The weather had been terrible the previous day. That had been a city day and we were ready for the footpath, but the weather was marginal, and the alps were obscured in clouds. It looked as if it might break up in the afternoon so we decided to use the morning to train to Kandersteg (Meiringen to Interlaken, to Spiez, to Kandersteg) another of the countless alpine resort villages. It rained most of the way, we were happy to be in the bright warm train, eating pastries, bread and kaffee. We had an hour to burn in Spiez and walked to the Migros grocery/mini-mall and restocked on picnic items. It started pouring rain again as we walked a few blocks to the train station and caught the train to Kandersteg. It finally stopped raining as we climbed to Kandersteg, but as we gained altitude it was socked just above ground level. I heard grumbles that it would be a terrible day, but I maintained that it would be fine and the weather would break up.
We had a very pleasant 10-minute walk through the village Kandersteg, no rain but cloudy and dark with a low ceiling. Kandersteg is a wonderful place and has extensive cross country skiing around town and up at Oeschinensee. After walking through the village center with its shops, restaurants and guest houses we strolled through an open, grassy park area, and finally through some quiet neighborhoods to the edge of town where the chair lift operates up to Oeschinensee.
It looked as if the chair was moving, but nobody was on it. We tried to ask what the weather was like and got a scowl and shake of the head as an answer. While we stood by the road deciding what to do the man flipped the sign to “geschlossen”-Closed! That settled it. It even started to rain again.
Across the road was a restaurant and hotel with a huge playground and scores of rabbits in cages for petting and watching. All of the covered outdoor seats were taken, so we pulled Peter away from the play place and headed in for an early lunch. More good food, all I remember is the Gemischter Salat bar and “ein bier, mittel”. The pessimism on the part of my mates was astounding. I lighten the atmosphere, I waged one large ice cream sundae (very good ice cream, every restaurant seemed to have an ice cream menu) that the weather would clear and that we would have a nice afternoon. Amy and Peter took that one up easily and were convince I would be buying them each an ice cream.
While we ate in the immaculate dining room/cafe, the rain gradually slowed and finally stopped. The clouds didn’t lift much, but the chair seemed to be operating again, so off we went. Peter, as always, was free. He reminded us of that fact constantly! These chair were different in that they looked out from the direction of travel, not in the same direction and were covered by a heavy canvas plasticized cover for the bad weather. It had stopped raining so we flipped our covers open. We ascended into dense, dense clouds. At times we couldn’t see Amy in the chair behind us. Trees, rocks, steams, cows and views came in and out of view, in and out of the fog. It thinned at the top, but not completely. It was a forest like I have always imagined in Little Red Riding Hood. Dense, damp, foggy and quiet.
The trail to Oeschinensee was a relatively easy climb, 20 minutes by the sign, and very beautiful. We couldn’t see them, but we knew the high rocky peaks surrounded us. We continued our ice cream banter and the pessimism began to fade, because the clouds were beginning to pull out, down the valley and lift above us, revealing rocky cliffs, ice gouged valleys and the grassy valley floor near the lake. Just as we came over a slight rise, just before the lake, the clouds completely pulled back, revealing the lake, surrounded by the same cliffs and several water falls falling into the lake. There were even patches of blue showing through the cloud cover. Loudly I proclaimed myself the winner of ice cream and Peter gleefully agreed over and over that I won. “Three scoops, no four!” he says.
Interestingly, there is a small snack shop and there is a small gift shop, packed with Swiss souvenirs. I see the only thing I see all trip to get my Mom for her birthday. It was a bag, for books or beach or shopping with a print on it. The print was of cows, and cows, and cows, and more cows. The cows were doing everything, there were no people. The cows were driving tractors, pitching hay, making cheese, driving cars etc. The more you look, the more you see. We didn’t buy it until the return trip; we still wanted to hike part way around the lake.
The weather held. A few other people were scattered along the lake shore, picnicking, enjoying the day and a small fire or just enjoying the view. In the woods and along the trail we began to see wooden sculptures, abstract wind things in bright colors or weathered wood being carved into the natural forms of stumps and logs-a woodland sculpture garden. Here we find a bench with a fabulous view of the lake, ducks for Peter to feed and a broad rocky beach for boy play. We sit and enjoy, but decide to head back and have an early dinner in Kandersteg, before we train home to Meiringen.
Fox! We spotted a fox trotting through the woods, hunting small animals in the brush and falling debris. It could see us, but wasn’t concerned about us. It had a fifty-yard buffer zone of dense brush and rocky terrain. As be hiked back it remained above us, keeping the distance for a few minutes, then disappeared into the woods.
As we turned from the lake to the trail down an amazing view confronted us. Up the valley the clouds were rising in a wall, closing the distance to the lake, until a dense blanket of fluffy white gradually covered the lake and visibility was cut to fifty yards. We hiked down through the quiet forest, down the chair and into Kandersteg. The clouds lifted for real, revealing the high mountains as we strolled back into the village. I want to come back here in the winter! We had a quiet dinner with a Portuguese waitress who spoke more English than German. A little shopping for a trinket for Peter and it was time for the train home.
Heartland Untours, Switzerland 2001