Flag: Yellow
Elevation: 510 m
Distance: 7,6 km
Kanton: Schwyz
Villages crossed: Seewen and Lauerz
The trek to the gold lake or the lake of mysteries, was an incredibly easy one. We took a bus to Küssnacht in the north and connected to a train that took us to Arth Goldau, where our hike began. This trail is located in Kanton Schwyz (pronounced Schweets). It was supposed to be a relatively easy hike, it should have taken us two hours tops. However it ended up being four hours because we had to walk to a small town called Lauerz, since we missed the 1 pm bus in Seewen.
While Christine was close to slitting her wrists because she hates walking next to highways, Otto and I were having a time our lives, poking fun at her and of course for me it was yet another visual treat.
Goldseeli
It is so easy to get lost in the bewitching beauty of lake Goldau, so much that you forget that it came to existence due to a catastrophe that befell Switzerland in the autumn of 1806. The story is that, massive boulders tumbled down from Rossberg mountain, burying the villages below thus killing hundreds of people.
Healing waters
The water at this lake is so pristine, you can see everything at bottom of the lake, plants, the gold boulders and some Karpfen (Common Carp). I am told that many people go to the lake for healing and to distress, it is not hard to imagine why.
For a few minutes I stood there listening to the music of the forest, the rustling of the leaves, the burble of the streams and marvelled at how crisp and the air is. Nobody asked me to stop and listen, the magic of the forest commanded it. I was only too happy to oblige. I digress, before you accuse me of over-selling it.
Common Carps swimming towards the golden boulder
Goldseeli in its entirety
Forest art
Creepy crawlies can be extremely annoying more especially the kind that eat wood. Some of the trees in this forest have been destroyed by the atrocities we call bark beetles, leaving the locals with only one option, to cut the trees down. Where others saw disaster some amazing sculptors such as Thomas Bricker, carved wild animals out of the tree stumps. This only adds to the beauty of this valley.
A fox as imagined by Swiss artist Thomas Bricker
The exit from the magical forest
The enchanting trail is extremely short, before you know it, you are out of the magical zone and back to the rustle and bustle of Schwyz. Even so, you will come out with your spirits high and your heart content.
Haxe waldrundgang loosely translates to ‘witch forest’
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