Meglisalp

Since today is a rainy, foggy, winter coat sort of day, I thought I would post something sunny. Last week I went hiking in Wasserauen so I could avoid the fog that envelops my little town by the lake. When I arrived in Wasserauen, the place was packed with cars. I had to pay 3CHF to park in some farmers field. It was a Thursday and I thought to myself, "don't these people work." As if I was the only one who had the right not to be working at the moment.

I have been hiking in Wasserauen before. Once I hiked the easy path to Seealpsee and once I came with my mom there to take the cable car up to Ebenalp. Today I was hiking to Meglisalp. Soon after I started, I passed a group of men in their 50's and they wanted to chat. Of course the first words were is some dialect of German that I didn't understand. I had to explain that they needed to speak High German to me. They laughed and obliged me. They were from Stutgarten, Germany. I hiked with them for about 30 minutes until our paths diverged. Here their are at the "Käse Hut" (cheese mountain house).

I continued up the mountain. In some places may fear of heights kicked in a little. I'm not found of 200 foot drop-offs. Even so, the view is amazing on the way to Meglisalp. Meglisalp is the small town seen in the pictures below. One little footpath runs through the middle of town. They have a church like most little Swiss towns and a restaurant which I had a been and some ice cream at. Having a beer on top of the mountain is the Swiss thing to do.

In the picture below, you will see this cement spring with some orange cases in it. This is the don't-be-lazy, get-your-own-beer refrigerator. The spring water keeps the drinks cool and I guess saves energy. Interesting concept. Of course I had a Quöllfrisch because I was in the Appenzel region and this is their beer.

The way down from Meglisalp to Seealpsee is a bit steep as you can see below. It was rocky, slippery and in many places had a wire rope to hang onto. I wasn't fond of this way, but I wasn't turning around to backtrack. That would just be boring and unadventurous. The two guys you see in this picture are also from Germany. There were so many Germans hiking that day. I thought it was strange so I asked these guys what was going on. They said that today was a holiday - Die Wende. The day the wall fell in Germany. That explains all the people here.

The views of Seealpsee are as always AMAZING. This is one of my favorite places to go hiking. At the end of the lake, the Germans snagged us some free appetizers at the restaurant. Then I started down the easy path to the parking lot. Shorty I ran into the first set of Germans at their Mountain Hut. They were on a 5 day hiking trip and staying in this small house. Not much to it. Mattresses on the floor and a keg of beer.

A total of 6 hours hiking in the glorious Alps. Good memories of that chase away the blues of the cold rainy day we have now.