In July, I hiked Mount Pilatus, located in the Swiss Alps, near Lucerne. Mount Pilatus overlooks Central Switzerland. As always, Wikipedia can tell you all you need to know. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilatus_(mountain) Wikipedia can also tell you things that you do not need to know - ex. a medieval legend maintained that dragons with healing power live on the mountain (I did not see any dragons).Admittedly, I am using the term hike loosely because I only hiked down, I did not hike up. Coming down was much faster and easier than I am sure it is to go up, but due to time constraints, I will never know. I do know that my quads burned after coming down.
If you are only hiking down, or not hiking at all, which is a surprisingly popular choice (or maybe unsurprisingly), the recommended journey to get to the top of Mt. Pilatus and back down is three-pronged. Your journey begins with a boat trip across Lake Lucerne. From the lake, you can see the beautiful view of the snow-capped Alps. Some of the peaks are 14,000 feet. This boat journey will take you to the base of Mt. Pilatus where a cogwheel train awaits passengers to go up in small groups. The cogwheel train is the steepest in the world. My understanding is that we were at a 45 degree angle heading up the mountain. I am not scared of heights, but this ride made me nervous. I have a sneaking suspicion it was steeper than 45 degrees in certain sections. Also, at this time I must note that goats are amazing creatures. Goats were popping out of cracks and crevasses next to the train tracks. I don't know how they didn't fall off the mountain. Maybe they do, but the ones I saw were quite agile. When you reach the end of the cogwheel train, you are at the highest peak of Pilatus, which is just shy of 7,000 feet. If you look at the below picture, you can see a tiny speck in the clouds. That tiny speck is the gondola you can take back down the mountain in segments if you opt not to hike down.
The entire train ride up, you hear cowbells and at certain times, see cows! This totally threw me. Apparently, the cowbells allow the cow owners to find their cows. I guess this makes sense, but I was shocked that I could hear them even at the top of the mountain. So. Much. Cowbell. An alternative to finding your cows would be not to allow them to roam the alps. But kudos to the bold cows who are willing to hike the alps with no fear. I question the judgement of the owners, but I was born in Delaware, so maybe I am likely skewed in my perception that cows should be on flat, fenced-in land.
The views from the top were breathtaking. There is a route around the top of the mountain that you can hike. It has a small wire for a railing, and honestly, it was a little dizzying, so after about three-quarters of a mile, I turned around and returned to the lookout at the top of the mountain. These pictures from the top really capture the view. You can also note that people are hang gliding. They are doing so by literally running and jumping off the side of the mountain right next to you. It is a little nerve wracking to watch because you wonder what happens if they don't catch air. Luckily, we didn't have to witness that type of problem.We took the gondola part of the way back down (there are three places you can get off the gondola) and then got off and began hiking down the mountain, which took about 3 hours. Despite being at slightly lower altitudes, it was still quite steep.
Hiking down the mountain, there was not much taking out the camera because we wanted to watch our footing. When we got closer to the bottom the hike began to weave us through the farms of a small town that is outside Lucerne. Once we reached the center of the town, we needed to catch the bus back to Lucerne. We confidently got on the incorrect bus and rode that for a while before we realized we were not going in the right direction.
I love a good hike, and it was a great way to burn off the cheese and chocolate that comes courtesy of all those loud cows. There is nothing I can say that will do the views justice, and no great tips or epiphanies I can offer about hiking, so I am just including a bunch of pictures of the view. Though the pictures also can't do it justice, they certainly do a better job than my words.
The views looking down on the lake from Pilatus.
More views from the top of Pilatus.
Flowers on the mountain.
