Pfäffikon ZH - Ricken: “From the Rhine Falls to the Zürioberland, Stage 2”

The second stage starts in Pfäffikon. A gem on the edge of the industrialized Zurich hinterland is Lake Pfäffikon: surprisingly undeveloped, wide reed meadows and flat moors with fever clover and cotton grass characterize the landscape alongside the still water surface and provide a perfect habitat for a rich birdlife.

South of the burgeoning town of Wetzikon, unusual green hills shape the landscape, these elongated drumlins were formed by the Ice Age Linth-Rhine Glacier. After Rüti, the hills start to grow, the ravines get deeper, the forests darker, the climbs tougher, and the panoramas more magnificent. In Goldingen, people mined gold. Pilgrims walked for centuries over the Ricken Pass, which only received a proper road around 1800.