8 August 2018 Hike to Bargg

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Daily Journal

The journey starts with a single step

I decided to tackle one of the closer hikes yesterday. Having never hiked in another country before, I wanted to see what the trail conditions were like before I attempted a trail that was farther away from my campsite. The Bargg trail would take me up the mountain to a lookout point that overlooked the glacier I can see from my caravan.

My host at the caravan had explained to me the day before how the signs worked and that they were well marked with the approximate times it would take to get to the destination. Being alone at the moment, I was a little anxious about missing the trails signs, but I am happy to report that the well organized signs and trail marking allowed me to get to the top with no problems.

Grindelwald Trails 1 — A typical view of what the hiking trails look like in many areas around Grindelwald.

The scenery along the way was amazing and I enjoyed taking pictures of the sprawling views, the geology (mostly metamorphic it seems), and the plethora of wildflowers along the way. But, it was hard.

Let me repeat. It. Was. Hard.

My host suggested this one as a good beginner hike and that I should be able to get up to the top in about the suggested time. Yeah, that did not happen. It didn’t take me double the amount of time, but I was WAY over the suggested hikes times. I feel like they needed to suggest a time for “people who live at sea-level”.

Bargg hike geology — Views of some of the metamorphic rock along the hiking trail in Grindelwald, Switzerland.

Bargg view of valley — View of the valley (where I started the hike) from the Bargg hiking trail.

But I made it, and it was totally worth it for this stunning view! And my reward was a relaxing lunch, beer, and conversations with fellow travelers at the restaurant at the top.

Bargg glacier — View of the glacier from the top of the hiking trail.

Bargg Restaurant — Restaurant at the top of the Bargg hiking trail.

PolarTREC Poppy

Poppy was not the only one excited to take the gondola down the mountain. We were too tired to do the last leg of the hike again so we took the easy (and scenic) way down.