19 days in Switzerland, traveling with Untours, www.untours.com. It was great. We were celebrating our 25th anniversary (a year early for reasons that don't matter here).
We stayed in an apartment called Maelchplatz in the town of Meiringen for two weeks and in and hotel in Urnash, for three days before we somewhat reluctantly flew home. More about that later.
For a start, here is my "Outing" clothing and gear list for the trip.
Socks-Thorlo and Smart Wool Hiking
Shoes-Montrail Trail Runners
Shorts-Grammici quick dry river shorts
Pants-North Face Tech Ware Cordura Pants
Briefs-REI synthetic "Climate Control"
T-Shirts-North Face Tech Ware Synthetic
Long Sleeve Pullover-Synthetic Long John Weave, more Tech ware
Long Sleeve Shirt(1)-Patagonia synthetic heavy twill weight (only took on days I didn’t take pullover)
Rain Jacket-Mountain Hardwear Ethereal, Gortex
Ball Cap (Free Heal and Wheel, West Yellowstone Montana)
Daypack-Swix
Compact APS zoom camera
compact binoculars
Smith sunglasses
Gerber Multiplier
I also carried Peter’s outerwear that was not in use, various toys accumulated along the way, etc.
This stuff worked great, cotton would have been misery. It was frequently raining or threatening, most often the ground was at least damp. I was a little worried that my feet were getting damp, and would have love to try some gortex socks. Even getting my feet a damp, my feet did great. I even carried an additional 40 lb. backpack (Peter) a third to half of the time. The other beauty of synthetic was that it could be easily hand washed and would usually be dry the next day. My pants were as awesome in Switzerland as they were in Alaska. Brown was a great color. Mud or cow poop would dry and could be easily brushed off. I never had to wash them in 19 days. My rain jacket got some of it’s best tests ever. We were hiking in a couple of long heavy rains. I was always dry and comfy. Hurray for pit zips! I have had The North Face Techware clothing for 5 or so years and it is indestructible and always looks good. I never changed clothes for restaurants. We even went in dressed like this to very fancy restaurants for lunch. EEE GADS.
The real hero was my Swix daypack. I bought it nine years ago to carry extra clothing and emergency essentials when skiing or skijoring in Alaska. I used it for seven years there, and as a daypack, bike pack. It took seven years before it stopped looking new. I have used it as my commuting bike bag for two years now in Albuquerque and it is still going strong. In Switzerland it was awesome. I could use it easily for hut to hut type hiking there. It compresses to something the size of a small cloth briefcase and expanded to carry my stuff, Peter's stuff and all our food for a day-hike, plus room for shopping along the way. It also has great straps for fastening raincoats or sweaters during changeable weather Poor thing is back to bike commuting now.
Food-An amazing array of fresh breads (fresh until we’d carried them for a day), a similar array of cheeses, fresh and dried fruit. Always a chocolate bar to divide among us. mmmmmmm...... Much of the bread and cheeses were bought in villages along our route of travel.
The clothes I took could not have performed better. Trains, planes, buses, bicycles, hiking, mountains, valleys, restaruants and cafes, walking city streets or wandering around our village, that’s what I wore.