Hiking with the Giants

The Riesenwald trail at Elm is a fun activity trail for children with the theme “Giants in the Forest”. It has more than a dozen play stations, including an obstacle course, an oversized picnic table and forest kitchen, a suspension bridge, and more. As soon as I heard about it, it quickly went on the list of hikes we had to do.

First, you take a cable car from the valley up to Ämpächli, where you’ll find a restaurant. We had lunch to fortify ourselves for the hike. The food was adequate, typical Swiss cafeteria fare. But the view was fantastic! 

The trail starts just past the restaurant and follows a 2.6 km loop, with several big play stations along the way.

One of the first stations is an obstacle course. The girls had a blast running through the hurdles.

Other stations had look outs and climbing towers which the girls loved. One station was supposed to be a house that a giant threw upside down. Inside the furniture was on the ceiling. Charlotte found this particularly hilarious.

Much of the trail is in the forest, but you still have great views of the surrounding mountains.

Although, the zipline did make someone pretty happy mid-hike.

We ended the hike at the playground.  I'm already worried that no playground in Dallas will ever live up to expectations after being able to swing, trampoline, hula hoop and climb at 4700ft. Add in today that there were random pony rides too. Why? We don't know. It's Switzerland.

I think I say it every time, but this might be my new favorite hike.