Four days in late September and early October 2023 across the roof of Switzerland, following the Vier-Quellen-Weg through the Gotthard massif. It started in postcard weather, which I realize is the kind of thing you're not supposed to admit because it sounds like bragging. We got off the train at Seelisberg, high above Lake Lucerne, and walked onto a green hillside looking straight across at the pyramid of Rigi Hochflue, which sits between Lake Lucerne and Lake Lauerz. I have never had a better picnic. A boat then took us to Flüelen, in the canton of Uri, where we got on the Gotthard Panorama Express up to Nätschen. The train has a dedicated photo coach with windows that actually open, which sounds like a small thing until you're trying to take pictures of the triple-loop church at Wassen through glass. The walking started at Nätschen. We crossed the Tomasee, which is the official source of the Rhine, and stayed the first night at Camona da Maighels, a cozy SAC hut at the head of Val Maighels. Day two went over Giubin at 2,776 m. We ate lunch up there, boiled water for tea on the stove, then came down to Hotel Passo San Gottardo, where dinner turned out to be our first deer of the trip. We slept at Ospizio San Gottardo. The next day we traversed high above the Bedretto valley to Capanna Piansecco, which was redone in 2020 and sits at the tree line among the last of the larches. There was apple pie. On the final morning we dropped to a valley bus and caught the train back to Zurich.
