More late January hikes, 2014

Dwight Peck's personal website

Winter 2013-2014

Dispatches from way, way behind the lines in Switzerland

You may not find this terribly rewarding unless you're included here, so this is a good time for casual and random browsers to turn back before they get too caught up in the sweep and majesty of the proceedings and can't let go.

Some more late January expeditions

Farms above Longirod

We're leaving from the village of Longirod, parked near the Stand de Tir (937m), or community shooting range for military practice and general recreation. 26 January 2014.

Dr Pirri sets a vigorous pace

We're passing the farm of La Goncerue (1056m)

Dr Pirri continues to set an unnecessarily vigorous pace

We're onto a sort of ramp, an ancient farm track that leads from Les Frasses up through the cliffs to the pastures near Les Echadex

Dr Pirri is fairly running now

Chamois tracks precede us

Chamois have no misgivings about leaping over the edge and dashing down through the trees, but I do.

Near the top of our ramp (1320m)

We're on a short schedule today so: about-face and back down we go

Dr Pirri precedes us in receding

Out of the woods

The farm of Les Frasses (1244m)

Views of the farm

And we continue on our way

Jump

-- Now you jump.

Luckily, we did not bring our horses today.

That's it for today

The source of the Toleure

The Toleure is a short river that runs into the Aubonne near the arboretum and thence into Lake Geneva. We're just going to pop in and see how the water's running. 1 February 2014.

The fish hatchery

Ah, the Swiss army firing ranges -- you can't go farther, UNLESS you just want to see the Source of the Toleure. But stay on the path and don't touch the projectiles.

That's the Toleure. Where's the water?

Helpful reminder

It's pathetic

It reminds us of The Adventures of Jerry Muskrat, when in the Green Forest the water inexplicably stopped flowing in the Laughing Brook to the Smiling Pool. And a timely reminder, too, since it was published exactly 100 years ago. The culprit was an upstream beaver, as I recall.

Bridge over the dry bed

The waterfall near the source

Wait a minute, what's all this?

What happened to the Sources of the Toleure? It looks like a landfill.

Oh, those funny forestry guys. They just clear-cut the slopes above and threw the junk down here. Good on you, boys. Saved some time and money, probably.

This is what the Source of the Toleure used to look like (last year).

A forestry road up the other side of the ravine

The back side of the barrier: we're almost legal.

The stand de tir of Saubraz and probably Gimel as well

Stand de tir and selfie

The Saubrette, meandering through the village of Saubraz

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