Hike in Switzerland

Yesterday, I went with a group of ladies to Toggenburg, a large mountain range in the Swiss canton of St Gallen. We took the bus which drove us to the city of Alt St Johann, located at an elevation of 895 meter (2936 ft). There, we took a chairlift and enjoyed a beautiful and smooth ride to the Sellamatt station, 1390 meter (4560 ft). We had an extraordinary view of the Säntis, famous mountain as it is the tallest mountain in the Alpstein massif of north-eastern Switzerland; at 2,500 meters (8200 ft) above sea level.  The panorama from the summit is known to be spectacular. Six countries can be seen if the weather allows: Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Lichtenstein, France and Italy. Of course, we didn’t go there, one must be in excellent fitness condition to hike to this giant peak! From Sellamatt, we followed a path called “Klangweg” for 4 hours till we reached a very small village called Oberdorf. Along the way were set several forms of sound instruments that one could try and play; for example bells, pipes, flipper, horns, etc… There were also so many cows, free to roam the mountain, we enjoyed the sound of their bells.  We stopped for lunch after a couple of hours, ready to eat our sandwiches or whatever we had prepared at home. One lady even had the great idea of bringing a small bottle of Schnapps, so we all could drink a small shot glass to bring new energy! Which we needed, because it was pretty hot in the afternoon, even in the mountain. We later came across 2 small tiny lakes “Schwendiseen”, one of them we saw several people swimming in. From Oberdorf, we started walking back down the mountain where the bus waited for us in the city of Wildhaus, 1090 meter (3576 ft). We were all pretty exhausted but certainly enjoyed this wonderful day.