Sunday walk

I just went for a sunday walk. Starting at my door, up the Uetli-Berg, following the ridge to Albispass and back again along the Sihl River. 7 hours of straight walking with 2 breaks for a total of 7.5 hours outdoor time. 688hm (up and down again) and 35.6km (according to google maps).

Lessons learned:

• bring sunscreen, even if the day looks overcast and cloudy at first. This one turned into a real torcher, burning me quite a bit.
• don't try this on a single bowl of cereal. By the time I got back I was running on fumes.
• Switzerland is beautiful. Except when it's not - compare building an Autobahn over a river. Who in their right mind would do that?!
• the Swiss like to barbeque and have public places for "Grillieren" all over the place. Great culture!
• there is free drinking water coming out of the mountain on every corner
• my new daypack is great
• the trails are all top notch, well maintained and well signed
• there are _lots_ of mountain bikers when the weather is great
• the real mountains are still quite some ways off. Snow capped peaks always visible on the horizon but tentatively out of reach (for now! ;-) )

Forest: On the trail: Guarding the Uetli Summit: Zürich: Already looking red on the first peak (1.5 hours in): Looking back to Uetli: Lake Zürich southern parts: Beautiful house and meadow on the ridge: This used to be a cafe but looks like a graveyard now: Commander tree is commanding the hilltop (Christian: give me a proper LOLcat meme caption here!): Meadow and tree: Angle: Finally some shade: Looking back to Uetli: Lots of firewood in Switzerland: Hilly country: This way lie the real mountains. Unfortunately my camera is too weak (or I'm too bad a photographer) to capture the range on the horizon: More lake Zürich: Forest: Obstwiese: Nice houses! Grandfather tree: School: I chilled here for 15 minutes, lying on my back and looking up to this: Along the river: Artificial rapids: Early swimmers:

the freeways are a psychological entanglement of warped souls
dying flowers in the dying hour of the dying day....
what you see on the freeway is just what there is
a funeral procession of the dead
the greatest horror of our time in motion
see you there tomorrow.
(Bukowski)
Why The Fuck?!

Red BuschnicK: Dusty boots:

Das gesamte schweizerische Wanderweg-Netz umfasst 63 779 km, wovon 23 533 km Bergwanderwege (Zahlen 2009). Eine unglaubliche Zahl, wenn man bedenkt, dass es in der Schweiz gesamthaft «nur» 71 300 Kilometer Strassen (National-, Kantonal- und Gemeindestrassen) und 5 100 km Schienen gibt (Zahlen 2007).
(source)
=> I've got some hiking to do!