Pizol HikePatti - August 15, 2019
For our 4th anniversary, Elias surprised me by arranging childcare for the day and taking me on a hike to an area of Switzerland I had not been to yet!
The area we hiked is called Pizol, after the main peak you can climb. We chose to do the "5 Lake Tour" rather than climb a peak.
To reach Pizol, you have to take a series of gondolas (or hike up). The last two stages are actually more like ski lifts than a gondola - you sit on a bench and a bar comes down over to hold on to. This picture was actually taken on the way down.
We had lots of fog, which made the unusual rock formations even more impressive!
Lake #1 - Baschalvasee
We chose to do the path backwards, which meant ~900 m of upwards hiking and ~550 m of down.
We had to take a selfie by each lake ;)
I did not expect to find a large, sloping moor on the side of a mountain! The pockets of fog added to the atmosphere.
Oh no, the mountain is splitting in two!
The crown of the slope is called "horse stable" and is covered with dozens of these Steinmännli - Cairns, or rockpiles.
Elias thinks the multitude of rockpiles indicates crazy hikers.
Around the halfway point we reached this high plateau called Schwarzplangg.
We had a cold lunch at the top before heading down.
The view from Schwarzplangg.
Lake #3 - Schottensee
This lake was our favorite! The glacial minerals turn the water to an opaque, light turquoise blue, and from a distance, the water looks rounded, almost like a water droplet!
I'll save you the selfie this time - Elias captured such a beautiful picture!
And from above, as we made our last big ascent.
Lake #4 - Wildsee
Elias pointed out to me that at this point, you can tell we're getting into the high alps: little vegetation, and each of those peaks reaches at least 2500 m.
Coming into the last valley before the end. There must have been some major rock slides here to leave that large of a boulder field!
This picture doesn't look impressive at first, but if you look near the top left corner, you'll see Elias managed to snap a picture of a weasel!
View from the Pizolhütte.
Lake #5 - Wangersee
We made it! This lake was small, but pretty with all the cows and the reflected hills.
The Rheintal - Rhein Valley
We are so thankful to family members for watching our girls so we could spend our anniversary together!