Switzerland-Day Six-Grindelwald Day Hike

We have been so lucky on this trip thus far when it comes to weather (and everything else for that matter), but today it caught up with us a little bit. Everyone we have talked to said that this was a wet summer in the Alps, but we hadn't had more than a few sprinkles in Zermatt since we have been here, until today.  We woke up to rain, but decided to go for our plan of a big day hike anyways. I'm glad we did because the rain wasn't that bad and the hike was amazing. 

We took the gondola from Grindelwald to First...

Where Jessica took a picture of "The Most Beautiful View of the World."

We then set out on our loop hike to our first destination, Bachalpsee Lake.  Even though the weather was closing in, we could still get views back towards the Eiger with this beautiful waterfall in the foreground. 

We hiked past some friendly cows...

And didn't forget to take some pictures along the way. 

Our first view of Bachalpsee Lake. 

At Lake Bachalpsee, there was a hut to use in bad weather. You can also see the signs that mark the trails. These signs are well posted and really make hiking in Switzerland easy as they list your next destination and the time it takes to get there. 

Jessica in the hut. 

The other great thing about the trails is that they are well marked between signs, with two white lines and a red line marking a mountain trail and a yellow diamond marking a walking trail or "Wanderweg."

We had originally planned on going to Faulhorn, which has views back towards the Eiger, but also down towards the Interlaken area, but the rain was coming down pretty good and the visibility not great, so we headed to Bussalp. 

Looking back up at Jessica with Faulhorn barely visible on the ridge line. 

Dropping down into Bussalp, Jessica walks past a cow. 

After a delicious lunch in Bussalp, we got back on the trail to Bort, which was a mid-point stop on the gondola. 

Just out of Bussalp, we walked past this house with massive cow bells on the side of it.  The cows here graze on the grass high in the mountains all summer long and then the cowboys bring them down in the winter, while the cows wear large bells that almost make music when there are a bunch of them. 

Our hike then went through a beautiful forest...

Where we stopped, picked and ate these...

But not these. 

We rode the gondola back to Grindelwald from Bort, and walked back to out hotel.