Alpine Meadow

The main blip is unedited, straight out of the camera. Just one of the many impressions of alpine meadows and flowers round Piz Lagalp. 

I tackled a slightly more ambitious hike today, up the valley Val Minor and over the 2435m high Fuorcla Minor around Piz Lagalp. About 10 km with just under 400 m difference in elevation. Enough for me, as I am very much out of shape.

The valley is being marketed in the brochures as „full of flowers and marmots“. That isn’t wrong; as soon as you have crossed the huge cow pasture and get to the beautiful little lakes at the top end of the valley, you will see many flowers (see extra). Still, the  most ones were blossoming on the other side of the hill, where they are safe from the four-legged lawn mowers. 

As to marmots - I heard them, but didn’t get to see any today. I blame the five different people with seven dogs between them, which were running around without a leash and loved chasing marmots (the dogs, not the people).

My second pet peeve of the day: Mountain bikers. Lots. On the narrow, steep, rocky mountain path, which has officially become a shared space between hikers and bikers. Whoever thought that was a brilliant idea, should be made to walk this path every day between hordes of inconsiderate mountain bikers. Many of them middle-aged, lycra-wearing men on E-bikes, whizzing along the 60cm-wide path at full speed, and expecting hikers to jump out of their way - even if one side of the path is a sheer drop and the other a steep hillside. 

Several times today, such a grumpy male E-biker was followed by a very apologetic female counterpart, who waited patiently for me to get to a wider spot to let her pass, and then had to hurry to catch up with her impatient husband. 

I will get a map of the mountain bike trails from the tourist information tomorrow, and avoid them in the future. There are plenty of beautiful hikes, and I would love to enjoy them without this kind of conflict.