Amden - Mattstogg
I did this hike with two friends on the 16th of June, 2024. We had looked for peaks with panoramic views close to Zürich, and came across Mattstogg above Amden. There is a lift running from Amden to Niederschlag, for those wanting to cut the part through town.
Full route: Swisstopo
After a short train ride from Zürich to Ziegelbrücke and a bus to Amden, we started the hike. Once you are out of town, the hike initially takes you through forest, before you come out in the open fields. We had to cross a couple of fields with cows, which is always and interesting experience.
Walking up, we also crossed a lot of flower fields, with flowers in many different colors. The weather was still quite good, but the weather forecast had showed the possibility of heavier clouds after lunch, so we continued without too many breaks.
The higher we got, the more amazing views we had. Although it was cloudy, we could still see the turquoise color of Walensee, and some mountains peaks in Glarus behid.
As promised by meteoswiss, the clouds slowly started coming up higher, covering the trail we had walked so far. I don’t mind clouds, and often find that it makes for some very different and spectacular views.
Until here, the hiking path had been easy, on road or through forest, and over fields on flat wide parts. This changes on the last part up to Mattstogg, where the hiking trails get narrow, steeper and with a few very short parts, where you have to climb and hold on to chains in the rock wall. Nowhere did any of us find it problematic though.
From the top of Mattstogg, we had really nice views, in between the clouds coming by. There were a few other people up here, but not so many that it got too crowded. We had lunch on the top, before starting the descent in direction Amden.
For the first part down, it got very cloudy again, but then slowly cleared up, the further down we got. The way to the top is the same up and down, but from the bottom of Mattstogg, we decided on a different route back to Amden.
On the last part down to Amden, the clouds disappeared, and we again had blue skies and sun.
In Amden, we had some time before the bus came, and we decided on a coffee from one of the restaurants. The bus took us back to Ziegelbrücke, from where we caught a train back to Zürich.
