Mount Rigi: Walking the Ridge of the Swiss Alps

LUZERN & RIGI, SWITZERLAND – June 7, 2006
(rough notes only)

(this was my “consolation prize” from missing my 5AM wakeup call and the “Bernina Express” Swiss train adventure… what a hard life)

Ferry to Vitnau, one stop after Wessig, small little town with a well-kept secret: from here, a steely climbing train cradled you in a swathe of gleaming metal as it carried you safety up to the heights of Rigi Kulm, all the while flashing panoramic lake-and-mountain vistas at you like cards in a deck being shuffled my a master hand. Each one seemed to outdo the next as we climbed the steep mountainside.

The scenery changed with every glance, and you never had quite long enough to look before the train chugged through a blacker-than-black tunnel or passed through a cluster of trees. But, there was always the thrill of knowing you would eventually emerge on the other side to another picturesque view.

But what was more spectacular yet with the hike down from Kulm to the mountain station lying just shy of an hour’s walk downhill. As I walked along the ridge, I was blown away by the view to my left and to my right. It’s moments like these, surrounded by natural beauty that defies description, beauty that I can’t even begin to capture through the eye of my camera, that my heart bulges until emotion spills out my eyes. I sat in a shadowy overlook on a bench hewn from a mammoth oak, and felt tears rising to the surface, amid the stillness that surrounded me. Beautiful moment.

~Melanie