Our final day of hiking began with very rainy weather and another long way up - although not as long as the day before. Today we covered 1000 meters in 2-1/2 hours to reach the highest point of the entire trek at Augstbordpass. Unfortunately, there was so much fog that upon reaching the top, we did not have much of a view. The way down was challenging. There were numerous snow crossings, a lot of rocks, and some very narrow passages. We stopped for lunch at a point our guidebook indicated was the best view of the whole trip. Unfortunately, the fog once again interfered allowing us to only see snippets of the snow capped mountains. Our descent (at least on foot) ended in Jungen, a small alp hamlet. We settled in at the Junger-Stubli restaurant and I really could not have imagined a better setting for the end of our trek. Perched on the mountainside, the restaurant features an outdoor terrace with views of the mountains, the valley and the hamlet. By that time the weather had cleared and we sat there enjoying the sun and some cold beers. We immediately took off our hiking boots and despite having a great time these past 11 days, have no plans to put them on again anytime soon.
From Jungen we caught a cable car to St. Niklaus and then the train to Zermatt. Entering Zermatt was a bit of a shock after spending much of the last week and a half by ourselves. We found ourselves standing on the main street not sure how to navigate our way through the hundreds of tourists. Re-entering New York City life should be quite interesting.
So now we're in our Zermatt hotel room after enjoying some dinner, some gelato and the Wimbeldon final. Tomorrow we're off to Geneva for our last night of vacation, with perhaps a pit-stop at the Montreaux Jazz Festival.
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