Tschierv: Wandering through the Swiss National Park
The Swiss National Park is one of the few places where there are no visible signs of civilization on the mountains. No huts, lifts, or restaurants. Normally, you can find little pockets of life in the mountains, but here the only life is wildlife.
There are a few small hotels, restaurants, and grocery stores along the Post bus line. When we arrived, we purchased sandwiches, snacks, and drinks before beginning our hike. At the end of our hike, we rewarded ourselves with a cold beer and radler at a restaurant at our destination Post bus stop.
Enjoying a radler at a restaurant near the Süsom Givè (Passo) bus stop
Now onto the hike itself. This was a shorter moderate hike, since it was 8.8 km, 2h 48m, and 674m in elevation gain. The hike was not technically challenging, which made it feel even easier.
View from the top
On the way up, there were some fences, which I presumed to be for wild life conservation. The Swiss National Park is serious about protecting wildlife. It is best to read up on these topics before planning a trip there. Especially in the winter, winter sports are strictly controlled here and there are more “calm zones” for animals, where there are large fines for entering these zones. There is a video on how to see these zones in my Swiss Topo tutorials.
The rules of the Swiss National Park:
Charming rolling hills in front of the rockslides
After the ascent, the path levels out for almost the rest of the way. There are such interesting land formations in the National Park. The trail went from a forest to these strange and whimsical little rocky hills.
Under the rockslide
After the hills, there was this massive rockslide that is starting to become overgrown with new pine trees and flowers.
Angle looking down from the rockslide
The flowers were so beautiful in the glow of the setting sun.
Heading down the narrower trail to towards the bus stop
Finally we followed a narrower trail through a lovely forest that was fading into the yellows and oranges of fall. It was the end of September when we embarked on this journey. This is such a wonderful time of year, especially for hiking, since the air has a taste of fresh crispness but is still warm enough to soak in the sunshine without multiple layers.
The starting bus stop is: Tschierv, plaz
The ending bus stop: Süsom Givè (Passhöhe)
Here is the link to the route:
Overview of hike including elevation profile
