Kandersteg hike to Oeschinensee
This post will have a LOT of pictures, because it was a gorgeous hike. These are from a train stop in Spiez, which is on the Thunersee, then the scenery at Kandersteg.
We had been having a lot of great summer weather, so we made plans to go hiking at Oeschinensee, which is a popular hike due to the gorgeous lake. We checked but we didn’t monitor the weather closely, so when we arrived at Kandersteg to spend the night before and the forecast was rainy for most of Saturday, we thought this was likely to be the first hike we had to bail on before it even started. However, the rain that was supposed to start at 3am didn’t materialize, so the next morning we were lucky to have a window to get the hike in before evening rain.
These photos are from the start of the hike. We decided to forego taking the gondola up and hike up to the lake instead. There were some pretty views of Kandersteg below, but next time we will skip the hike and take the gondola up.
Finally made it up to Oeschinensee, and it’s definitely as gorgeous as advertised.
We decided to try to get the panorama hike in before the rain, so we started on the way up to make the loop. But we only made it up to Berghaus Unterbärgli before I was ready to turn back. We somehow took the panorama loop in the counter-clockwise direction, and we had been told it’s better in the clockwise direction. I think that’s because you do all the uphill in the beginning, and the downhill is more worthwhile because it’s all beautiful views of the lake.
These photos were taken on the trek back down, so a lot of the same scenery. This time though the sun had come out and the lighting was even better. When we got back down to the lake, it was apparently beach time for a herd of cows, no lounge chairs and umbrellas needed.
It ended up not raining a drop that day, so the lesson here is don’t worry about weather forecasts! Just kidding, it is important to watch the weather. Just keep in mind that the weather forecast here changes by the hour, so you have to keep monitoring it. This hike is definitely on the list for repeats, but next time we’ll just take the gondola up so we can complete the whole panorama loop up over the Oeschinensee.