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| Matthew Fletcher, Zermatt artist, and fashion trend setter.. |
I stopped a lot. To take pictures, obviously.
This part of the trail inspired me to skip. All I was missing were bunches of wildflowers in each hand..But that would make me look crazy so I settled with just skipping.
I couldn't remember the last time I felt this free, this happy... I felt on top of the world.
And I kind of was.
Let's backtrack for a second so I can explain this:
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| Heinrich on the rocks..
That's right. I was hiking around taking pictures of a tiny stuffed sheep, that I, with the help of Bearded J, had named Heinrich. So if I didn't look crazy enough skipping through wildflowers, this should do it.
I had purchased Heinrich in town for my one and a half year old niece, before we took the cog train up to Gornergrat. I had decided it would be fun to take pictures of him throughout Switzerland and make a photo book for her of his adventures.
Now back to the hike.
It was glorious. Then it got even better when I came upon an alpine lake or two..no big deal. It was here that I decided to take a little rest.
  
Another Swiss mountain artist
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It was a herd of sheep, up yonder! I couldn't believe I just ran into these guys on the trail!
This is the period of my hike that we'll call "chillin with the sheep," because I did. For at least a half hour I just hung out in the herd of sheep. It was so cool.
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| Day 31: I think they have accepted me as one of their own... |
Necessary sheep selfie
After my stint with my new sheep family.. I continued along the hike. I came to a trail intersection with a sign pointing in nine different directions and the trail branching off in several ways as well. I pondered which way to go. I knew I needed to go towards Zermatt, but three choices on the sign said Zermatt. I didn't want to take the easy road, only hike to the next train stop, and hop on the cogtrain the rest of the way down. I wanted to conquer my Gornergrat to Zermatt quest the right way! For a moment, Robert Frost popped into my head.
Then a lively couple approached the sign. They were trying to do the same thing. I also learned that they were dairy farmers. Somehow this made me feel safer. Together we figured out which was the correct path to hike all the way down, and decided that strength in numbers would be helpful. Since everyone else who had encountered the "sign of many directions" while we were standing there had branched off to the shorter routes, it was just me and the farmer couple from Holland for the rest of the hike...
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| The farmer couple from Holland
We quickly learned that this longer trail was also a very steep trail. Farmer lady often looked back at me, "Are you alright?" "You aren't afraid of heights are you?"
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"Why yes, lovely farmer lady, I am in fact terrified of heights..but I'll be fine" I told her.
Besides moral support and cheerleaders, the farmer couple was great for taking pictures. I took some of them, they took some of me, it was a beautiful exchange.
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| I wasn't as daring as farmer lady, she laid out on that rock to the left sprawled over that cliff to pose for her photo... |
We reached a point where we could see the town of Zermatt, that looked like tiny little houses fit for dolls. Since we could see it, it couldn't be too much further, right? Wrong.
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| Zermatt from above
I'd been hiking for hours, and although we could see Zermatt, it was still very far away. It was rocky and so steep that there were actually ropes to assist on parts of the trail. We continued down for another hour or so, and I was sure I'd need a knee replacement the following day. That is, if we ever made it back. Farmer lady kept looking back to check on me, and saying she thought we were getting closer. I was skeptical.
Finally we reached more level ground. My legs were like jello. I also wouldn't have minded some jello because the breakfast I had packed in hours and hours ago that morning had worn out, and I was famished. We were now hiking along the river which was a good sign, but the bad sign was we couldn't see Zermatt at all. But look at this pretty waterfall:
We kept hiking along, the river rushing next to us, and I learned that Holland farmer couple had three daughters, one about my age who was also a teacher. I also learned that they made all sorts of cheese at their farm. Mmmmm cheese. I couldn't wait to get back and eat. And drink. Alcohol.
Then we came to another multi choice sign. Two of the ways said Zermatt. The way we chose started to bring us back uphill a bit and that's when I started to get really concerned that my legs might fall off. Then the river rushing became louder. Except we were pretty high up again. Confusion swam in my head. Then I saw why.
 
Wait. We had to go over this skinny little bridge? I thought that was only in movies. I looked around for a film crew, but nope this was for real. I instantly regretted the large burger I stuffed in my mouth the previous evening. Any bit of extra weight and this thing could go down.
Holland couple assured me we had to go over the bridge.
I took a bit of convincing. By a bit I mean a lot.
My choices were either follow them over the bridge that looked like it could snap at any second, with us pummeling down into the ravine hundreds of feet below into the racing river water..or turn around and try to find my way back by myself.
So I followed.
I tried to look straight ahead at Farmer Man who didn't look so sure footed himself. I held onto the rails with a death grip as the bridge shook, swayed, and bounced with our every step.
It was a really long bridge. I don't think I breathed the entire time.
We made it to the end and all I could think was no one will believe I did this. So I got proof.
By the way, the face of terror that I'm making in the picture is the exact expression I had frozen on my face the entire journey across the skinny bridge.
I had conquered the bridge! For sure we had to be closer to Zermatt now!
Why then, did it still look so tiny?!
Holland Farmers and I hiked along further until we came to another sign. The sign informed us that it was still another hour and forty five minutes to reach Zermatt. Oh hell no. Then we saw another sign for the lift at Furi. Only fifteen more minutes. Done.
 
Scenes from Furi, Switzerland
Farmer Lady and I had to pee. Bad. We hurried to the lift in Furi and luckily they had a restroom. While we peed for what seemed like hours, Farmer Man looked at the schedule. Suddenly, he burst into the women's bathroom, yelling that the last lift ride was leaving right that minute. We ran, pulling our pants up, and leaping into the last lift car as the station manager yelled to us to just buy our tickets at the bottom. Phew!
Lift from Furi to Zermatt
We breathed a collective sigh of relief at the bottom, paid our eleven Euros, and walked into Zermatt together. Then it was time to say goodbye to my new farmer friends from Holland. Farmer Lady hugged me and did the double cheek kiss. I pulled away after two cheek kisses, since that's what I was used to from cheek kissing in Italy. Little did I know, in Holland and other places in Europe they do a triple cheek kiss. Oops! We laughed, "I'm used to two!" I exclaimed. I thanked them for hiking with me for the past several hours. I had loved meeting them, but I was ready for a shower, some food, and a drink or five with the two j's if they had survived their adventure too...
A Swiss selfie
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