Tuesday July 1, Unterwasser to Amden
The forecast for our fourth day of hiking was strong thunderstorms in the afternoon. After our experience with thunderstorms in the mountains last year, we knew they're not to be trifled with. Consequently, we availed ourselves of a funicular to give ourselves a head start by cutting 1,300' elevation gain off the start of our day. In theory, we were heading to the pass below Leistchamm, the westernmost peak in the row of peaks called the Churfirsten. Once we exited the funicular, however, we adjusted our route to a trail with a slightly lower elevation and easier exits back down to the valley in case of storms. In the end, we could see storms dumping rain on St. Gallen, and cumulonimbus clouds bumping up against the south side of the Churfirsten, but above us the skies became clearer and sunnier as the day wore on, and we crossed the pass without weather worries. (The pass posed some exposure challenges for the acrophobe, so I was grateful that I didn't have to navigate those with the added challenges of pouring rain and wind.)
The funicular took us from Unterwasser up to Iltios, where we briefly overlapped with the Toggenburg Klangweg, an interactive "sound trail."
The limestone Churfirsten stand sentinel, sloping more gently to the north while dropping steeply down to the Walensee to the south.
Looking to the north, we could see across the valley to the Alpstein. The highest peak in the photo below is Säntis, which has one of the highest lightning-strike rates in Europe. A lightning measurement station was built on Säntis in 2010.
Our weather apps knew there was rain somewhere in the vicinity, but we learned they were far from accurate.
The westernmost peak of the Churfirsten is the Selun. As we crossed its base heading toward the Leistchamm, we passed a
karst cave entrance. The cave descends 352 meters down.
By the time we reached the base of Glattchamm, the sky was bright blue and cloudless, and we were glad we hadn't bailed on aiming for the pass.
Distances were deceptive: we rounded the base of Glattchamm, thinking it was Leistchamm--and of course long new stretches of trail emerged.
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| Looking back at the base of Glattchamm from, finally, the base of Leistchamm |
My scouring of Komoot during route planning had made no mention of the exposed trail rouding Leistchamm. Drop-offs were steep, and there was often little distance between the edge of the trail and opportunities to plunge off the side of the mountain. I only took photos where I felt stable, so I have no evidence of precipitous drops. Oh well...
Success, for acrophobes, means not plunging off of precipices. So this was a successful hike. Here we are safely around the bend, albeit still with a ways to go until the trail leveled out and the disorienting views stabilized.
The source of the destabilizing views was a rock slide below a steep granite wall that amplified the distance one might plunge, if one were to plunge...
At last, the opportunity to die by falling ended for the day, and we headed down to Amden. Often this meant traversing fields on straight-shot trails.
Amden is situated above the Walensee, above which clouds indicated a 50% chance of rain.
There were snacks en route:
Ta da! 12.4 miles, 2,600' elevation gain, 3,700' descent.
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