It’s been a bit over two and a half years since I moved to Switzerland. Since the very first moment, and every time the weather has allowed us, we’ve been busy exploring this great little country, mostly hiking and wandering in the beautiful Swiss Alps. It has been a delightful time. I never thought I would enjoy the nature as much as I do now. If you ask me where I’d like to be, no matter when, I will always answer “the mountains”. I just love so much being in the middle of nowhere, far from everything except nature and the occasional alpine farm. It also has allowed me to know a bit more about this wonderful country and its most authentic traditions. But still, two years is not too much time and even if sometimes I feel I know this country well, I still find there’s so much more left to discover!
When autumn began this year, I was afraid I was going to miss its peak days. We did a little trip to Seville, Spain, in mid October, and I remember from the last two years, that those were exactly the most beautiful days of the season. Fortunately, we came back and found that there are still a lot of golden leaves on the trees… So we’re trying to squeeze this season to the maximum, hiking until the cold or the first heavy snow arrives, whatever happens first.
With those two premises in mind, last weekend we decided to go to a new place in a Canton that we already know. A friend told us about Obersee some time ago and after I saw his mobile photos, I knew I wanted to visit this place. Obersee is a little lake in the pre-Alps of Canton Glarus not far from Zurich. Just the road to the lake is a delight: a windy road that climbs from the valley of Glarus through a golden forest. It feels as if you were driving through Tolkien’s magical Lothlórien. The lake itself is utterly beautiful. Surrounded by forests of pines, birches and maple trees, magnificent mountains and alpine farms, what impressed me the most was how calm it looked: the water was still like a mirror, reflecting the beautiful colors of the trees and the dark sky above us. And, surprisingly, there were hardly any people around!! We chose an easy and short route that rewarded us with beautiful views of the lake and its valley from above, walking through the magical yellow and ocre forest of maple trees. At the end of the trail, we found a few scattered alpine farms, where the cows were still grazing in the last green grass of the year (I know I’ve said goodbye to the cows already two times… but I’m going to miss so much their bells in our winter hikes!!).
Here are some photos I took in Obersee. I hope you like them!
PD: I can’t believe it, but my blog turns 4 years this week… 4 years!!! I remember how excited and scared I was went I pressed the “publish” button of my first post… It’s been quite a journey and I’ve learnt lot about photography and blogging since that (very) shy first post. I want to thank all of you for being part of this blog every week!!
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV 24mm f/11 1/125sec. ISO100
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV 30mm f/11 1/250sec. ISO100
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV 70mm f/11 1/20sec. ISO160
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV 24mm f/11 1/100sec. ISO100
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV 24mm f/11 1/125sec. ISO100
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV 50mm f/10 30sec. ISO100
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV 45mm f/11 1/80sec. ISO250
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV 45mm f/11 1/125sec. ISO250
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV 24mm f/11 1/15sec. ISO500
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV 65mm f/ 6.3 1/40sec. ISO500
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV 70mm f/13 1/160sec. ISO500
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV 28mm f/11 1/400sec. ISO125
Now that is SPECTACULAR! Can you imagine living there and seeing those vistas each day…. WoW! No wonder you wanted to walk there. And this is just outside Zurich?
Thanks a mil, Amanda! Yes, it was so beautiful!! Specially when we arrived, there wasn’t wind and the water was so calm that looked like a perfect mirror! And when we were walking the last part of the route, we passed by some farms looking down to the valley and the lake… Even if farm work is hard, just imagine spending every day with these views!
It’s not outside Zurich, but quite close! It’s not even one hour from the city by car. By train it may take a bit longer, as there’s not a regular bus route to the lake. You have to take a “private” bus from the train station in Mollis-Näfels to the lake. The good thing is that there’re even two small hotels close to the lake and in summer you can swim in the lake and make barbacue, hike….. 🙂
Sounds idyllic! It makes me want to visit.
Well, Obersee is not one of the most famous lakes here in Switzerland… but it is certainly a very beautiful one!! I can’t say if during other seasons is very crowded… it surprised me to find it almost empty during a beautiful autumn weekend, the last one the restaurant was open this year! I’m sure it’s probably one of the reasons why I loved this lake. It felt like out of the beaten path, so calm and peaceful!!
Beautiful color images. My favorite is where the mountain is framed by the golden leaves. All the images are simply beautiful!
Thanks a mil, Anne!! I though I was going to miss the peak days of color with my travel to Seville…. But we came back just in time to see the best days of Swiss autumn! One week later and colors are already fading and rain is in the forecast for many days, so hiking season is finally over… 🙁 (thankfully, Christmas is just around the corner… and after Christmas, is winter hike season!! yeeeiii)
I think my favorite is that one as well!!! I’ve been playing with new editing software and I love how the golden tones pop-up in this photo!
Have a great week, Anne!! I hope in Sacramento is not as rainy as here and you can go out and take photos! 🙂
Dear Mercedes
Actually, we had a look at your photographs from Finnish Lappland because we used to live there many years ago. These pictures triggered great memories. Thank you!
All the best and thanks a lot for commenting at our blog
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
Thanks a mil, Klaus! So happy you liked my photos from Lapland! It was the first time I visit this region and I fell in love with it! Now I dream with a second visit and more Northern lights, hehehe 🙂
Love your blog! Actually, for me it’s super helpful because I’m learning German! I’m always looking forward to the next post 🙂
Beautiful!!! ❤️ I especially love the waterfall pic!!! And hey, 4 years, congrats, our blogs are about the same age! We didn’t know each other in the beginning but I’m glad our paths have crossed! 😊
Thanks a mil, Snow! Yes, it’s my blog-anniversary! 🙂 4 years… I remember when I got my first camera and everybody though I was going to get bored of it after two months… and here we are, still shooting and with a 4 years old blog! I even surprise myself, hehehe. And the best thing is that I get to know, at least virtually, other super interesting bloggers 🙂
Right now we are dealing with severe wind and fire. Fortunately, I don’t live in the country or mountains so we’re okay. Although the wind did blow down a neighbor’s tree and damaged their carport! The rain is yet to come, and then we have mud slides in the fire areas. Mother Nature is sometimes predictable and cruel. Hopefully, we’ll get out to some of the wildlife preserves next weekend. Take care Mercedes and enjoy the fact that you have winter hikes and beautiful scenery ahead in the coming months. I’m looking forward to your images.
I’ve just read in the Spanish press about the fires in California (but I guess it’s only because a few famous actors have been evacuated from their homes…). I didn’t know the fire season was now!!! In Spain it’s only during the summer months, autumn is quieter (not that we have a lot of forests left to burn…). And then the rain… you’re right, Mother Nature can be very cruel sometimes! I hope the catastrophic season ends soon and with no more damages in California! And, of course, that it doesn’t affect your area very much!
Preciosa como siempre tu publicación, con esas maravillosas fotografías y sus comentarios agradables y entrañables.
Feliz cumple-blog. Seguiré tus publicaciones con mucho gusto. Un beso muy fuerte y adelante con esa bonita afición 😘😘
Mil gracias, María!! Ha sido un otoño precioso por aquí y había que aprovechar los días sin lluvia al máximo!!
Y muchas gracias por la felicitación!!! Han sido 4 años de muchos viajes y excursiones y muchas fotos… pero sobre todo, 4 años de aprender mucho sobre fotografía! 🙂
Un beso enorme y gracias por ser tan buena seguidora!!! 🙂