Wolfschlucht - Bärenloch
I did this hike together with two friends on the 19th of July, 2026. I had seen pictures of Bärenloch and since it looked very nice, we decided to visit the area. We followed the Wolfschlucht-Weg and just added a visit to Bärenloch at the end.
Full route: Swisstopo
From Zürich, we went by train to Balsthal where we changed to the bus taking us to Welschenrohr and the start of the hike. Walking out of the village, the path followed gravel roads through open fields and forest. Not long after leaving Welschenrohr, we could see Bärenloch in the rock wall opposite us and it looked really impressive.
After a couple of kilometers, we crossed the road and entered Wolfschlucht, a gorge with up to 100 meter high rock walls. The trail up through the gorge was at times quite steep, but the views were amazing and well worth the effort.
The vegation changed throughout the gorge and at times it almost felt like we were walking in a different and more tropical climate. Once we reached the top of the gorge, we took a short break before continuing on the path leading us out of the gorge and up in direction Hornegg.
Leaving the gorge, the path still went through the forest for some time, and it was nice with the shade, before entering the more open landscape. The hiking trail makes a loop around Hornegg and mainly goes through open fields, before turning back in direction Welschenrohr and Bärenloch.
It was a nice, not too warm and relatively sunny day, and the colors of the landscape and blue skies were really beautiful as we made our way around Hornegg. Along this part, we found a tree under which we had our lunch break and from where we could enjoy the views of the Jura mountains. It was the first hike in this area for all of us and definitely an area I want to come back to for more hiking.
The last part of the hike towards Bärenloch went through forest and at times on rather steep trails. Where the trail to Bärenloch breaks off from the main trail, there was a small opening in the forest with views to the rock wall and Bärenloch above us. The path form here becomes quite narrow and at times steep with lose material. It is though not for long and for the more challenging parts there were ropes and handles to hold onto.
After the last ascent, we reached Bärenloch and it was as impressive, if not more, as I had seen on the pictures. It felt a bit like walking into a cathedral with really high ceilings. We spent some time taking pictures and just enjoying the calmness and beauty of nature before continuing.
There is a tree in Bärenloch which has grown up through one of the holes in the ceiling and it looked incredible. I was generally really happy that we included Bärenloch in our hike and I can only recommend a visit.
We left the same way we had come up and after a short descent, we turned back on the trail to Welschenrohr. In Welschenrohr, we did not have to wait long before we could take the bus back to Balsthal from where we continued with train back home to Zürich.
