Hiking the Prättigauer Höhenweg – Day 2
From Seewis (947m) to Alp Stürfis to Schesaplana Hütte (1904m), 15km – 1’200m up!
Philippe joined me for the 2nd and 3rd day of the Prättigauer Höhenweg. We left home early in the morning and took a bus to
Seewis. The first part was an easy stroll along the deep valley between Seewis and Fanas. While walking through the forest, the snow-laced peak of Schesaplana (2964m) suddenly appeared far away. Today’s final destination is the Schesaplana Hütte just at the foot of this mountain. It’s a majestic view – the peak floating in the clouds!
It’s end of September and hunting season in the Prättigau Valley. We crossed many hunters with rifles on their back. Surprisingly many of them were at the places where even we hunting greenhorns knew that no dear would be found. Unexpected sight: Two solo female hunters on mountain bikes with camouflage clothes carrying their rifle on the back driving down the path as if they were hunted by the devil. Probably late for work : )
Lots of hunting stands, small camouflaged cabins and lookouts everywhere. Close to Cani a group of hunters came back in a pick-up truck with a stag on the back.
On the path there was a new, hugely robust bridge which seems odd for this remote area. Soon an enormous truck with a heavy load of logs drove us by and we understood that there is a lot of logging going on. Philippe spent a good amount time in observing this logging mechanism – five or six logs are bound together and sent down with a kind of impromptu cable car. The sound of it strongly reminded us of an airplane with jet engine.
It was getting warmer and after crossing the little stream Canibach we had our lunch break, followed by a power nap in the sun. Soon a vast green pastureland appeared with several large farmhouses: Alp Stürfis. There were literally hundreds of sheep all over the place! It was quite a sight with the background of the sharp triangle Glegghorn and two other pointy Hinter- and Vorder-Grauspitz. Absolutely beautiful!
After leaving Stürfis we started to climb up steeply to Sanalada. We trailed on the steep slope of Sanalada cliff, with the valley several hundred meters below us. A wrong place to slip : (
As usual, we had to climb down, losing a significant altitude, just before going up again : ( to finally reach Schesaplana Hütte (1904m). We were lucky to have a room with about 30 bunks all to ourselves. No snoring tonight.
By the time we put our feet up at the hut, we were on the trail for around 8 hours, going up a total of 1200m! No wonder we got a little bit tired…
http://www.wanderland.ch/en/routes/route-072.html
Fly, Hike & Travel. 