A Moment on the Trail to Engelberg

Looking down from the Jochpass at 2207m to Truebsee and the valley of Engelberg beyond

The early evening air is calm and the weather benign as I rest on the soft turf by the summit of the pass. Across the valley jagged mountains rise through the billowing clouds that seem almost as solid as the grey stone of the peaks themselves while a great distance below them the meadows and forests of the valley form a dappled green carpet. In the blue distance the lowlands of Central Switzerland hide somewhere beyond the end of the mountains while nearer at hand and perhaps a thousand or so feet below me was another small lake set in the hillside like a blue-green jewel. No sounds from below invaded this high world other than the faint wind-like sigh of the chairlift cables whose topmost tower was just below where I sat.

It had been a walk through some idyllic mountain terrain in near perfect conditions along the wide easy trail from the hamlet of Engstlenalp by the shores of the alpine tarn of Engstlensee and up to the Jochpass where I now rested. Ahead the path descended to the left below the steep rocks of the crest and continued at an easier angle down through the alpine meadows to the lake which my map revealed to be named Truebsee. This was my route; I would then hop on the gondola to continue to Engelberg which was still four thousand feet below me so avoiding a walk in the dark. Well I would soon; this was my last day in the high mountains and I felt a strong reluctance to leave…

The alpine village of Engstlenalp is situated in beautiful surroundings at the end of the road from Meiringen and Innertkirchen

The trail to Jochpass runs beside the tarn of Engstensee at 1850m. Jochpass is on the left and the peak of Titlis (3238m) up ahead

Approaching the idyllic lake of Truebsee which is situated above Engelberg at an altitude of 1754m

If I didn’t want to leave Jochpass then Truebsee was even more of a challenge

Engelberg finally came into view from just beyond Truebsee still a long way below – the gondola was a good idea.