Hiking in Swiss parks

Depends. Lots of packges have this sort of name.

Some hikes are all on trails with stops only in alpine huts and you have to tote everything except maybe supper.

Others are day hikes and at the end of one day they move you by train to where you have pretty nifty accomodations and grub and are bussed to the trail only after a zillion dollar breakast.

Gruyere is relatively flat to the west of lake and rough to the east -- a big difference.

The other thing that can be a killer for the deal is altitiude. There's a big difference between hiking the AT at 3000' and stomping across the high alps at eight grand or so. If you aren't used to it, it can make you sick as a dog.

Maybe if you told us a link or something with more deatail you could get a better answer.

I found the offer on the My Switzerland.com site, under Park offers. It is in the Gruyere Pays d'enhaut national park....but the information page is in German and French. It is in the pre Alp region, which I assume means it is not tremendously steep walking. I am also going to e-mail the park, but I value the info people on this site always have.

Okay, found it. Never hiked that area, but looked at a couple of segments (I can read the lingo). You're dealing with (on one segment alone)fifteen kilometers in five hours with a thousand meter elevation change. That's nine miles or so, not a problem. What would kill me is the three thousand foot elevation change in that amount of time. I don't think my knees would take it, either up or down. If I managed to do it somehow, I don't think I'd be able to move the next day. Besides being a hiker, I'm a retired Marine -- both of which mean zilch except that I've probably walked a few miles here and there.

It looks like there are three different choices for the 2-night walk, and they vary in difficulty. Two of them can be walked in either direction, so you can choose to walk more uphill or more downhill. For example, if you walk from Montbovon to Charmey, you ascend 1880 meters over three days, and descend 900 meters. If you walk the other direction, from Charmey, you would ascend only 900 meters, but descend the 1880. Either way it is 27 km, spread over 3 days. It would be nice to know if that 1880 meters is divided fairly evenly over the three days, or not.

Whether any of these would be a "monster" hike depends on you. Are you a hiker? If so, there is certainly nothing about being 60 that would preclude a hike like this. I'm 62 and find ascents of 1000 meters or more in a day very doable. (It's the descents that get to me---bad knees!)

I walk a lot, although January and Feb have not been good months....also do some biking. But Illinois is pretty flat. I did look for elevation maps, but could not find any. I appreciate the input from you both. I think going downhill has advantages...different muscles to hurt. I know there are three routes..could decipher some highlights, but not a lot. I did e-mail the park with some basic questions. Thanks for your input on this...hiking in the Alps and sleeping in a mountain hut is a life list item, and three days I think would be a good amount for me.

Is for me too (a life list item)---and now I've been there four times! Switzerland hiking is addictive. I haven't hiked in that area, but I may have some maps that give a rough idea of the elevations.

Two of the route options have you sleep in a mountain hut; I believe the third is a "sleep in straw" at a farm.

I can understand wanting to be with a group. But rest assured if you do go solo you won't ever be alone if you do hurt yourself, unless you're really gone out of your way to find an unpopular trail during the off season. Switzerland is not remote Alaska. For the most part people actually live and work in the areas you'll be hiking in, so there will be dairies, huts, restaurants, etc. A more likely scenario is that you will have more company on the trail than you'd like.

If you're uncertain as to the area and your fitness level, why commit to a route/tour? It's so easy in Switzerland to just base yourself in an alpine town and day hike from there, or do an overnight at a mountain hut from there. If it's harder than you expected, you can start taking cable cars or trains up and hiking down. Or doing shorter hikes. Go at your own pace, etc etc. Also, I don't think Gruyere is the most spectacular part of Switzerland. People here including myself like the Jungfrau region of the Berner Oberland.

Christy, I know.....but I had hoped to join a group rather than go alone. I have some routes I can hike when I visit, but they would be solo ventures. I thought a group might be more fun. Plus I have this unnatural fear of twisting an ankle and being left out on the moutainside for days before help finds me. Plus this area is close to where I'll be, so easier to get to and from, and not disrupt the rest of my trip as much.

Actually, the scenery looks charming, expecially for the section from Cnarmey to Chateaux d'Oex. Here is a photo of the mountain hut on this route;

http://www.vs-wallis.de/freiburg/huettverz/marrindes.html

Poke around on this page and you'll find some photos of the different hikes:

http://www.la-gruyere.ch/en/navpage_list-AllinFR-AllinSummerFR.html