Badushütte Day 1

in Oberalppass, Switzerland

My friend John absolutely loves hiking in the mountains and had been asking me to come with him for quite some time. He found a T2 trail in the Swiss Alps, and we planned a two-day trek. Our goal was Badushütte, a beautiful 20-person hut up in the mountains.

We got on the road at 5:30am to drive about four hours from Freiburg to the base of the hike, which is more or less above the Gotthard tunnel in a place called the Oberalppass (over-Alp pass). I ran my GPS the whole time and have plotted our path up the mountain. The zoom for the whole path contains clouds, but zoom in a tad more and you'll see clearer arial photos:

Along the way we took many breaks to rest, to snack, or just to enjoy the view. It's hard to capture the bigness of being up in the mountains, but these photos do it some justice:

Two men hiking upwards in the hills toward a distant mountain. A yelllow sign on top of a mountain directing people to Badushütte or Oberalppass. A trail visible along a ridge leading upward toward mountain peaks. A trail visible along a ridge leading downward toward a hut and a nearby lake. A can of Feldschlösschen beer sitting on a stone wall with mountains in the background.

After making our way to the hut and having a sit, we still had a lot of the afternoon ahead of us, so we hiked a short way (relatively speaking!) down to Rhinequelle, a lake that is one of the sources of the "pre-Bodensee" Rhine river. The Rhine is a very important river in Central and Western Europe that forms parts of the borders of many countries in the area: Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, France, and the Netherlands.

After such a long hike I couldn't resist stripping down and jumping all the way in the ice-cold water. I got such a burst of energy after giving it my all on the hike the whole morning!

A wide angle photo of a small lake nestled between two mountains with two people sitting near the water. Two men swimming in the lake giving both thumbs up. A hut nestled into the grassy side of a mountain with clouds swirling around it.

After the swim we arrived at the hut to find dinner being prepared. It was absolutely delicious and had four courses: salad, soup, main, and dessert. We couldn't have been happier with the food, and had fun chatting with the other guests and wardens. There were only seven of us for the night (plus wardens) and that meant we could all spread out and use two pillows since the hut can sleep 20.

There ended up being a huge thunderstorm that even the hut wardens said was more intense than normal. There was lightning for most of the evening and into the night, then heavy rain, then even some hail, but the hut is very cozy and we were exhausted enough to mostly sleep through it.

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