Marmot Day

This morning, I took the train most of the way up to the Berninapass (extra 1: view from the train) to walk into the Val da Fain, which means „Valley of Hay“. It’s famous for its rare plants and marmot colonies.

Being so late in the year, I only saw a few rather tired-looking alpine flowers. Just the silver thistles (extra 2) still attracted a few bees. 

The marmots are also getting ready for autumn and winter. I didn’t see any playful youngsters anymore, just chubby adults and adolescents, intent on fattening up. In just a few weeks, they will start their long hibernation.
They really made my day, I have loved marmots since childhood. I took at least 20 photos of them today and found it really hard to choose one for my main blip. Although it’s not 100% in focus, the cuddly couple won. The two runners-up are included in the extras.

The dominant animals in the valley were the cows, though. Probably hundreds of cows and calves, scattered all over the place. Mostly the beautiful Swiss Brown (Braunvieh) that are so typical for these mountains. Again, I came close to many of them, but didn’t worry. They are used to people, and the main path was quite busy today, with a few hikers like me, and many mountain bikers (mostly on e-bikes). It seems to be a very popular bike tour, to follow the valley all the way up to the Italian border, then descend to Livigno in Italy and come back via a different route. 

I didn’t get anywhere near that far. From the south, more and more clouds pushed their way up the mountains. It got colder, and the high peaks had disappeared in the cloud cover by lunchtime. So I postponed my second plan for today (to go up there by cable car) and walked back to the nearest train station.