Julier Pass adventure

My husband insisted to book at least one hiking trip during our family holidays, and so we did. Engadin is one of our favourite regions in Switzerland. The Alps there are so different to those that we have closer to our home. They seem to be more rough and rocky, and at some parts they feel like moon land. Hiking there is more complex as you have to watch every single step and it is crucial to choose the right shoes. No one from our family (except of the two of us) had proper hiking shoes, so this was our first task. Once all of them had the right shoes we were ready to go.

We spent the morning in St. Moritz from where we drove to The Julier Pass. We drove there a few times, and every time we reminded ourselves to come back to hike, so now we could finally tick that box. The road of Julier Pass starts at 1769 meters above sea levels, and the highest point is at 2284 meters which makes it an impressive place even though you choose just to drive through it.

There are plenty of hiking trails and we picked one in advance. We were supposed to hike for about 1 hour with no huge changes in elevation. My mom and my aunt were afraid that they would not be able to hike with us, and we took it into consideration when we were choosing the trail. We also prepared picnic in the morning to enjoy it in nature.

Well, people plan, but the plans don't always go as we would wish...

And so it happened that we took a wrong hiking trail...

Our hike started casually, and everybody seemed to be happy. My mom and my aunt were way in the back, but it was good as long as we could see them. I think that they were more interested in the flora than in the mountains, so they took their time to examine every single flower on the way (or so I thought because they were so slow). I, on the other hand, was in the awe of what was around me.

The views can be deceiving and even though these mountains look nearby, they are not. There is a valley between the front and the back part.

I know the Julier Pass from winter when it's really like the moon land, so it was surprising to see it this green. As you can imagine it is not nice to hike there in summer because it gets hot and there are almost no tree providing some shade.

We thought that something wasn't right when the landscape became more and more hilly, but we didn't say anything yet. Maybe we were out of form, so it was feeling more difficult but in fact it was not, who knows. And as long as nobody asked we didn't want to raise any concerns. As in any other family such situations can escalate quickly and end up in an argument, and so we kept hiking...

The views that opened up in front of us were stunning. My brother studies geology and there were many ohs and ahs coming from him. I was happy that everyone was enjoying themselves.

I have heard of stone avalanche already, but didn't recall seeing it before. It's like a waterfall out of rocks...

We were getting higher and higher, so I suggested to find a place for our picnic to keep the mood and motivation up. I was so proud of my mom and my aunt as they weren't complaining yet. I think they were too busy with their flowers identification.

We decided to sit down on the right side of this rocky structure. There was enough shaded space for all of of us - ideal!

I prepared some pizza, pinwheels, veggies with hummus, small sandwiches, and an apple pie for dessert. We sat down and started eating, but there was no chance that we would eat it all. As always, I went overboard and we had to take some food back home.

We spent about 30 minutes relaxing, and then packed our stuff. This is when some questions started popping, and we had to admit that we might have taken a wrong trail. We checked it on the map and found out that we were heading to a lake, but it would take 2 more hours and about 300 meters more in elevation gain which got quickly rejected by the older generation.

We didn't want to leave them there and let them wait, so we decided that we would walk a bit more and then see if there is any other trail going down or we would eventually return via the same trail.

Look at those flowers, I am not surprised that they spent so much time admiring them.

Once I knew how stone avalanches look I started to see them everywhere 😊

The Julier Pass has an important role of connecting Engadin with other parts of Switzerland. The asphalt road was placed almost 100 years ago, and at that time it was one of the main mountain passes in the region. There are other mountain passes in the region too, so there is not so much traffic anymore, but the road still has to be protected, and this is why we see the avalanche barriers to minimise the risk.

The landscape there is very diverse. You can see so many different places within a relatively short hike...

There were a few tiny creeks, and I wanted to try how was the water temperature. I expected that it wouldn't be so cold because there was just so little water, and I was wrong. It is ice-cold! I guess there was still some snow melting close by.

You can see here that one is coming down the mountain...

It didn't take us long to come back down to the road. However, we didn't return yet to the car. We still wanted to walk around without the constant panic (of the older generation again) that we would get lost.

I think that all those creeks go down to this river...

This time, I didn't even bother to try the water temperature 😊

I think that by now you understand the diversity of Engadin - there are small hills, majestic mountains, large fields, strange rocky formations, many creeks, stone waterfalls, diverse vegetation, and I could go on and on.

After a while we returned to the car and drove back home. I think it took us 3 hours and I was expecting everyone to fall asleep, but they all had a lively discussion about our trip. It was nice to hear that they all loved it.

See you next time...