Our last walk in Engelberg began like so many others. Heading up, up, up into the forest.
Morning light catching the forest floor and making me wonder if I was going to be too warm in my long sleeves.
Then we would emerge from the forest and be up high, where we could see a new bit of the area.
And catch a view of Engelberg from another angle.
Schwand is really just another small settlement down the road from Engelberg.
There is a restaurant there and a small hotel.
And a lovely chapel.
And more cows ringing their bells.
We were fortunate on this, our last long day of hiking, to have gorgeous clear skies and unobstructed views of the mountains.
After we made it to Schwand, we walked back down into the valley, deep where the river ran.
Then we slowly made our way up the river, stopping more than we had on any of our walks. There was an unspoken understanding that we would not hurry. That we were coming to the end of our dreamy month in Switzerland. And since we weren’t chasing daylight or weather or our next meal, we took as long as we wanted.
We took time to notice things. Like these funny little carved gnomes.
I love that someone took the time to put these along the river.
We also found more wild raspberries.
The kids asked me if I would make a pie if they picked enough for one.
“Of course,” I said, “but we don’t have anything to put them in.”
Problem solved.
I collected stones from the river. Striped rocks marked by the glacier cut valley.
And the kids kept picking berries.
Further up the river, there was a little shelter area for hikers and campers, complete with tables, firewood and pots and pans. So clever!
The end of the trail had several bridges as the path crossed back and forth across the river.
The suspension bridge was a bit high for Simon’s taste and you could feel it swinging a little.
It was impressive.
We loved this trail to Schwand and back and hope we get to wander along this river again some day!
This was our 36th walk in my year of walking, and our last hike in Switzerland. Only 12 more to go now. Feel free to join in and walk with us for the rest of this year!
This week I am walking the epic Coast to Coast walk in England with my friend, Diane. Follow along on Instagram or Twitter.
