Mount Rigi (Schwyz, CH) - 1,798m (5898,95ft)

Length: 24.4km
Elevation gain: 1'445m (same as down)

Our first higher mountain of the season was Mt Rigi on May 12th 2018, a very touristy mountain with a great views. From Zurich we took the train to Arts-Goldau and walked up towards Riga-Kulm. The first part of the trail was not well marked and went up alongside a river through a dense and wet grass field. Luckily, my shoes are waterproof and the sun made my pants dry in seconds. After crossing the river, the trail went up through a steep goat field and then alongside a forest. The shade was more than welcome, as the sun was already burning.

Once we crossed a mountain hut, the trail was a bit more flat and went past Rigi Scheidegg. The views all the way up were just amazing. The last part toward Rigi Kulm was more steep again and you could see the cable car station on top. Up until the top here, the trail was really empty and we almost did not meet other hikers. However, from there, more and more people were on the trail, as a lot of them just take the cable car up and hike on top for a while.

The trail from Rigi Kulm was more flat with views to either side. Once we reached the base of Dossen, we were debating if we want to go around or over the mountain and luckily decided to head over. The route was obviously more strenuous but the view over Vierwaldstättersee were better than from Rigi.

The rest of the route all the way up to Rigi-Kulm was well marked and paved for most of the trail. After the last station of the train, the path was crowded and we were on our last steps before reaching the summit. Wow, that was a long hike up and we felt our legs, as it was the first real mountain we hiked up this season. After a 30min lunch break enjoying the views, the were on our way down to Art-Goldau on a direct route. The trail was well marked and went through some alps and forest sections further down. Overall, it wasn’t very spectacular as it just went down for a long time. After all, we had to descent all the meters we just hiked up :(

In the last 30min, we realized that if we hurry up a bit if we still want to reach a fast train to Basel. So, we decided to run the last few km and it was actually a lot of fun. We reached the train station just in time for a quick ice-cream stop and were on our way to Basel.