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Hiking Hardergrat

Has anyone here hiked the Hardergrat Trail? We are headed to Switzerland the end of September for some epic hiking and I came across Hardergrat this morning in my research. I see it's a good 23 miles from one end to the other. We love a good hike, but the most we've done is about 10 miles in a day - not because that's all we could do, but just because that was the trail length.
I love to hike for the rewarding view and workout. From the photos, I've never seen a more beautiful hike. We've done a few different types of hikes (rainforests, parts of the Appalachian trail, etc) but I'm not oblivious to the fact we'll need to do some training if we're going to attempt Hardergrat. I'm thinking we may need to hit up longer parts of the Appalachian this spring/summer to prep.

Does anyone have any suggestions or insight about this trail? It we do just part of the trail, is there a side to start that's better (views/hiking)? Anything would be helpful!

Posted by
34 posts

Haven’t done this beauty of a hike... it looks great... but I’ve done plenty of hiking in the Berner oberland.

Much like North Carolina/App trail/smokey mtns weather is going to be your biggest concern. Especially late September. It could be warm and sunny or cold and snowy.

You could knock this trail out in a day? maybe? seems like lots of people do it. Or section hike it like below:

https://www.travelhackergirl.com/hiking-the-hardergrat-trail-between-suggiture-and-augstmatthorn/

The only thing I can say is if you like to take pics give yourself more time. All of my Swiss hikes seem to take much longer than I expect because of all the photo stops I make.

You should be fine training on the app trail. You get some good ups and downs there in Tenn/NC.

These people did it with a baby in a backpack: http://www.familyearthtrek.com/2017/04/20/hardergrat-the-most-dangerous-hike/

Now you have me thinking about dragging my one year old on this crazy hike when I go back there in September. Ha.

Posted by
90 posts

Thanks for the links! And yes, I was certain I would need to plan it for a very clear day. We are probably staying in that area for a few days and never really make set plans so we'll be flexible to go when the weather is right.

I'm thinking about section-hiking it. We've walked this far before in a day just in exploring cities on foot, but you are correct - I will be stopping for photos probably at least 500 times (minimum). I'm not hiking for the workout on this one - definitely just for the views. So I'm certainly going to take them all in and enjoy them as much as possible.

And I say go for it! :-) That's what they make baby backpacks for anyway, right?