Hike to "Hoher Kasten"
Last saturday i went hiking with my friend Karin around a mountian calles "Hoher Kasten", which is part of the mountain area "Alpsteingebirge" in the northeast of Switzerland. By train you can get there from St. Gallen in about 30minutes. First we hiked up the "Hoher Kasten", we had about 1:45 Hours to get there, it was pretty steep. As we arrived at the top, the weather suddenly changed, and many clouds and fog came up, and it started raining like hell. Fortunately we soon arrived at the restaurant, and after like an hour rest the weather got better, and we continued hiking. The trail went along the ridge of the mountains and we had some spectacular views of the Rhine-valley and of the mountain lakes. After a very very steep road at the end of the trail we arrived after about 8 to 9 hours back in Brülisau. In hour guidebook the tour was marked as a 6:30h hike...but we have walked pretty fast. So I dont know how "normal" hikers could do that..

I can say, that the hiking area near the "Hoher Kasten" and the "Säntis" is a very spectacular place, where you can get some really nice views. If your around Appenzell, you should definetly check it out!
Greetz Marco

The "Hoher Kasten" is in the middle, where the gondola goes up from 600m above sea level to 1800m. We walked...

The cows were waiting to get to their field.

On a clear day you can see up to 100 kilometers.

There was a restless squirrel jumping around in the trees.

The gondola station and the restaurant on top of the mountain

We just got near to the top, and it started to get all windy and wet.

On top of the "Hoher Kasten", there were many clouds.

There were many hikers on the trail, that used the Cable railway.

A view down the "Rheintal", with the Rhine in the middle. On the other side is Austria.

A view down to the "Sämptisersee"

There were many paragliders around

A lonely raven

The "Stauberen Hütte"

we continued to hike the trail

There were some fast moving clouds at the end of the valley, coming up from the "Rheintal"

The "Bergrestaurant Bollenwies"

The Fälensee

We headed back in direction of the "Hoher Kasten", which is the mountain in the middle.

The "Sämptiser See" with some great lights.

On the way back to Brülisau.

In the Brülisauer valley there were some nice creeks

cow

The last view up the "Hoher Kasten"