Aare Gorge

Latitude: 46.719783 / Longitude: 8.209141

Difficulty:		Total ratings: 1
Rating:		Total ratings: 1

The Aare Gorge is a section of the river Aare that carves through a limestone ridge near the town of Meiringen, in the Bernese Oberland region of Switzerland. The gorge is an indirect product of glaciation; 10,000 years ago, just as the Ice Age was coming to an end, torrential runoff water from melting glaciers eroded a deep, narrow chasm through the limestone barrier. Although barely one mile long, this passage is bordered by sheer cliffs up to 165 feet (50 m) high on either side. The gorge varies in width from some 30 metres (98 ft) at its widest to just 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) at its narrowest. The gorge is a popular tourist attraction for many visitors who like natural beauty and are attracted by the nearby Reichenbach Falls, which Sir Arthur Conan Doyle selected as the proper set for Sherlock Holmes' murder by Professor Moriarty. Before the walkway was opened, the only way was to go through the dangerous river torrent, which provided fables by travellers, who claimed to see large snakes and monsters.

This text uses material from the Wikipedia article Aare_Gorge, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0

Aare gorge day hike - Blog

By: BW Admin (9/5/2015)

Date: 8/13/2015

Rating:

Total: 0

This is a beautiful day hike that can be done in about 15 minutes if you don't stop to smell the flowers. The gorge is accessible at both ends, we took the train to the Eastern entrance. The train actually stops inside a tunnel with an exit bored through the rock that takes you to a small foot bridge that crosses the river. From there it was a few hundred yards of a relatively steep uphill path to get to the gorge trail entrance. The steepest parts of the uphill had steps and handrails. From there it was around $8.00/CHF 7.50 for adults to enter the trail. The path is a raised wood and metal structure that runs the length of the gorge, sometimes veering off into tunnels through the side of the mountain equipped with overhead lighting. From the start of the trail on the Eastern end it is mostly downhill/level walking the entire way. Highly recommended and well worth the effort if you find yourself in the Meiringen area. There were a large number of tourists on the path when we were there, you may have to pause now and again to let the larger groups pass by for the best photo ops.