With a heat wave rolling over Europe, a hike these days needs some careful planning. With outside temperatures in the 36-39°C range, I prefer something inside a forest. And for this, the hike around the Fallenflue was perfect.

The hike is on the rim of the ‘Fallenflue’. I’m not sure the exact origin of the name, but ‘Fallen’ can mean ‘Traps’ or ‘falling’. And ‘Flue’ means an outer edge or rim of a mountain. So maybe this indeed means ‘a rim where you can fall down’ or ‘a rim where they were hunting with some traps.

The map below shows the details:

1. Start the cable car station St. Karl, featuring a big playground and barbecue area and
2. Follow the ‘Chäferliweg’ down to Wart with the beautiful chapel
3. Then follow the #4 to the  look out down to the valley
4. Proceed to the lookout at the Chänzeli
5. At the intersection with the Bruder Klaus memorial, follow #7/#4 to Gründel and return to the starting point

Duration: around 3.5 hours. Most of the trails are inside the forest, so perfect for a hot summer day. The trail is very beautiful and pictures can hardly capture this.

Starting point at the cable station of Illgau-St.Karl:

Following the ‘Chäferli’ (Ladybug) hiking trail signs:

The Ladybugs are a good guidance:

And they are hiding in the trees too:

Old tree on a rock:

The small chapel at Wart:

Following the trail through Wart:

Lookout on the Rim down to the Muotathal valley:

The highlight of this hike is the view from the ‘Chänzeli’. The arrow below shows the location:

The air had a lot of humidity, but still it is a stunning view:

At the intersection to trail #7 a Bruder Klaus Memorial.

The last piece, going up:

Returning back at the starting point:

Happy Flueing:-)

Links

• Cable car Illgau-St. Karl: http://www.seilbahn.illgau.ch
• Illgau: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illgau
• Chäferliweg: http://www.seilbahn.illgau.ch/chaeferliweg.html#chaeferliweg
• Muotathal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muotathal