Kandersteg - Come Rain or Shine

[tonyg]

Kandersteg - Where to walk in the rain?

I am off for a short break in Kandersteg on Monday.  The forecast is for much rain   I was planning some high level flower hikes.

Can anyone who has been there suggest places to walk lower down the mountains where I might find something of interest?

[tonyg]

It did rain .... quite a lot but not all the time!  This pic was taken just after I arrived, shortly afterwards I set off on a five hour hike mostly through woodland where the flowers were fabulous.  Maggi has kindly renamed the thread so I will post selected highlights here when time allows.
However, for the record here are some answers to the question I posed.

Kandersteg to Oeschinensee walk up the road to the lake.  Great woodland/woodland margin flora, lots of orchids in summer.

Allmenalp, avoiding the high level paths.

Gasteretal - Varied flora along the valley.  Woodland, meadow and scree.

Sunnbuel - Follow the circular 'Rundweg' route around Arvenwald.  Path is always obvious so you will not get lost in the mist!

[Maggi Young]

Thank goodness there was not unremitting rain, Tony.
Your lovely photo of Globularia  in the Bulb Log section shows what you could still capture -- I was going to say "on film".... had a senior moment there!     ( http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=9314.0 )

[Tony Willis]

Tony

glad you enjoyed it. Only rain! When we were camping therewith the children it deposited several inches of snow overnight in July.

Whatever the weather it is a wonderful area

[tonyg]

A wet Monday afternoon in Kandersteg.  What to do?  A quick look at the map and perhaps we'll try a stroll up the road towards Oechinensee.  If the cloud were to lift perhaps the lake will be as blue as in the brochures.

There is a tarmac road all the way or footpaths through the forest.  Stick to the road and you'll not get lost, even if the mist comes down.  This seemed the best option for me, setting off alone, with the intention of staying out until it gets dark!

In a glade, just a few hundred yards after leaving the village, Rhinanthus alectrolophus, Thymus pugleiodes and Aquilegia atrata.  All will grow in UK gardens.

All names are from Flora Helvetica or Swiss Web Flora - whether they are correct or not ....    Please correct me if you think differently.

[tonyg]

A feast of Orchids along this trail.  The road may be steep at times but the flowers made up for this.

In the next glade, the first of many dactylorhizas.  These are likely Dacylorhiza maculata although I am no expert on this group of plants.  A little further on was one plant many times larger than all the others.  Between these sites, growing against the trunks of pines, were a couple of Neottia nidus-avis, Birds Nest Orchid.  Often difficult to spot I would have missed them but for investigating hepatica leaves in the woodland margin.
I saw many Fragrant Orchids, this was the first.
Several good populations (although not dense) of Lesser Butterfly Orchid, Platanthera bifolia.  The dark, misty conditions showed them off very well I thought.

[tonyg]

Other garden plants along the way included Scabiosa columbaria, Centaurea montana and Astrantia major.  Then there was the surprisingly eyecatching pinkish form of Plantago media ... or perhaps it was just the bug that drew my eye?
Rhododendron hirsutum popped up occasionally along the way, distinguished from the very similar Rhododendron ferrugineum by having hairy leaves. 

[tonyg]

Twayblade, Listera ovata, was common along the way.  Fiendish to photograph, green against green and easily missed, they are abundant once you get your eye in.
I only spotted one or two Burnt orchids, Orchis ustulata.  I believe that it is now known as Neotinia ustulata.  This one was suffering a problem common in UK gardens this wet summer!
Final orchid today was a solitary Red Helleborine, Epipactis atrorubens.  Throughout the trip I saw many of these in bud.

[tonyg]

Approaching the lake, the rain and the cloud came down (again).  All the tourist pictures show the lake a beautiful blue, I saw only a sheet of grey, bubbling slightly as the rain lashed down.  I still managed to record Aconitum ?napellus with it's feet in the rising waters.

[tonyg]

As the threat of darkness loomed I turned back for the Village.  I crossed the river on the way down, returning on a different road.  A fortunate decision as I encountered the most impressive colony of Pyrola rotundifolia that I have ever seen.  They were quite common in ones and twos along the way but here they made a big impression.

Snails aplenty tonight - well it was snail weather 

[Maggi Young]

  How much further was the water goingto rise on that poor Aconitum, do you think?

 Magnificent stand of the Pyrola 

[tonyg]

Day Two dawned ..... cloudy and the cloud base was at zero metres

Walking to the Allmenalp gondola I spied Echium vulgare, Vipers bugloss by the village stream.

The cloud lifted a little but as the gondola rose, the view of the cascade disappeared.

Atop the mist was thick, droplets clinging to everything ... including my leaky boots 

[tonyg]

Meadow flowers aplenty all around the berghaus at Unter Allmen.   Lotus alpinus, polygonum, various dactylorhizas, some very attractive forms.  Gymnadenia conopsea and finally Ranunculus aconitifolius, disappearing into the mist.  I spent an hour or so exploring around the berghaus before following the clear path into the swirling mist.

[Martinr]

The great thing about really wet weather is it makes the watefalls spectacular

[tonyg]

Onward and upward into the mist.

Colourful meadows ...probably more so in sunshine

Every flower coated in droplets

Geum rivale

Orchis mascula - Early Purple Orchid, just a few

Likewise Paradisea liliastrum.  High above the path, reached by wading through knee high grass .... another drenching!