The monastery was a nice relaxing place to stay. Of course the church bells chimed every half hour throughout the night, so our sleep was interrupted. 

With the windows open I could hear the rain that began early in the morning. After a pilgrim breakfast provided by the Monastery at the pilgrim’s table, we walked out into the rain.

Our morning was a wet one. The first hour was nice and flat. For some reason a couple of cows thought us very curious and came right up to the fence to investigate the strange sighting of 3 hikers.

Along the way we passed Alpental (home of the William Tell legend)

Our climb began all at once. The incline was incredibly steep. Thank goodness the rain had just turned to a mist, so we could pack up our rain gear and not get overheated.

Part way up the incline, our friend Otto passed us after chatting a short time. Because of the rain and cloud cover, it was kind of mysterious.

Suddenly the mist turned into a downpour. We quickly put on our rain gear as we huddled under the eaves of a barn. As we continue to climb the wind whipped around us as the temperature dropped. We found a little chapel to step into to get out of the elements. To our surprise our friend Otto was sitting inside waiting for the rain to stop. We had a nice visit and Mark had the opportunity to present Otto with a pin.

Much to our surprise Otto shared with us that we had already hit the highest point on Jacobsweg. That high point is 4619ft (1408m). Since we will divert off of Jakobsweg, it wasn’t our highest point but it was still significant.

The descent was challenging because of the rocks,loose gravel, wet trail, and the narrowness of the path. But the views as the clouds lifted were amazing. I do not know if the pictures do the views justice. An in-person visit is really necessary to take in the mountains. But we will try to show you some of the views.

Our day ended in the village of Schwytz (pronounced ShvEtz with a long E). We shared again a pilgrim dinner lovingly prepared by Allison and Nadine. Reto, our first pilgrim friend received a pin since his journey will take a different path tomorrow.