Day 14: Adventures in Andermatt
Today was quite the adventure. We awoke to the mountain goats near the campsite breaking free of their string fence and wandering towards the camp. These goats (not sure if they were actually goats) had horns and liked to butt heads so we kept a weary eye on them.
Thankfully men with sticks came runny to our rescue and chased the goats back in the fenced area. Disaster averted. The fence could use some work though.
The grocery store is closed on Sunday so Mark found a "buffet" near the train station but I guess buffet just means coffee in Switzerland. Someone needs to bring the idea of brunch to Switzerland.
Afterwords we went to Devil's Bridge. No one really knows who built the bridge but legend has it that every year many would die trying to ford the river. So a farmer asked the devil to build a bridge. The devil agreed but only if the first soul who crossed the bridge would belong to the devil. The farmer drove a sheep across the bridge, thus tricking the devil. Enraged, the devil went to pick up a rock to strike down the bridge, but an old women put a cross on the rock thus thwarting the devil. Today a newer bridge has been built but the old bridge still stands.
We also noticed a lot of fortified bunkers in the side of the rock on the way there. We are pretty convinced the Swiss have a tunnel system through the mountains to fight off attacks.
We stopped for lunch at a pizza place and each wolfed down a full pizza since we had not had breakfast. Then we headed up a valley by foot to a hut that was 7 km up from town. Much to our dismay there was a road that went there as well, but thankfully it was not very crowded.
The trail was beautiful. There were waterfalls flowing from each side of the valley down to the valley floor. You just had to watch out for the cow pies since the trail went through cow grazing territory.
We stopped at the hut for a beer and to ask if we could have dinner there before continuing on to explore the valley. It was half surrounded by snow capped peaks and offered stunning views.
After frolicking in the valley we went back to the hut for dinner. The people at the hut were extremely kind to us. The made us the best dinner of the trip so far which was a 3 course meal! It started with a great soup, then a noodle/potato/cheese combo which you were supposed to put applesauce on top of and was finished by some sweet yogurt with apples in it. We were so full! It was also the cheapest meal in town.
Mark and Nate want to go back there in winter due to the amount of back country skiing accessible from the hut and the fact you can ride a tram up to a peak and ski down to the hut.
The sun was setting and it was a long way back so we said our dankes and headed back to camp.
There are a bunch of motorcyclist from Wales in camp who have awesome accents. They also have flashing lights on their tents.
Tomorrow is another large climb, so for now. Goodnight!
