Still unclear as to where to go to get rentals for mountain bikes or paddle boards, we decided to set out on foot. Google maps was insanely handy to find a path to get to one of the many waterfalls in the area. Typically in the US we use All Trails to find a good hiking trails, but it doesn’t appear to be well populated in Europe.
The previous day, we had spotted a very tall waterfall in the distance. When I dropped a pin in Google Maps, the distance seemed reasonable. So we set out, and along the way, we found the landing point for hang gliders and para-gliders that had launched from Fiescheralp. We had seen dozens of paragliders up above the mountain and had considered whether we’d be willing to do that ourselves.
We stopped in the shop nearby and talked with the couple running the business. They were super friendly, knowledgable, and we left having booked a 30 minute session for both Phillip and I, and they even told us where we could rent bikes!
Our hike was gorgeous, but extremely hot and exposed. The locals told us the heat was very unusual for their area. But of course we’re from California so we’re used to the heat, right?
We met a very curious goat, who knew better than we did that her fence was electric:
As we hiked higher and higher, the creek that feeds into the Rhone river close to town fell deeper into canyons. We had hoped to maybe eat lunch by the stream, but were slightly disappointed by the geography.
But we did get to eat our lunch with this view:
Turns out, the waterfall that we were chasing is controlled by the power company for hydroelectric power further downstream. Later, our paragliding pilot/instructor told us that they “turn it on for the tourists.” During the off season, or when the power isn’t needed, they close the gate at the top of the falls to control the flow of water.
On our way back down, we found a calm portion of the creek to put our feet into the water.
Since none of the hotels, restaurants or bars has air conditioning, we tried to find a cool place with good beer to hang out at to cool down after our hike (and for me to catch up on blogging as I mentioned a few posts ago). We tried a couple of Swiss beers, including Grimbergen (an abbey beer), which I found to be a bit to wild and sweet, and Feldschlossen, a really good lager. Something else we’ve noticed when ordering drinks is that most the bars have also brought some sort of snack with the beer, such as a pub mix, or most commonly, chips, which we’ve experienced in France, Switzerland, and (currently) in Italy.