Sunday 30th August: Same as yesterday: Hot with clear skies all day: 18°C to 31ºC.
Klausen Pass Hohe to Braunwald: 12K: 10.00am to 2.30pm: 4hrs 30 mins - PLUS Bus (30min) to Urner Boden
Accommodation: Adrenalin Backpackers
9.22am bus over Klausen Pass
Highlight of the day was getting the bus down the very steep road from Klausen Pass into Urner Boden then hiking 12k to Braunwald and sitting with a beer watching the hang gliders over Linthal in the valley.
The day starts out pleasantly cool, with a view of the moon setting over the alps. The breakfast room is busy. There's 50 people there already. All those people we saw yesterday travelling to the Klausen Pass - trekkers, cyclists, motor cyclists, sports cars, vintage cars - have stayed the night in this quaint timber hotel. It’s a real tourist destination. The road was originally part of a cattle track between Altdorf and Linthal, then pre war, it was a famous 21.5k hill climb car race called the Klausen Run (Klausenrennen) from Linthal to the Klausen Pass with 136 curves climbing 1237 metres. More recently it attracts vintage sports cars emulating the race.
Klausen Pass 1952 metres
Off the bus and down by the stream
27ºC at 10am, looking for cold water
Urner Boden in valley below Pass
They MUST be Aussies!!
Looking back at Klausen Pass
Jenny and Jan climbing the slopes
Graham in la la land
More meadows and swiss chalets
Lunch in the shade
Richetli Pass, Tommorows high
Beer O'Clock watching hang gliders
Dinner on the Terrace
Jenny and Graham celebrating
Breakfast is a nice spread of cheeses breads and jams from the buffet counter and the tea and coffee is hot. It's a leisurely wait for the 9.22am bus which we intend to take to avoid the steep 600m descent on the other side of the Klausen Pass down into Urner Boden. Like Swiss Clockwork, the bus leaves at 9.22am with many hikers already on board. The steep zig zag road dropping into the Urner Boden Valley is hair raising, with our bus, cyclists, motor cyclists and sports cars all vying for a piece of road on the multiple sharp corners.
At 10am, we're dropped off at Urner Boden in the flat valley and walk over to a fast running stream in the shade of the mountains. It's lovely and cool in the shade beside the cool water, but as soon as the track passes into the sun, the temperature increases by 5ºC. The stream is dotted with campers and soon we spy a Nissan Piston Bully parked in the stream, with 6 guys already drinking beer under their large open sided tent, with cartons of beer cooling in the icy water - they must be Aussies!
There's a short sharp 200 metre climb out of the valley to a gravel road running through meadows, and we stop for a coffee break in the shade looking back at the Klausen Pass with hundreds of vehicles of all descriptions glistening on the zig zags. The next few k is through shady pine forests around a balcony high above Linthal down in the valley. It's hot, and even the water trickling above ground from higher up is warm to drink. The locals tell us it's the driest and warmest summer for a long time. Lunch is on a seat in the forest and we demolish all our left overs ready to replenish supplies in Braunwald. We take our time as we’re expecting a shorter day of 12k.
We arrive in Braunwald at 2.30pm only to find that the only Maxi shop is closed - it's Sunday of course, and the Adrenalin Backpackers doesn't open til 4pm. Graham and Jenny find a beer garden - peanuts with cold beer is nice while we watch the hang gliders. At 4.30pm, we're back at the Adrenalin Backpackers Reception, and it takes about 20 minutes to sort out a room upgrade from one 4 person room to two double rooms - all at the same price!! Well done Jenny!! Thank you!! The rooms are perfect - nice shower, clean sheets and it's quiet - mostly because there's no cars up here at 1500 metres. We're right next door to the Bahn Station cog train that will take us down to Linthal in the valley tomorrow.
Since there's no shop open, we can’t have our usual in-room picnic. So we have a peep at the Adrenalin Backpackers menu and we're pleasantly surprised that the prices are very reasonable. At 7pm, we're down on the terrace having a beer and ordering cowboy steaks with chips OR salad, with the intention to share, and each meal only costs CHF 20 - our cheapest yet in Switzerland. The cowboy steaks are really pork leg steaks but they're really nice and tender.