Another weekend, another day trip!
Last week I said that I probably wouldn't go to the mountains this year anymore, but I couldn't resist. My legs don't hurt that much, and my doctor said that an easy walk will help healing so we decided to go to Amden that is also known as the "sun terrace".
The village is at 900 meters above sea level and there are many hiking trails to several mountain summits. We usually come here with our visitors as the walk is very easy, the air is fresh and the views are beautiful.
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Amden is a village in the canton of St. Gallen. The first mention of Amden dates back to 1178. For many years, there was no infrastructure between Amden and the valley. The road to the village was built at the end of the 19th century. Until then, the village was dependent on its own resources. Today, it's a winter as well as summer sports paradise.
In the middle of the photo, between those two mountains, you can see Amden.
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Here, the village is on the left side..
There is a hiking trail from where we stand that will lead you to the village. We chose to go by car as I believe this is not that kind of walking that my orthopedist was referring to 😊
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Between the village and the valley there is a parking place where you can pull over your car, walk around and enjoy the views of the lake Walensee. This is another point where you can start your hike to Amden.
The lake is 15.5 km long, 2 km wide and its maximum depth is 145 m.
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Now we are looking at the Kerenzenberg in the Glarus Alps. This area is popular for its hiking trails as well.
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Majestic Rautispitz (in the back) overlooking the region.
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This is the village where we started our tour. It's called Weesen.
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The mountains raise steeply from the Walensee and it was challenging to build roads to the villages. Swiss engineers resolved this problem by building the roads into the rock walls. You can see how the road is built inside the rock walls.
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This is how it looks like.. Let's continue to Amden!
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Here we are!
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On the right side there is Mattstock - it was one of the most feared mountains in Amden in the past. Can you see the avalanche barriers? The most disastrous avalanche accident hit Amden in 1844. There were many avalanches before the barriers were built. Thanks to the barriers, this doesn't happen anymore.
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On the left is Leistchamm - the highest mountain in the Ammler range. I have heard that the trail is very steep, but the views are worth the effort.
Our path road today is perfect for a relaxing walk.
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Are you asking where we go? We follow the path road to an observation platform with amazing views of the lake and surrounding mountains. It's only about 1 km long walk.
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The sun terrace is the right name for Amden. We have been here many times and it was always sunny.
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There are a few small farms on the way. The cows walk freely, so watch your step 😊
They are used to people around them and don't seem to be bothered by us at all.
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Look at this! I think that's a clear message of what they think of us 😊
We tried to talk to them and asked them to turn around, but they ignored us. It could have been a language issue as we spoke Dutch to them😊
When we almost gave up, a couple of hikers with a Bichon Frise (dog) showed up. The dog was running around the cows and they started to play with him. They were running and chasing him around. It was so much fun. People were stopping by, looking at them and taking videos. It was so fascinating that I forgot to take photos..
After the owners took the dog and left, the cows lost their interest again.
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You can rent a holiday house anytime during the year. Can you imagine your vacation here?
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There are some magical places on our way..
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These sculptures were created by Franz Baumberger, an artist and philosopher who was born in Amden.
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There are three of them - it's a prehistoric stone with carvings which stands out because of its unusual shape.
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The last part of our walk is a little bit steeper, but I managed and we made it to the platform!
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For those who are interested there is a board with names of all mountains that can be seen from the observation deck.
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It was a foggy day and we couldn't see everything clearly..
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The air here is so fresh and it was also warmer than in the valley..
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This gives some perspective on steepness of the rock wall. For safety reasons there is a fence around the platform.
We ate our snacks and returned back to the car.
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Going to the mountains is the best what we can do during foggy weekends. And we have many of those in autumn and winter in Schaffhausen area.
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I was surprised to see a lonely dandelion in the middle of October.
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Before we got to the car we noticed that we were above clouds 😊 That was a very nice way to finish our walk..
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I must say that this short walk helped me to release the pain. Now I'm not that afraid anymore and I'm already preparing a plan for the next weekend.
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I hope you have enjoyed our walk today.
Thank you for reading!
Cheers,
Martina
As usually, all photos are taken by my Nikon D3200 AF-S NIKKOR 18-55 mm 1:3.5-5.6 G II (except of the ones indicated in the text)
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