Day 5 – Rest Day

10 miles (without packs)  ascent 722′  descent 1640′

This was our first rest day.  We were a little cavalier with the idea of “rest” at this point.  Later we would look back on this day and say, “What were we thinking….10 miles on a REST day??”

The hotel was still closed, so we had a lonely breakfast before we began our day’s adventure.  It was quite wonderful to walk without our packs.  We rode the funicular up to Braunwald, a little carless village high up on the mountain.  Anything that needs to be toted is done with tiny trucks or horse drawn carts.

Of course, I had to pet one of the horses!

We walked to Nussbüel for a cake lunch.  As we arrived we were greeted with shouts of “hello!”  Our Virginian hikers were having their lunch here as well.  The sun was shining and it was a glorious day to just sit and soak up the view of the surrounding mountains.

The path back down to Linthal was a gnarly, steep trail with lots of roots and ruts.  Once at the bottom we followed a raging little river that eventually runs through Linthal.

We returned to the same restaurant, Hotel Raben, for dinner and had the best meal we had had on the trip yet!