A Short Piece of the Waldstätterweg: Küssnacht to Merlischachen

Sunday January 23, 2022 -- It was looking like a nice day with lots of sunshine and we really wanted to get out for a walk nearby, so we took the train to Küssnacht and planned to walk a piece of Trail no.98: "Waldstätterweg" which we had not yet done. (This is part of the 115-km trail all around Lake Lucerne). The plan was to walk the 9-km section between Küssnacht and Meggen, but on our way to Küssnacht we could see that the clouds were pulling in, the only place once again with impending cloud-cover, compared to any other direction we could have chosen.

We started on the trail anyhow, hoping that the clouds would lift, but they blocked the fantastic view of the Central Alps which you would normally have on this trail, so I called it quits and we headed down to Merlischachen, having only walked 5 kilometers. Furthermore, as soon as the winter sun is block by clouds or fog, it becomes uncomfortably cold. I prefer to try this again a different day. It was kind of disappointing...

Heading by way of Arth-Goldau, we could have gone South from here, there were no clouds in the Reuss Valley. But we continued West to Küssnacht, in the hopes that the sky was clear there as well. This is Mt. Rigi as seen from Arth. 

Heading up the hill from Küssnacht, it's not looking too good!

Otherwise, it's a very pretty countryside here, and would have been perfect for a winter walk. 

Spotted a buzzard, that's always a treat. 

That buzzard looks too big for the tree

You can barely see to Küssnacht on the other side of the lake

A look at Küssnacht at the foot of Mt.Rigi

Normally you would get a view of the Central Alps from here

A look across the Küssnacht arm of Lake Luzern to Mt. Rigi

Cutting our hike short and heading down to the train station in Merlischachen

At the top of the lake is Küssnacht

Train station in Merlischachen, end of our short afternoon walk....