Two days of hiking in Engelberg with mom - in sunshine and thunderstorm

Hello dear ones!

This time I went on a trip with mom and gave Kevin a few days for himself and the boys :).

For a change, we didn't go to Ticino, but to Central Switzerland.

Our tour plan looked like this:

Day 1: 4h30min, ascent 760m, descent 640m

Mägisalp 1710m - Planplatten Sattel 2180m - Balmeregghorn 2255m - Tannalp 1977m - Engstlenalp 1834m

Day 2: 4h20min, ascent 150m, descent 880m

Engstlenalp 1834m - Baumgartenalp 1702m - Unterbalm 1551m - Breitlaui 1370m - Winterlicke 1395m - Hasliberg Reuti 1067m

Our trip started on Wednesday evening, when we drove to Engelberg and stayed in a hotel to save ourselves the trip the next day. It was a beautiful evening, in a cute hotel and the excitement for the next day was enormous! So we went to bed early and looked forward to the start.

The next morning everything started perfectly! There was a delicious breakfast for strength and despite the predicted rain, the sky was steel blue. We drove about 20 minutes to our cable car, bought a ridiculously expensive ticket and off we went :).

That is, not quite yet. Because of the weather forecast, my mom insisted on sponsoring me a rain jacket. At first I didn't think this was necessary at all, but in retrospect: thaaaaaank you!!!

Our path started across a cow pasture, then the ascent began. It went steeply uphill for about two hours. We were sweating, drinking a lot of water, and our conversations had become really short. Suddenly a marmot ran past us. We stopped and watched the little one. Then two more followed. They were really cute and quite close! Unfortunately not close enough for our camera, but delightful to watch.

At Planplatten Sattel, the path became much flatter and we could fully enjoy the beautiful view. Our path led us along the mountain range with a view of the other side of the valley. There we treated ourselves to a little break. We had delicious sandwiches, Nipons (rice cakes covered with chocolate :)), cola, and iced tea.

We continued to the next and highest destination: Balmeregghorn. As soon as we reached the top, dark clouds rolled in and the fog spread so quickly that you could watch it. Five minutes later it started drizzling, but we kept walking calmly. As it had been really hot before, a little cooling off was just right. Shortly after, it started thundering, the sky turned really dark, and the rain got stronger. Into the rain jackets and quickly onwards! By now, the rain had turned into sleet and then hail. There were whole streams running over our path, it was windy, and it was getting pretty cold. No sign of comfortable hiking anymore. But we could still laugh and joked "typical us". We went steeply downhill, and at the bottom there was a lake with a covered fire pit. That would be our next resting place! Arriving there, we met two other hikers who were seriously eating raclette over the fire with a bottle of red wine :).

Fortunately, the weather quickly got better, so we didn't linger for too long. From that point on, we only had about 45 minutes downhill to go, then we reached our accommodation exhausted. Our knees really hurt from all the downhill hiking, and mom also had problems with her feet. We were really grateful to have reached the daily goal!

As a reward, we had a glass of wine and french fries :).

We looked at the weather for the next day on an interactive map: rain and 8 degrees! We were already getting a bit nervous about the upcoming day, because we were not prepared at all for such weather. And then there were the sore knees and feet... Yes, we had been looking forward to today much more.

After dinner, we went to bed early to be fit for the next day.

When we woke up the next day, neither of us was really refreshed - somehow we both hadn't slept well.

Well, after breakfast we got ready, put on everything we had, and could hardly believe our eyes: it had stopped raining! Just in time for us to get ready! Great, if it stays like this!

We started walking through forests, moors, and cow pastures, it was a really beautiful path!

We encountered various animals: cows right on our path, salamanders (presumably), and a slightly irritated mother sheep. Of course, our battered bodies hadn't simply recovered overnight, so we were forced to take more breaks.

But still, after four hours we reached our car and were really, really relieved! Especially the last half hour was extremely heavy and plagued with pain - but, mission accomplished :).

We sat down for a moment in a restaurant right next to our car, treated ourselves to a cola and an orange punch (no joke, I really craved it, even though it's actually summer :)) and finally drove home completely exhausted.

The whole trip was quite exhausting for us, but also really beautiful! The views we had along the way - priceless! And we got exactly what we wanted: not a simple hike, but a real, little adventure :).

At this point, a huge thank you to mom for the great days and unforgettable moments :)!

So dear ones, you know it: We'll be in touch as soon as possible ;).

Until thaaaaaaan!