Hiking the Lakes

Today was again cloudy and cool, but perfect hiking weather.  We set out towards Flims and parked at an area around two lakes.  There are lots of trails here, and we started by making our way to Lake Cresta and around.

It was a short walk along a wide path through firs and moss, reminiscent of Middle Earth, or more mundanely of Ellen’s and my hike near Lake Superior.

moss and firs

We skidded down the path to the lake, which is an unearthly blue-green.

getting closer to Lake Cresta

The water is so still and clear that you can see right down to the shallow bottom, covered with rock slabs and ghostly dead fir trees.

blue-green water

Halfway around we came to a little cafe where we veered off towards Conn and Lake Cauma.  It was an interesting place, with these sculptures on display.  This path was also filled with moss, firs, rocks and meadows.  We could hear cow bells clinking but couldn’t be sure if they were somewhere just beyond view or if they were from the cows we could spot dotting the meadows across the valley.

We stopped for many wildflower shots:

yellow wildflowers

daisies and little fir

possible orchid

cow parsley?

close-up of yellow clover

and once for a bit of chocolate before continuing on our way.  After a while we came to a restaurant filled with walkers, where we stopped for a delicious bowl of  Gerstensuppe, barley soup.

barley soup

Here we were above the Rhine, looking down into an enormous gorge,

The Rhine gorge

and a spectacular viewing structure beckoned to some of us.  

Biffy and I stopped after the first set of steps, where I took a picture that clearly shows the white-knuckle grip on the railing and quickly made our way back down, where we could take pretty good pictures from a less scary vantage point.  Brave Silla and Judy lingered at the top and returned with wonderful views which I plan to steal to illustrate this blog.

We continued on through firs, moss, rocks, meadows and Alpenblicks.  Every now and then we would raise our eyes and more often than not see snow-covered peaks across the way.

Soon enough we were at Lake Cauma, another clear, blue-green expanse, this one a bit more touristy as it is a popular swimming spot in summer.  The most fun was taking the funicular back up the steep mountainside (shades of Ljubljana!). From here we wended our way back to the car.

More than six miles, 18,000 steps, and spectacular country.  Who could ask for more?