Stäubifall

If you've ever wandered onto YouTube looking for videos about Switzerland, you've undoubtedly come across one with a few cows happily munching away on an Alpine field in front of a quintessential Swiss cabin complete with waterfall gracefully arching across the background. I have been fascinated by this video for more than a year but I couldn't figure out where in Switzerland it was from. Until Now!

Stäubifall is approximately 2 hours from our home which means we typically need to be relatively flexible on our weekend planning because weather forecasts more than a few days out aren't super reliable and we don't know enough about the local areas to know if there can be a sudden change in conditions. Thankfully for this weekend, we had a couple of options lined up so we were able to pivot and head for the falls when the day looked like the weather would hold for us!

The area Stäubifall is about 30 minutes east-southeast of Lake Lucern and there are a couple ways you can get there from Liechtenstein. For the trip out, we went with the route through Klausenpass which isn't exceptionally high (only 6,391 ft) but even late September already had snow cover significant stretches.

Plus it's generally a beautiful drive!

Once you arrive at the trail head, an hour hike through some of the most picturesque Swiss countryside awaits you!

this water doesn't look that cold

Even the gnomes have lovely swiss cottages

The hike was getting a little steep!

But talk about a payoff!

What I find perhaps most interesting about Stäubifall is that it rarely makes the top ten most beautiful waterfalls in Switzerland. So far we've been fortunate enough to have seen two others on the standard list (Staubbach Falls, Lauterbrunnen and Rhine Falls, Schaffhausen) but I would much rather spend time admiring Stäubifall while enjoying a chacuterie board and soaking up these views!

Eventually, we had to go home but we at least had some friends join us along the way.

Hey Charlotte, why did the cow mooove to the other side of the stream? 

To milk the view for all it's worth!

She thinks I'm funny

Another successful day trip in the bag and reviews were resoundingly quiet on the drive home!

Taminaschlucht

About 45 minutes from our home are the natural springs of Bad Ragaz and the accompanying mountain stream that runs through the Taminaschlucht (Tamina Gorge). The origin of the spring which run through the gorge are a bit of a mystery. Scientist presume that water trickles away in the area and soaks approximately 1,000 meters (3,200 feet) down into the ground. The water warms which rises again to the surface through crevasses in the gorge after approximately 10 years. Like many such natural sites in Switzerland, Tamina Gorge can trace it's history as a point of interest back several hundred years. And similar to St Beatus Cave the gorge near Bad Ragaz primarily used as a monetary and place of healing by a small group of monks starting in the 13th century.

Nowadays, there is a small museum and restaurant at the mouth of the gorge where you can collect your wits if you chose to arrive via the local bus like we did. The road between Bad Ragaz and Tamina Gorge is perched along and above the Tamina. On this day, the bus was standing room only, otherwise I would have gotten a shot from inside along the drive. But if you want a sense of what it felt like, the bus is about 10" narrower than the road and this picture with it's lack of side railing was taken on the walk back on the same road we drove up.

Having caught our breath and purchased tickets we made our way into the gorge. We had seen pictures of the gorge in other blogs and it had beautiful, clear blue water. No idea what was going on, but the day we visited it was as muddy brown as could be.

About two thirds of the way down the path diverts into a tunnel where the temperature changes drastically thanks to the constant temperature of the springs. At ground level, the outlet temperature is 36.5C (97.7F) and increases 2.5-3C (4.5-5.5F) every 100 meters (320 ft). The water is also soft, and (according to the info board, I did not verify personally) has a neutral taste and is free from bacteria.

At the end of the tunnel there are two additional paths. One takes you back towards the Tamina where you can watch and listen to the water carve it's way through the gorge.

While the other goes further into the mountains where you can see one of the springs filling a cavern with heated water.

After learning a little history it was time to make our way back to Bad Ragaz. By foot this time!

For reference this is on the same road we took up on the bus

Bad Ragaz is also know for it's statuary throughout the city and the girls just had to stop for a few photos.

Klangweg

I realize I say this every time we find a new place to hike, but this one might be my favorite. The Toggenburg Klangweg (the Sound Trail) is definitely up there when it comes to theme trails for children. Some friends told us that it had been extensively renovated and reopened in May this year, so of course we needed to go check it out. It is a one way trail, about 6 km long, with close to 30 stations along the way all dedicated to noise. Does this sound like my children, or what?

We started with a gondola ride up to the trail from the valley where we discovered a small playground and bounce house.

I'm not sure my kids will ever quite grasp how lucky they are to have access to such cool playgrounds

After awhile, we finally managed to drag them away from the slides and on to the trail itself.

how do trees manage to grow out of rocks?

We quickly happened upon the first station which was a series of three wooden columns with a metal tube hanging inside each stele. Once you strike the tube, the vibration of the metal is transmitted to the wooden post, creating a reverberation and is not only audible but also physically noticeable. The info sign says the reverberations from each strike can lasts up to ten minutes. I believe it.

We came to the largest megaphone on the planet.* Of which we, of course, had to climb in.

*not verified by the Guinness Book of World Records

Next came a series of Xylophone stations where we got to bang on tubes to make noise/sound/music...you pick. Also, apparently in September Christmas is already on our minds.

One of the coolest ones to me was the Glockenbühne (Bell stage). The info sign on this one said: A concert of the bells that swing at the necks of the willow animals grazing everywhere is constantly playing. On the Toggenburg sound path you can get in the mood by moving slowly or faster through the bell stage. Your body will vibrate the bells and – will trigger its own melody depending on how you move. This way you can also experience yourself as part of a herd of livestock. You trigger sound and sound just like the animals in the Alps.

Of course, we only really knew how to run through the bells (and fast).

At this point in the hike, the smallest Powell was looking like this:

So we made a stop at the mountain restaurant for lunch.

And then we were off again.

We found more bells to ring, singing sculptures, cool animal carvings, things that spin, swings in the forest, and a huge tuning fork.

In between we took time to enjoy the views and soak in the mountain air.

One of the last stations was the Klangmühle (Sound mill). There are two hollow rotating wooden cylinders inside an old mill room. The cylinders are strung with well over 100 equally tuned strings. As you rotate them, you can pluck the strings or let the plectrum create a wave-like sound. We, of course, couldn't not touch them as they rotated.

What a hike. I will never tire of views like this.

And Olivia will never tire of post-hike ice cream rewards.

And as for Charlotte, I think she's a llama girl.