, sorry.
Manzenhub
This was a great little town. It looked to have about 15-20 homes, and a pub dead center. No food store, but a pub. It also had a large daycare, some nice cows, and, the last house going out of the town had two apple trees full of apples. I SO wanted to pluck one, but I didn't. Did I mention they also had pigs?
Matt
It was a bigger town, probably a couple of hundred residents. I didn't take any pictures, because it was at this point I felt a bit lost. Two couples were hiking together (roughly my age) and I asked if they spoke English and for some help. The women, looked at me, then said something to them, and took off. The two guys seemed to try and help, but either a) they are clueless about reading a map, or b) they could have cared less and wanted me to get even more lost. I am guessing it was "a". They tried to get me to backtrack to go towards Blitterswil. I explained to them a few times that it seemed impossible as I had been going for the most part in one direction, which would put that town to my right. They didn't agree, but then said, go "that" way. I went "this" way and in about an hour I was in Blitterswil.
Sunnebad
Here is where I thought I had hit the halfway point. But, it turns out I was probably 60+% of the way back. I felt that because I literally was headed in the direction of Wila I was good to go, but it wasn't the case.
This town has a population of maybe 25, on a good day I am guessing. The third picture is me in the "traffic coming?" mirror
Blitterswil
Before I got into town, I saw this awesome looking hole in the hill, which seemed to have been cemented to keep it in place. Then, there were two guys splitting trees up into wood bundles. That machine was cool to watch. Then, as I entered the town, it was really beautiful, very "Swiss" looking and perfect!
Juckern
I was extremely happy to reach this town. It gave me hope. The sign said just over 4k back to Wila. That wasn't so bad I didn't think but, it was a long hot walk from that point and wasser was getting low. And yes, another pub.
Au
This was the landing place and starting point for my hike. It is a big town with just over 1,900 residents. The train station is extremely small, and they have a beautiful clock tower.
Tablat
This was a small town, I would imagine maybe there were 20 or so homes. I did notice they have a bar, which seems to be a small town theme.
I posted two pictures above from this town so I will not post them again.
Hochlandenberg
Try not to blink when going through this town. I counted two houses, and they were about .5 k apart from each other. One was full of cows, and the other was full of something, but I don't know what that is. I didn't get any pictures, sorry.
Manzenhub
This was a great little town. It looked to have about 15-20 homes, and a pub dead center. No food store, but a pub. It also had a large daycare, some nice cows, and, the last house going out of the town had two apple trees full of apples. I SO wanted to pluck one, but I didn't. Did I mention they also had pigs?
Matt
It was a bigger town, probably a couple of hundred residents. I didn't take any pictures, because it was at this point I felt a bit lost. Two couples were hiking together (roughly my age) and I asked if they spoke English and for some help. The women, looked at me, then said something to them, and took off. The two guys seemed to try and help, but either a) they are clueless about reading a map, or b) they could have cared less and wanted me to get even more lost. I am guessing it was "a". They tried to get me to backtrack to go towards Blitterswil. I explained to them a few times that it seemed impossible as I had been going for the most part in one direction, which would put that town to my right. They didn't agree, but then said, go "that" way. I went "this" way and in about an hour I was in Blitterswil.
Sunnebad
Here is where I thought I had hit the halfway point. But, it turns out I was probably 60+% of the way back. I felt that because I literally was headed in the direction of Wila I was good to go, but it wasn't the case.
This town has a population of maybe 25, on a good day I am guessing. The third picture is me in the "traffic coming?" mirror
Blitterswil
Before I got into town, I saw this awesome looking hole in the hill, which seemed to have been cemented to keep it in place. Then, there were two guys splitting trees up into wood bundles. That machine was cool to watch. Then, as I entered the town, it was really beautiful, very "Swiss" looking and perfect!
Juckern
I was extremely happy to reach this town. It gave me hope. The sign said just over 4k back to Wila. That wasn't so bad I didn't think but, it was a long hot walk from that point and wasser was getting low. And yes, another pub.
Try not to misspell that one, there are a lot of letters in it. not much to say about the town, maybe a couple of hundred residents in homes, then there is a trailer park with many people living in that as well, but I could not imagine a guess as to how many.
That is is for the towns, except I wanted to show you a picture of a house I was passing on my way to Wila. It is built into the side of the mountain and what looks to be an expensive hill to live on.
Facts about the Canton
There are almost 1.4 million residents in Zurich. That is a lot of people and there are multiple large cities, Zurich being the largest.
It joined the federation in the year 1351, and, as the day states, becoming the 6th canton of Switzerland.
While I do not have any male/female or single versus married data to share, something occurred to me while hiking today. Yesterday, you may recall a very large number of single people in Canton Lucerne. If I recall, it is between 14,000 and 15,000. What I realized today is that it doesn't mean many of them do not have "partners" in the more traditional sense. Meaning, cohabitate, have children, etc., they just didn't happen to get married in some formal ceremony that the canton recognizes.
I must figure out a way to get this blog done faster. Tonight I went very fast and it took me 3 hours 15 minutes. This morning and this evening were also my laundry room events, which added to my late start.
Trivia question: Without Google, and looking at my first entry, which canton is up tomorrow?
Hint: It is world famous for businesses being registered there
and a nugget for you...
Me in a tunnel in Zurich headed home
There are almost 1.4 million residents in Zurich. That is a lot of people and there are multiple large cities, Zurich being the largest.
It joined the federation in the year 1351, and, as the day states, becoming the 6th canton of Switzerland.
While I do not have any male/female or single versus married data to share, something occurred to me while hiking today. Yesterday, you may recall a very large number of single people in Canton Lucerne. If I recall, it is between 14,000 and 15,000. What I realized today is that it doesn't mean many of them do not have "partners" in the more traditional sense. Meaning, cohabitate, have children, etc., they just didn't happen to get married in some formal ceremony that the canton recognizes.
I must figure out a way to get this blog done faster. Tonight I went very fast and it took me 3 hours 15 minutes. This morning and this evening were also my laundry room events, which added to my late start.
Trivia question: Without Google, and looking at my first entry, which canton is up tomorrow?
Hint: It is world famous for businesses being registered there
and a nugget for you...
Me in a tunnel in Zurich headed home
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