Where Goethe already hiked

The Reichenbach Valley lies away from the main traffic and tourist flows and has therefore been able to preserve its primitive, wild-romantic character. Here time seems to have stood still, and the deceleration is tangible. In October 1779, the world-famous poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe hiked from Grindelwald over the Grosse Scheidegg to the Hasli Valley. He was so overwhelmed by the impressions that he wrote at the end of the journey: “No thought, no description, no memory reaches the beauty and grandeur of the objects.” Even the trip to the starting point of the hike, the Schwarzwaldalp bus stop, is worthwhile. The path is easy to find, follow the signposts for Meiringen. First, the route leads to the Rychenbach and follows it to Broch. Then a path runs next to the road to the entrance of the Rosenlaui Gorge and the historic Hotel Rosenlaui. Continuing close to the banks of the Rychenbach, you walk on a footpath past Gschwantenmad. According to the project for the Schattenhalb 4 power plant, most of the water from the Rychenbach is to be diverted through a tunnel to a new power plant near the reservoir. However, this would cause the affected valley section to lose its uniqueness. The change to the hard-surfaced road signals that the tour’s destination, the Kaltenbrunnen bus stop near Meiringen and the Kaltenbrunnensäge mountain inn, will soon be reached.