Short Walk near home to the Ruins of Fortress Wildenburg in Allenwinden

December 10, 2019 -- This was a Tuesday, my day off, and the weather was just too beautiful to spend the day indoors, so I traveled by bus to Allenwinden, not even 30 minutes from here, to check out a castle ruins which I happened to notice on the hiking map. From there it was an easy walk through the farms back down to Zug. 

I had miscalculated on my planning though: On the hiking map, instead of following the official hiking trail, I mapped out some roads through a couple of farms (it is often possible to do this) but when I got there, there were signs forbidding access to vehicles and horses, and only after I passed through the first farm did I realize that there might have been forbidden access to all unauthorized traffic, even pedestrian, "on pain of death!". So I didn't risk the second farm, and had to follow the main road, where there was also construction.... I'll stick to the official hiking trails from now on, if at all possible!

On the start of the trail in Allenwinden, the sign warns me that it is perilous to leave the trail or the fortress grounds, so I expected a much more treacherous trail than it ended up being.

Even though it is December, I'm pretty sure this trail isn't life-threatening.

Information about the Ruins of Wildenburg: First construction in 1200, the fortress was abandoned in 1400.

It's never boring visiting the ruins of fortresses

Not sure what the purpose of this narrow tower was

I always love it when our trails include forested sections into small ravines, usually accessed on such stairways.

This waterfall was special: It built itself a stalagmite slide made of limestone!

Usually there are several bridges to cross at the bottom of these ravines

First glimpse over the city of Zug and Lake Zug

Next to this barn was a road marked on my map, which I followed to descend a section of the hill

Once I passed through the farm, I saw this sign which indicates that no horses or cars are allowed to use this road, but the sign below it also seems to indicated that passage is forbidden for anyone without permission (hopefully no one saw me!)

At the second farm, and on closer inspection, I figured they were quite serious, so I made my way along the regular road, where there was construction going on, and quite a bit of traffic, so not as much fun.

At this farm it was OK to walk down their driveway, because they had a farm store selling eggs.

At the bottom of the hill I came to the community of Inwil, and had a small coffee break on the bench in front of this 450-year old chapel which is under heritage protection

There are many such lovely old farm houses amongst the newer residential developments

This hike started in Allenwil and ended in Zug. Later in February we did a hike starting in Unterägeri and ending in Allenwinden (Those photos HERE)

We have covered a lot of ground in this area because it is easy and quick to get to by public transit

Short Afternoon walk from Knonau (Canton Zürich) to Steinhausen (Canton Zug)

December 1, 2019 (Saturday) -- A very mild early winter this year, and when there is no snow in the lower areas, we can still do a large assortment of local hikes or short afternoon walks.

To get out for some fresh air this winter afternoon we took a train to Knonau, a little town with its own castle, and only a 20-minute trip for us with public transit, so a good starting point when we start late in the day. This town is just North of the border between Canton Zug and Zurich, so the 5-kilometer walk we did from there to Steinhausen (which is one village West of Zug) meant we once again crossed the border line, which is always fun.

Among other things, we came across an "erratic", which is a large stone deposited upon the retreat of a glacier, in this case probably the Reuss Glacier. Amazing to think that there was once glacier ice this far North of the Alps

On really clear days, you can actually see the Alps from this area just northwest of the city of Zug.