We’ve not seen any wildlife this trip except for a few marmots and squirrels so far, but there have been a number of domestic animal trail encounters.

We had a great stay at the Blumental Hotel in Murren. Another classic vintage hotel and this one even had internet. Many of our hotels have had balconies and this one looked out over the narrow carless street of Murren and further to the walled cliffs rising to more of the Bernese Oberland’s highest mountains.

One thing that surprised us at dinner in the hotel was that almost every table had English speaking guests. Enough Anglophiles that we got into conversations with several tables which wanted to know about our hike, since they overheard us talking.

Shortly after tasting the creamed carrot soup we knew we were in for a treat. All of our hotels have reservations made with the half-pension plan, which includes dinner and breakfast along with our room. We really like this concept, especially after coming in from an all day hike, where we don’t have to make a decision about where to go to eat and then what to chose from the sometimes bewildering menus. Many of the fancier hotel restaurants actually print out an evening dinner menu for the half-pension guest, so along with the phalanx of silverware and display of glassware one can have fun translating the fare.

AccuWeather promised “Mostly Sunny” for Murren but that must have only been accurate above the the fog and clouds. The almost 4,000′ climb to the pass only gave hints of the wonderous peaks flanking our rise in the clouds. Part of the trail was called the “North Walls Trail” and had 2×3′ interpretive signage from each vantage point detailing the first ascent routes on each wall, when and by whom.

This pass was one of the highest we encounter on the Via Alpina and the fog and low hanging clouds made it the least exciting, almost joy-less in a viewless fog shrouded 4,700′ descent. Oh, and the 7% chance of rain was correct if you don’t count drizzling the last two hours down to Griesalp. And in case you’re curious, there were 261 steps off the back side of that summit. Straight down into the fog.