The ‘Engelstock’ is located in the Canton Schwyz, Switzerland, with an elevation of 1287 m. A hike around it reveals stunning views to mountains and lakes.
Hike around the Engelstock
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Category Archives: Switzerland
Easter Blooming in the Time of COVID-19
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It is the 4th week: Stores, school and universities are closed. Everyone should stay at home if possible. It is really a special situation, and there is no Easter traffic jam to the South.
For nature it means less pollution, there is much less traffic, and ideal to enjoy nature. But we should stay at home. I’m very happy that I live in a rural area and that I can enjoy this beautiful blooming tree behind the house.
Blooming Pear Tree
Storm “Sabine” is coming …
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One week after the storm “Petra”, the new one named “Sabine” is approaching Switzerland. This winter is really special so far: nearly no snow, record high temperatures and it feels more like spring than winter…
It should be winter now?
Göscheneralp and Bergseehütte
The ‘Göscheneralp’ is a beautiful valley in the central part of Switzerland with an embankment dam building an artificial lake. The valley hosts several beautiful hikes and climbing routes. The area is the home of several SAC (Swiss Alpine Club) huts, including the Bergseehütte which is the topic of this hike.
Bergseehütte
Hiking around the Fallenflue
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.
Fallenflue Chänzeli
Reverse Engineering of a Not-so-Secure IoT Device
The ‘Internet of Things’ is coming! It started as an overused marketing hype with no real use case (who needs internet connected fridges? Who wants the internet connected toilet paper?).
New ‘things’ start to pop up, useful or not: From smart bulbs (Philips Hue), thermostats (Nest), smart TV (Samsung and others) up to voice assistants (Alexa, Cortana, Google). You might even have installed one of these, right? What about temperature and humidity sensors? Probably there is nothing wrong with that?
But what would you think if one morning you find a strange unknown device installed under your working desk, connected to the cloud and internet?
IoT Device attached under a working desk
Weissdorn/Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna)
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I like the Crataegus or ‘Hawthorn’. The small white flowers of the white variant are not really spectacular alone, but together they build a beautiful ensemble:
Weissdorn (click to enlarge)
The Hawthorn provides food and shelter for many birds. And according to legends, they are associated with fairies.
Happy Flowering 🙂
Dandelion, Snow and Mythen
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The long Easter Weekend has its benefits, beside of preparing lecture material and writing up geeky technology articles :-). I love that view with meadows sprinkled with all the Dandelion, and the snow-covered mountains in the back. Back on the left the peaks of the Mythen.
Talkessel Schwyz (click to enlarge)
Blooming Pear Tree
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Spring time definitely arrived in the lower areas of Switzerland, with the snow melting away in the higher areas.
Blooming Pear Tree
Snow Melting to Spring
Year End Linden Tree
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We did not receive much snow this winter in the lower areas. I really love this linden tree (Tilia, or ‘lime tree’ in some areas) up above a hill, and it always looks different.
Hiking around Waldisee and Salisee
The heat wave in Switzerland is still going on, and the best way to escape it is to go up to the mountains and higher lakes. This hike is going up to the Waldisee: a lake high at the end of the Bisistal, Canton Schwyz, Switzerland.
Waldisee
Four-Lake-Hike: Engelberg – Melchsee-Frutt
Switzerland has many lakes, the “4-Lake Hike” in the Jochpass region is probably one of the most beautiful hikes in the central part of Switzerland: beautiful flora, stunning mountain and lake views in the mighty Mt. Titlis area.
Trüebsee
Hiking the Grossbodenkreuz and around the Glattalpsee
It is summer time in Switzerland, and the best time of the year to hike in the Alps and mountains. This time I’ll share with you our journey around the Glattalpsee (Lake Glattalp). Expect stunning views of Swiss mountains, flora, fauna and curious critters:
Kühe auf Glattalp
Klöntalersee
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The Klöntalersee is a lake in the Canton of Glarus, Switzerland. The lake has a size of about 3.3 km² and has been created by a prehistoric rock slide after the last ice age. From 1908 on it is used as a reservoir for electricity production. The picture below is from the Schwammhöhe looking down to the lake.
Klöntalsee from Schwammhöhe
Happy Klöntaling 🙂
Argynnis
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Summer definitely arrived in Europe. And it is the time of the year with beautiful butterflies. Featuring the Argynnis:
Argynnis (click to enlarge)
Happy Butterflying 🙂
Knabenkraut and all the other ones…
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Summer finally arrived, and the alpine meadows are blooming. Enjoy a collection of flowers (click to enlarge)….
Knabenkraut
Winter Wonderland Melchseefrutt
Winter is coming to an end, but there is still lots of snow up in the higher mountains. This weekend we spent in Melchsee-Frutt, a mountain resort village at 1920 m above sea level in the Swiss Alps, still covered by 3-4 meters of snow. Technically the Winter season closed this weekend, but it is still ‘Winter Wonderland’ up there. The lakes are covered by snow and ice, and it is beautiful to stroll around in this wonderland. Enjoy!
Melchsee-Frutt
All Saints Day with the Stoos Ridge Hike
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The ‘All Saints Day’ (Nov 1st) is a public holiday for some parts of Switzerland. And because I’m lucky to live in that part and because it could have been one of the last days with excellent hiking conditions, I wanted to hike a trail which has been on my bucket list for a very long time: the ‘Gratwanderweg’ (ridge hike) on the Stoos.
Ridge Walk
Mushrooms, Mushrooms, Mushrooms, …
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It is the time of the year where trees lose their leaves and mushrooms grow on the ground.
Mushrooms
