The American author and humorist Mark Twain became famous for writing the Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. He also wrote funny and entertaining short stories on the brink of what became typical holiday tourism these days. Mark Twain and his family spent a summer in the area around Lake Lucerne, in Weggis, in 1879 and he is thrilled about it: “This is the most charming place I have ever lived in!”
Checklist time:
- Roundway: Jepp, up by foot and down with the gondola.
- Accessibility: Weggis
- Length: 1400 hm, app. 4-5 h
- Strenuousness: High (but not highest :-))
- View: Great
- Loneliness: No.
- More information: Mark Twain Themenweg (German only)
- When did I go there: August 2013
Here you see a very rough sketch on the trekking route (click for large image). The map is courtesy of Wellness Hotel Rössli.
The hike starts at the lake front in Weggis next to a Mark Twain memorial stone. From there, we walk a short way through the village to the gondola station and into the forests. The path runs quite steep at the beginning and sometimes you even have to walk up stairs. Despite the steepness, the trail is easy and broad and not really alpine style. Just take good hiking shoes with you.
Through shady forests we walk and encounter lots of pretty small waterfalls. The day is part sunny / part cloudy and the trees and small streamlets give ample protection from the sun and the heat. On this pic, you see the Titlis glacier peeking through the clouds.
Between the rocks, there is a small chapel overlooking Lake Lucerne and shortly after, we reach Felsentor (rock gate): a passage through three interlocked huge rocks. The accompanying settlement (a main house, sheds and a huge garden) are used for group retreats and meditation courses. You can also get some delicious home-made sorbée: om-nom-nom!
Having passed Felsentor, we head into the open and the trail is not too steep until Rigi Kaltbad is reached. Rigi Kaltbad is indeed a small village with several restaurants and hotels. Both the gondola and the cog railways from Vitznau and Arth-Goldau meet here. There is also a thermal spa there, designed by Mario Botta, who is known, among others, for having designed the MOMA in San Francisco. I visited the thermal spa in Rigi Kaltbad this january and I just realise it’s missing the respective SandT post. When we went there, there was an association meeting going on, which was really interesting to see.
From Kaltbad (and another home-made sorbée), we take a small detour towards the summit Rigi Kulm to pass by a nice view point, the Känzeli. Here, it is rather crowded as Kaltbad, Kulm and Känzeli are the most touristy places on Rigi. The view is great though and we make good progress – although the path is getting a little steeper than before.
It is hard to distract the boys from all the restaurants we pass, but there is no food or a rewarding summit beer to be had before we actually reach the top. And so, after 4 h 10 min and 1400 hm, we made it all the way up to Rigi Kulm -yeah! My first mountain is conquered!
And then, we sit down to enjoy a cheeseburger and a beer – well-earned, I dare say. We even spot one of the very old steam engines that were used in the times of Mark Twain and still need to work every sunday.
Apropos, Mark Twain: there are several Mark Twain info signs on the way, which we tried to photo-hunt to document our Mark Twain Rigi summit hike, but we missed two out of eight (Kulm and First) – seems like I have to go up there again and take a picture of the other two. That’s how they look:
After a sufficiently long relaxing and recharging break, we take the gondola from Kaltbad to Weggis and head home. It turned out, we all had a date tonight to attend to – with our couch.
Spa and Travel 