This post will be light on the birds because I left my camera behind for this hike. I promised Melissa that I would keep up with her and if I brought a camera I would be tempted to stop and look for birds. I am glad I didn't bring it because it was a long and steep hike in parts and there were not too many birds. I did manage to get some flight shots of Common Swifts before we left. These pics are from our balcony.
Common Swift
We left shortly after breakfast and took the gondola up to the basecamp area and set off in a clockwise motion so that the hard hiking would come first and then we could hike down and go swimming in the famous blue lake.
As you can see on the trail there were tons of people, but the scale of the place is so huge that everything is spread out and you still feel like you have the place to yourself.
I think an afternoon hike would have been better because the sun was behind the mountain and causing the view to have a filtered light. The waterfall down to the lark was amazing. My crappy iPhone pics don't do it justice.
As we came down towards the lake, I was sweating and looking forward to a dip.
This is where I jumped in and the water was so nice and refreshing I swam a couple hundred yards to the base of the waterfall where the temperature dropped drastically almost to ice water levels. The waterfall was coming directly from a melting glacier. This whole place has been in news lately because of climate change. The village of Kandersteg is being monitored because there is a fear that the melting glaciers and permafrost is causing cliffs and rocks to become destabilized. Apparently the nearby town of Blatten was destroyed by landslides just a year ago.
This Common Blue Butterfly loved my shoe for some reason, maybe the salt from my sweat.
False Heath Fritillary nectaring on sweet, sweet Melissa.
Spurge Hawk-Moth
This gives you an idea of the path and the crazy view. These alpine lakes in Switzerland are glacier fed and the silt from the glaciers is what gives the water the beautiful turquoise color.
As you can see on the trail there were tons of people, but the scale of the place is so huge that everything is spread out and you still feel like you have the place to yourself.
As we came down towards the lake, I was sweating and looking forward to a dip.
This is where I jumped in and the water was so nice and refreshing I swam a couple hundred yards to the base of the waterfall where the temperature dropped drastically almost to ice water levels. The waterfall was coming directly from a melting glacier. This whole place has been in news lately because of climate change. The village of Kandersteg is being monitored because there is a fear that the melting glaciers and permafrost is causing cliffs and rocks to become destabilized. Apparently the nearby town of Blatten was destroyed by landslides just a year ago.
This Common Blue Butterfly loved my shoe for some reason, maybe the salt from my sweat.
False Heath Fritillary nectaring on sweet, sweet Melissa.
Spurge Hawk-Moth
After our hike, I got my crusher and went birding in town a bit.
Spotted Flycatcher
Fieldfare
The day ended with a rain shower which had me running back for cover.
Next post is from Zermatt!
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