13 miles 1426′ ascent 3280′ descent Surenenpass (pass #4)
The rain is gone and the skies are blue!
Our plan was to hike our trail in reverse so as to not miss Surenenpass. This day was our scheduled rest day so this new plan worked perfectly.
We took the bus to the Fürenalp gondola which whisked us up to the trail. At the top, the view of Titlis and Fürenalp was spectacular.
The pathway was very enticing which urged us on from every bend, rise and stream (of which there were many). Due to the amount of rain in the last 48 hours the mountains were oozing with water. Waterfalls were in abundance. This was truly a magnificent day!
It began to be more and more difficult to leap and jump over the multitude of little rivers in the open pastures. Mount Titlis was ever present today!
Just short of Surenenpass we were faced with a raging stream that we decided not to ford as we would have to repeat the procedure on the return. The idea of skinned knees and wet feet was enough to deter us. So we did what any self respecting hiker would do, we returned to Alphütte Blackenalp and ate kuchen and drank hot chocolate instead!
We retraced our route and then took the lower trail (avoiding the gondola) passing Stäfeli where, guess what?, we ordered more kuchen!
The way down the mountain was lovely.
Occasionally, we encountered the locals who were not in the least concerned with our presence.
As we neared the end of our descent we realized that we might miss the last bus that would take us back to Engelberg (without a 2 mile road trek). We ran the last mile and managed to arrive just as the bus did! Whew!
After eating two deserts that day it was a good thing to have a run.