Day #2 Feeling Fit ~ Hiking from Engelbert to Melschsee-Frutt

Day #1 Feeling Fit ~ Hike from Engelberg to Melschsee-Frutt (Tuesday)

Reluctant to leave beautiful Lucerne we drop our bags at 8 am at the hotel desk and pack our day backpacks with cheese, apricots and cherries from a market.   We enjoy cappuccino and fresh croissants at the train station. 

We take the first of many lovely scenic train rides to Engelberg. We have prebooked a special Supersaver ticket which gives us half-price on trains, buses, gondolas and trams which otherwise would be rather expensive at full fare.

View through window from gondola

At Engelberg we board a gondola and as we go up I hear bells ringing and look around to see where the music was being piped into the gondola, only to realize these bell sounds were coming from the cows below! What an amazing symphony which we continually hear throughout our hiking trip. The gondola trip was followed by 2 chairlifts until we reach Jochpass area and then actually start the Alpine #1 Trail hike to Melschesee-Grutt.

We prepare for the hike with some apricots and cherries dipped in my melted chocolate bar. Yes it was hot! One tip to fellow hikers, taking chocolate in hot weather is not the best idea, unless eaten quickly. 

This day was mostly level hiking as we are serenaded by what I call a cow symphony; Anna however calls it a cacophonous. However, we wonder about the heavy looking bells on each cow and decide to look up their purpose when we have internet.

After several downhill miles I am feeling quite fit but happy to stop at an idyllic small restaurant called Rossboden Lutte in Engstlenalp for lunch. I was amazed to find a restaurant in this remote mountain height! You wouldn't find that on a Washington mountain hike.  We have sausage, salad and cappuccino for me and beer for Anna and then continue our hike around the beautiful Engstien Lake.

Engstien Lake

Our hiking notes have said this place is “like hiking in heaven.” We agree and hike into another idyllic community where we stop at a traditional dairy for fresh chocolate milk.

Delicious chocolate milk thanks to the cows

At the end of this lake walk we arrive at a small community of perhaps 50 people called Melschsee-Frutt. However, it has a James Bond like stark white government looking building and we wonder what that is.

We reach our typically Swiss Inn called Feschers Alpin Hotel. While our room is spare and the service non existent it has a spectacular view of the lake surrounded by mountains. 

On this day we have walked 6 miles and are at 6300 feet altitude and are still in a heaven consisting of aperol spritzer on our hotel deck with a cow symphony in the background. I delude myself by thinking how fit I am! The repetitive cow bell music reminds me of water fountain music and is rather meditative perhaps acting in the same way as water by putting us to sleep.