The previous day, I embarked upon a hike up to the Edelweiss Hut, in a quest to gain elevation and lunch.
I failed in that quest, due to the trail being out, my hiking poles not reminding me to bring them, and another issue that I still can’t quite recall. However, on Monday morning while starting onto my walk toward one of the waterfalls up the valley near the Matterhorn, I was gifted with an absolutely gorgeous view of said Edelweiss Hut – from a distance, and through the morning fog.
See… Zermatt had a lot of cool cafes / restaurants / hotels / buildings that’re perched up on cliffs.
In the mornings, there’s fog throughout the valley.
In this instance, those two combined to form a magical building, floating in a cloud, with birds wheeling about in the empty void between it and the ground.
After a long and amazing hike the previous day, I decided to take Sunday as a rest day.
That fits pretty well, in my mind. Some kind of historic significance to that…
This is me, we’re talking about, though. In one of the most beautiful mountain towns in the world. I wasn’t about to sit on the couch eating bon-bons and watching TV… no matter whether or not they were available in large supply in the various chocolate shops around town.
Instead, I did a few hikes. Or… attempted to, I should say.
You see, it was rainy out, which adds a bit of challenge to the trail… and risk of injury from slipping… and limits the views available on said hikes. I still wanted to get onto the mountainside, but I made sure to do so safely and cautiously – which means that I went slowly, and did a nicely simple hike to start out.
My target was the Edelweiss Hut – a restaurant / lodge high up on the steep slopes to the West of town. It… well, frankly it was a bit too ambitious, in terms of elevation gain over distance, but still. It seemed like a fun idea, to hike and then have lunch and then hike down.
It wasn’t to be, though, as the trail that I was aiming for was one of the victims of the recent flash floods, and was closed down with quite a bit of caution tape barring my way. I could have gone around, of course, via a similar (but much longer) trail… but that would have been pushing a bit too far in terms of milage for my “rest” day.
On top of that, I was sticking to the rule of 3. Three things go wrong, you cancel the trip. End statement. Prior to the trail being out, I’d forgotten my hiking poles, and… something else went wrong too, that I frankly can’t quite recall at this time. Suffice to say, I simply took it in stride, and headed around a shorter loop… consoling myself by finding an absolutely LOVELY fondue restaurant when I made it back to town.
And, to be clear – I was rewarded for that discretion. The new trail I took was stunning, and granted me some amazing rainy views that I simply adore. I hope you do, as well:
