Gallery: July 10–11 — Lötschenpass: The Trailing Edge

The rest of the saga.

A parting shot of the hut.

Hmm, a bit foggy.

Man, I sure am glad that the trail across this GLACIER (you'll see it more clearly soon) is revealed only by marker posts at a significant distance from one another, rather than there being any continuous trail! I'm also glad visibility is falling sharply!

Another such marker. The cairn style is neat, but I would be worried about the directional stone toppling over with not too much difficulty. Maybe the stones are actually attached to one another.

Here is the ground surface: a single layer of rocks over the ice of the glacier.

Here is a refreshingly unscary crevasse (it's a close-up shot — the rift is only about 6 inches wide).

Oh good, the glacier's slope is increasing.

Incredibly, we did not get lost (for long) on, or slide down, the glacier, even where the trail was a narrow path across a steep, corn-snowy part of it. The jingle of cowbells, and then the sight of the cows, was a reassuring sign that we were returning to civilization, as they had been near the end of my National Park adventure.

Want to hike down hundreds of switchbacks? Try the Lötschenpass.

The way down was very steep and seemed to take forever, and it was an extreme calf workout. Checking out this hut (which was not open, so just the periphery) provided a bit of a respite, but there was a ways to go.

If we had slid off the glacier we probably would have flowed down these falls eventually as well.

A Tibetan-style bridge that signalled the proximity of the base inn, which would be the end of the day's hike. Finally. We reached here at about 7:30PM, if I remember correctly; we set out from Lauchernalp sometime around 8AM.

A little shelter just before the bridge.

The blessed inn.

Some glass roof tiles for a skylight, above a stair in the sleeping area of the inn, like ones I'd seen in the Emmental.

There are both individual rooms and this hostel room; I stayed in here, and had the whole thing to myself. I slept incredibly well after starting to digest the hundred delicious pounds of food I had eaten at dinner. Unfortunately I left my red wool hat there (:( A curious reflection effect on the wood happened from the camera flash.

Evening moth.

The next morning: the sleeping section is accessed by this open stair.

The yard is full of whimsy.

Back in Kandersteg station again, another dang poster. ("BLS: a Jump toward the South!")

We had cherries to eat after we returned to Blatten and I made a bug with the pits and stems.

Late sun and clouds.