Klöntal in autumn
This October has been unusually cold & rainy so far, but it couldn’t prevent me from a weekend in the mountains :) The plan was actually to take part in the Ride the Alps event. Unfortunately, it got cancelled last minute, therefore I couldn’t do anything with my booking in the hotel and decided to go anyway. Instead of the bike, I took the hiking sticks however.
I had to finish some stuff on Saturday and arrived in Klöntal only on Saturday afternoon. As the days are getting shorter, I had to hurry up with the check-in and went right away for a walk.
I have been in Klöntal before (it’s just 1 hour away by train from Zurich), but never in autumn. The beauty of the place left me speechless!
That brown house on the right side is Hotel Rhodannenberg, where I spent the night. Surrounded by silence and the mighty mountains, I slept very well. I felt like half of my troubles left behind, in Zurich, and the other half vanished somewhere in the fog.
Klöntal is located at just around 900 m over the sea level, but the colors advanced here much more than in my local forest at 650 m. Amazing!
A glimpse of Pragelpass in the fog – there I was expected to climb next morning, along with hundreds of other riders.
The night started to descend and it was the time for me to turn back.
Couldn’t help staying a bit more outside before entering the warm restaurant building, where I knew the dinner is waiting me.
Next morning I took the bus to Vorauen, where my hike started. It wasn’t exactly the most promising weather outside – +4, rain and wind. To my surprise, there were some other hikers in the bus and even more later on the trail. Moreover, some genuine greetings and smiles made the rest of my day!
Also the temperature started to rise, the rain ceased and I found myself taking off one layer of the garments after another.
Klöntal valley got its name from the river Klön, but to me it always sounds like klyon in Russian which means maple. And there are enough maple trees in the area, to further mix the languages in my head :)
The fresh snow on the mountains looks fantastic, but it also means that high alpine hikes are out of question for the time being. I haven’t done many of them this year, but same happened to many other things I planned to do in 2020. Fortunately, this year also taught me at some extent how to deal with uncertainty, inability to go just where I like, when I like and so on.
Even some sun! What a day!
I already made the hike along the river Klön to Netstal, so this time I decided to continue towards Schwammhöchi.
After a stop in the restaurant, I headed down to Glarus. This part of the hike is just a little less picturesque than the stretch along Klöntal, but way less frequented.
On the way down I discovered an MTB trail I’d like to ride and a T4 route to Vorder Glärnish (the mountain in the picture) I’d like to do next summer.
Like with many little towns in Switzerland, as soon as I got to Glarus I started thinking “how beautiful is here”, “that must be a nice place to live in”…
…until the reality of the small town’s life struck me back just around the corner. No, thank you Glarus, but I rather stay where I am now :) I will come for more hikes however, may I? ;)
