Bernese Oberland

This past weekend we finally got to use our camping gear. We headed up to the Bernese Oberland and past the touristy lake town of Interlaken into the Alpine village of Lauterbrunnen. The valley we stayed in is known for its 72 different waterfalls. Everywhere the mountain cliffs seemed to leak melted runoff from the glaciers. We set up camp there and went and explored the area. We camped a high amenity campground and got power brought into our tent so we could use Rob's laptop for light. We probably were one of 5 people at the entire campground in a tent and we probably had the smallest tent out of everyone. Most of the people who occupied the place were the Dutch! They all had huge trailers and seemed to be camping there for weeks! So many NL license plates! The campground has cabins to rent on a weekly basis and a hostel type large room bunks to rent as well. We braved the sprinkling rain and set up in our tent anyway.

After setting up camp, we went to see the Trummelback Falles (another post), Stechelberg, rode the telecabin to Murren, and hiked down to Gimmelwald. We had a terrific rosti dinner in the town of Lauterbrunnen and stopped at a few more local places to have a drink. The town was not overrun with tourists and all the building remained small and cozy. No big hotels and resorts here.

We did drive over to Grindelwald which is known for being a big tourist destination in the Alps. And it was overun with tourists. I can't imagine what it will be like in July/August! The two large peaks in the area to visit for panoramic views of the Alps are Schlithorn and Jungfrau. We didn't pay the money to go to the top of the peaks since it was cloudy and sprinkling. It isn't worth the trip up there when you will be among the clouds. It is possible to hike to the Schlithorn from Murren, but it will take you 5 hours to get there. The up side of the hike is that you save around 91 Euro doing it. It was soooo expensive to take the telecabin up, I could hardly believe it. If you stay for several days in the area and want to see everything, there is a 6 day pass available and you can ride whatever you want. There are lots of telecabins and trains that traverse the hills.

Sunday, when we did most of our hiking and picture taking, the weather had cleared up a little bit and more of the panoramic views starting to show. It was too much to really capture in the camera lense. We'll be back to this area for sure! n

Hiking from Murren to Gimmelwald

This cow took a break from eating among the wildflowers and posed for me.

Staubbachfall as seen from our campsite. We could hear it all night. Very soothing. There is a small trail that takes you up and behind the falling water within the rock cliff.

Careless cute mountain village of Murren.

Gnome fishing.

Didn't get the best lighting captured in the shot. But you get the idea, Grazing cows and an amazing panoramic view of the Alps.

Rob and I hiking from Murren to Gimmelwald.