Panorama hike around Cholfirst

Usually, we look for adventures in the Alps, and therefore we didn't expect that we would enjoy so much excitement in the hills so close to our home. But let's start from the beginning.

We live on a hill that is surrounded by a valley. On the other side of the valley another hill grows seemingly out of the river. We can see the hilltop from our living room. Countless times my husband would tell me that he wants to go hiking there while we were having a meal on our terrace.

I did some research and found a good-looking hiking trail. It's called Panorama hiking trail around Cholfirst. It would take us around one hour to walk to the start of the trail, but we were too lazy to walk down the valley and then up again when we could go about 10 minutes by car and park the car right at the start of the trail. Just think about it, we saved one hour going back too!

**Cholfirst **is only 580 m above sea level but the hike was still challenging at times. The trail led us through thick forests, long meadows and many fields. In total, we walked around 16 km and it took us about 5 hours with multiple stops on the way. And let me tell you that we enjoyed much more than stunning views.

1.jpg

The trail was wide and every single turn had a sign with its street name, so it was easy to navigate. I haven't seen a forest with streets before but we were lucky that the names were there as we had no internet connection and didn't download a map of the place before.

First, we didn't like the idea of having no internet but then we realized that we could enjoy nature without being interrupted by technology. How cool is that? Just fields, trees, sun, fresh air and us. Or so we thought...

2.jpg

We couldn't figure out what kind of grain it was. It looked like somebody forgot that they were growing something there and left it to dry out completely.

I was considering going in the middle of the field and asking my husband to take some photos but then it occurred to me that there were probably way too many bugs and who knows how many snakes or rats in there too, so no scenic pictures!

5.jpg

The width of the trails kept bugging me. Usually, they are so narrow that you cannot walk next to each but here they were so wide that you could drive a truck there. All came together when we entered the forest and saw that there were trees with colorful marks, so we understood that they were using the forest for wood, and hence needed wide trails to get it down to the valley.

3.jpg

Right in front of the forest was this pond. We thought that it was cute until we heard constant buzzing. It was when we realized that we were surrounded by an army of mosquitoes! One of them even managed to bite my pinky finger! Well, I killed it in return, took a picture and off we went.

Can you see the tiny flower?

6.jpg

And this is where it started...

We were following the trail when we saw a deer standing right in front of us, looking directly at us. I tried to take a photo but it got scared and ran away. When we reached the place where it was standing before we saw it just a few meters next to us looking at us again. We continued walking as we didn't want to scare it away.

After a few meters we heard a noise like somebody or something was running behind us. We looked around and saw the deer running full speed crossing our path again. We were relieved but then we heard something running again. And it was coming towards us at a fast pace.

Suddenly, there was a wild boar running in the forest just a couple of meters away from us. We had no idea if it was going to attack us, so we were waiting to see how the situation would develop. Luckily, it passed next to us and crossed our path not even 20 m far away from us. It was the first time that I saw a wild boar running free in the forest and it made me realize that we couldn't do anything if it would decide to attack us. It was huge and much heavier than my husband, and it ran so fast that we wouldn't stand a chance. It was a fascinating encounter but I hope not to be in such situation ever again.

6a.jpg

We considered turning around and going back home as we became skeptical and 'saw' wild boars watching us around every single tree. At the end we decided to continue as we were not so far away from the tower from which we could see the Alps! But let me tell you that we started to make a lot of noise! There was nobody else in the forest so this was our best chance not to meet any other animal friends.

After a while we reached the observation tower Hochwacht. The tower is made out of wood from local forests and there are 186 steps to get to the main viewing platform. There are two other viewing platforms at lower stages of the tower in case you need to take a rest on the way.

It was built as a legacy of the former civil parish of Wildensbuch. Around 1650, the Zurich rulers had one of a total of 23 towers built in the canton of Zurich. They served as an alarm system until the 20th century.

The tower offers comprehensive panoramic view of the Swiss Alps, and we couldn't wait to get to the top!

Of course, we stopped on the lower platforms too!

8.jpg

In the end, we were not that lucky with the Alps. Actually, we didn't see them at all, but we looked at the positive side and decided that we were lucky to stay in our region. In the morning, we were considering going there too, but looking at the clouds it wouldn't have been the best idea.

9.jpg

You don't need to see the mountains to have a perfect view!

11.jpg

12.jpg

13.jpg

14.jpg

15.jpg

16.jpg

We didn't stay long as it was very windy and cold up there but we still enjoyed it and one day will come back for a better view of the mountains.

10.jpg

I remember that on the way back we were talking about how it feels much shorter and easier to go home than to go somewhere in the morning. I think it has something to do with knowing the road on the way back already or desiring to go home as fast as possible 🙂 Either way, suddenly we were almost at the end of our hike when we saw a couple of benches with the view of Schaffhausen peeking between the trees. We were sitting there for a bit and even found the building where we used to live. No, I'm not going to show you which one it was 🙂

17.jpg

On the way back, we also saw two deer and one squirrel, luckily no other wild boar. This is a low quality picture as it all happened so fast but maybe you can spot one of those deer there.

18.jpg

It started to rain as soon as we got home and sat down on the sofa. How lucky are we?! 😉

I hope you have enjoyed our walk.

Thank you for reading,
Cheers,
Martina

H2
H3
H4
3 columns
2 columns
1 column
16 Comments
Ecency