Switzerland has one major thing going for it, and they know it. The mountains around here are plain spectacular. They have developed trails and cabins, ski slopes, managed meadows and forests, all while keeping the natural state very much intact, no sense of over development anywhere. Although at times you've got to wonder, it's so Disney like here that it's hard to believe it's all natural. Every blade of grass, tree, flower, cabin, barn, dirt road, it all seems so perfect that I can't help but think it's been coaxed a little over the years to get this way. Regardless, it's here and I'm really enjoying taking it all in.
This weekend spring weather is finally coming around. Saturday was a little rainy to start, cooler, but turned nice in the afternoon so I headed out on my road bike for a loop to the top of the local mountain, Mont Saleve, which has great views on one side of Geneva, the lake, and the Jura mtns to the North, while the other side of Saleve looks out across France to the Mont Blanc massif, with it's year round snow capped peaks. This is my favorite spot in all the Geneva area, and I never tire of the views from it's ridge top, a mere 12 miles from the apartment by road, or just 5 miles to the base of the cable car -the cheater way to the top.
Sunday I broke out my mtn bike for the first time this year and headed up in to the Jura mtns for a little exploring of trails under blue skies and nice 70F temps. We call the Jura's the West Virginia of France and Switzerland, sitting on the border between the two countries and home to small towns and villages that look a little like rust and coal belt towns of the Appalachians, albeit French style. The trail I chose is a sign-posted "National Suisse Route" trail specifically for mtn biking. They have trails all over the country for hiking, biking, skiing, whatever you fancy, all mapped, signed, and in many places with manned Alpine huts where you can purchase a night in a bed, a great hot meal and all the beer and wine you could possibly want. Just like Disney would design a country...
Trail through a mountain top meadow. Idyllic...
There were tree stump carvings scattered throughout the forest, most with roofs built over them to protect from the weather and keep them from rotting.
A warming hut, probably used more in the winter for XC skiing, built the same year I was.
Not sure what this is suppose to be - A deer doing something to a tree?
Lumberjack carving next to the warming hut.
The view from many spots along the trail.
This weekend spring weather is finally coming around. Saturday was a little rainy to start, cooler, but turned nice in the afternoon so I headed out on my road bike for a loop to the top of the local mountain, Mont Saleve, which has great views on one side of Geneva, the lake, and the Jura mtns to the North, while the other side of Saleve looks out across France to the Mont Blanc massif, with it's year round snow capped peaks. This is my favorite spot in all the Geneva area, and I never tire of the views from it's ridge top, a mere 12 miles from the apartment by road, or just 5 miles to the base of the cable car -the cheater way to the top.
Sunday I broke out my mtn bike for the first time this year and headed up in to the Jura mtns for a little exploring of trails under blue skies and nice 70F temps. We call the Jura's the West Virginia of France and Switzerland, sitting on the border between the two countries and home to small towns and villages that look a little like rust and coal belt towns of the Appalachians, albeit French style. The trail I chose is a sign-posted "National Suisse Route" trail specifically for mtn biking. They have trails all over the country for hiking, biking, skiing, whatever you fancy, all mapped, signed, and in many places with manned Alpine huts where you can purchase a night in a bed, a great hot meal and all the beer and wine you could possibly want. Just like Disney would design a country...
Trail through a mountain top meadow. Idyllic...
There were tree stump carvings scattered throughout the forest, most with roofs built over them to protect from the weather and keep them from rotting.
A warming hut, probably used more in the winter for XC skiing, built the same year I was.
Not sure what this is suppose to be - A deer doing something to a tree?
Lumberjack carving next to the warming hut.
The view from many spots along the trail.
