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- 7 hours (Kev time)<\/strong><\/li>\n
- 9 miles<\/strong><\/li>\n
- gain 1072 m, lose 1767 m<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
This was not the day that we had originally planned.\u00a0 We were going to hike into St. Niklaus, then take the bus to Gasenried and spend the night.\u00a0 From there we would hike to the Europa Hut….\u00a0 But you have already heard our change in plans.\u00a0 This was a day of firsts and lasts…. first unplanned night, arriving in town without a hotel reservation and our last pass<\/span> of the entire trip \ud83d\ude41 or :)…\u00a0 hard to tell – happy to be close to the end, sad to be almost done with this adventure.<\/p>\n
Here is the journal entry for today:<\/p>\n
Today was another long day, not for the amount of vertical, but because we kept expecting to go around a bend and see the end in sight.\u00a0 Today we would go over our last pass!\u00a0 Bittersweet thought.<\/p>\n
We left Hotel Schwarzhorn at around 8:30 am, after almost everyone else – AGAIN!\u00a0 It was a frosty morning:<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bktrent.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/st-nik-frosty-am.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIt took 1 1\/2 hours to get out of the valley – I think we were prepared for that.\u00a0 Then we started heading over to Augsbordpass, the last pass of the trip.\u00a0 The bad part was that it had a “false front,” so we thought we’d made it, but then had another steep climb to go.\u00a0 It wasn’t particularly difficult, just long.\u00a0 Cold at the top and view of new mountains, then we scurried down to a warmer spot for lunch (have you heard this before?).\u00a0 We encountered several groups headed in the same direction, and saw our first group of campers on the whole trip.\u00a0 We were surprised to see a little green tent settled in amongst the rocks.<\/p>\n
Again – not psychologically prepared when we got down and out of the pass, we had a LOONG\u00a0 valley wall walk before getting the pay-back panoramic views Kev promised.\u00a0 Finally we did make it around that bend, and the skyline was fabulous!\u00a0 We both took 360 degree shots to stitch together later.\u00a0 Then DOWN, DOWN, DOWN again.\u00a0 For the third time today it seemed to take forever to get down to where we were headed: the cable car at Jungen.\u00a0 Once we reached St. Niklaus, we used the tourism office to find us a place – now we are both tired but showered and ready to relax until tomorrow.\u00a0 We have an extra day since we did not go via the Europa Hut.\u00a0 We could stay here another night, but will likely head to Zermatt and spend another day there.<\/p>\n
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It is interesting to re-read this journaling.\u00a0 It is obvious as the days go on that we’re getting tired, but this trip was so amazing and beautiful – it was worth it!\u00a0 Be inspired – not discouraged.\u00a0 This is a view worth hiking for:<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bktrent.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/st-nik-around-the-bend.jpg\")
<\/p>\nI could tell that Barry was feeling much better – he beat me up to the pass!<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bktrent.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/st-nik-kate-making-it-up.jpg\")
<\/p>\nSomewhere along the trail today, I saw this mangy looking thing:<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bktrent.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/st-nik-lost-sheep.jpg\")
<\/p>\nFor the first time (since my little detour to Prafleuri) we walked over snow along the valley wall.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bktrent.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/st-nik-crossing-snow.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe valley wall walk was more boulder-jumping – but as we got closer to Jungen, there were stretches that were more “developed” or man-made.\u00a0 It was beautiful – views down the valley to the north and of Alps in every other direction.\u00a0 Can you ever really get tired of this?<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bktrent.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/st-nik-pavement-path.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe walk down to Jungen involved hiking back and forth down the slope to reach this remote little farming enclave – an isolated village accessible only by cable car (?).<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bktrent.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/st-nik-view-over-jungen.jpg\")
<\/p>\nWhen we arrived at the cable car access, there were three people sitting on the 4-person-capacity car waiting to descend.\u00a0 Without any English, we figured out that there was a camera and “call button” to let the operator at the bottom of the hill know that someone wanted to go down.\u00a0 Why these 3 were still sitting there, I’m not sure.\u00a0 Anyway, we waited for awhile, and were frustrated that nothing seemed to be happening.\u00a0 Thank goodness that a Swiss German-speaking couple arrived and communicated with the operator – Voila – the car descended and another ascended – and we were able to board and glide down the very steep hill into St. Niklaus.\u00a0 Neither of us has been that far off the ground and NOT been in an airplane – the slope was that great!<\/p>\n
Narrow street in St. Niklaus<\/strong><\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bktrent.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/st-nik-street.jpg\")
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Day summary: 7 hours (Kev time) 9 miles gain 1072 m, lose 1767 m This was not the day that we had originally planned.\u00a0 We were going to hike into St. Niklaus, then take the bus to Gasenried and spend the night.\u00a0 From there we would hike to the Europa Hut….\u00a0 But you have already … <\/p>\n
- 9 miles<\/strong><\/li>\n