2025-07-14 Urwaldweg Bödmeren
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It’s times like these when I have my doubts. If I take the train at
10:00 I should arrive at 12:11. There should be a restaurant at the
stop where I get off so if it rains a bit longer, that should be no
problem. The hike is 3h 30min so there is a tiny chance for a little
rain later but that should be OK. One of the days I am happy
Switzerland pays for expensive weather modeling.

The rain forecast goes up to 5mm/h and drops down to zero by 12:00.

Yesterday, as I was looking for a hike, I noticed an interesting
option that I’m not going to do: an 11-part hike following the trail
of the Russian army under Suvorov:

> “In autumn 1799, Russian General Suvorov and his army crossed
> through the Swiss Alps in order to oust the French from the country.
> The ViaSuworow follows the route of this campaign through
> breathtaking mountain landscape.” -- Via Suworow

My goals for today are more modest:

> “Hike through Western Europe's largest primeval forest, above the
> most extensive cave system in Switzerland: on this circular trail
> through Bödmeren Forest in the Muota Valley, you'll discover ancient
> spruces, weeping silver firs with olive-coloured beards of lichen,
> and jagged rocks overgrown with moss.” -- Urwaldweg Bödmeren

I arrived at 12:11. It seems the rain just left so I’m having an extra
coffee at the last restaurant. It’s a smoker restaurant!! I’m sitting
outside. The music they are playing is “Ländler”. Swiss country music?
😄

A few minutes later and I’m off. Across the creek, up the road, not
stopping a hell-hole (a spot on the map) and turning right at 9/11 (my
trail left the road at an altitude marker saying 911m above sea
level).

A creek with houses on the left side, taken from a bridge.

A green mountain valley. In the middle there's a huge construction
site, like a wound in the landscape.

And up and up.

Way pointers. To go back from where I came (Höllloch) would take me 35
m. To reach my goal (Bödmeren) will take me 3 h 30 min. And then I
have to get back.

The trail leads through a short tunnel.

Biggest ant hill so far, built practically on the hiking trail.

Campanula along the way.

At the moment I am walking up the valley below this cliff face. The
trail goes up and down and up again. I haven’t reached the forest. But
the horse flies have reached me. 😆

And up and up, wooden logs serve as stairs, a sign warns of forest
fires.

A small vista point near a tree.

The trail goes down. They even put a rope here.

The trail goes up again.

A tiny bench made of wooden logs. Stairs up along a cliff.

A trail along an incline.

A trail below a cliff face and a nice view into a valley.

The poo tells me that there are chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra, a
species of goat-antelope) around. I also hear cow bells and a grass
mower from down below.

Tiny shit beads.

Sadly, up here my signal disappeared. And then the phone charge
dropped below 20% and I got nervous. I started putting the phone into
air-plane mode, hoping to conserve batteries as a phone without signal
is going to try and find an antenna using a lot of power. Later, I
would even switch off the phone entirely.

I have reached the actual forest I was trying to visit. At least the
sign says so.

There are flowers and trees. It’s a forest all right.

Another sign saying no hunting allowed. And a sticker saying that
nobody likes the police, in French.

In the mountains one gets mountain envy when looking at other
mountains. Like this. What a nice green mountain over there.

At this point the trail is wide. A shack or barn with actual wood
shingles. Not the last one, either.

At this point I passed a small shack with a fridge selling goat cheese
and drinks, honour system. I nodded, liked it, kept on walking, and
then I had not- buyer’s-remorse. I would have loved more water and
some goat cheese! But I didn’t want to turn back. So 1l of water is
all I had for this 6h hike.

Looking down into valleys from above is fantastic. Forests, meadows, a
house, a town at the far end.

I’ve reached the high pastures along the forest.

A mountain meadow. There are probably some sniper cows hiding in plain
sight but I can’t see them in the preview. Writing alt text without
being able to see the important parts is a bad approach.

Last mountain meadow. Some cows lie in waiting. I spotted them
already. Very nice mountains in the back. I don’t have the time and
the knees to make it there, though.

The reason the hike starts at “hell hole” is that there is a 190km
cave system underneath the karst. At this altitude, the limestone
shows and I think that’s why the mountains in the back are called
Silberen (“Silverly”?). This is the turning point of the hike. Also,
where is the damn forest I was promised.

The landscape is full of white rocks. And gaps and holes. Brushes grow
everywhere and perhaps there are some trees over there in the back.

Looking at stone-white mountains in the distance. Where the area is
exposed, no trees grow. They all hug the wind shadows.

If you step off the trail, you might fall into a black hole. Perhaps
it goes down two meters. Perhaps it goes all the way down into that
190km cave system.

And now I’m finally in the forest. It looks OK. I’m not stepping off
the path. All coniferous trees. Lots of lichen, moss, and Grauer
Alpendost (Adenostyles alliariae).

This is the forest. With tall trees and a nice trail.

Nice trail and tall trees. Oh, and another deep hole next to trail. No
bottom in sight. I don't want to be hiking here in the dark.

Tall trees.

More tall trees and lots of fern.

And I’m back.

The view down to Muotathal. The descend will take over an hour and
give me huge knees, if you know what I mean. Probably depends on your
age. Go hiking while you still can!!!

I rushed my hike down because I wasn't sure how late I'd be. When I
picked the trail it said 3 h 30 min but that was just for the circle
around the forest. I didn't account for the 2 h 40 min to get there.
So my worst case scenario was that it would take 8 h 50 min! I walked
with just short water breaks and sped downhill like a happy little cow
enjoying its first outing in spring and managed to catch the bus at
18:14, so it took me 6h total.

I need to pay more attention in the future. And bring a bigger
backpack. And more water. And a snack.

#Switzerland