Reichenbach Falls and Aareschlucht Gorge Part IV:
After I got off the train, I crossed a bridge over the turquoise river. The mountains framed the river on one side and on the other, two rock cliffs towered over the water on both sides. The view was breathtaking and I realized that I was looking at the Gorge! I eagerly followed the trail up to a road and a tourist building for the Aareschlucht Gorge, complete with a dragon logo. I went inside the building and after showing my train ticket to the person in the booth, I walked out to begin my walk alongside the gorge.

A wooden path followed the gorge from the West gate (where I was walking towards) to the East gate (where I started from). The wooden path was high above the water and right next to one of the rock cliffs. The turquoise water flowed almost noiselessly underneath the path and the chiseled rock faces rose high above my head on both sides. On the top of the cliffs though, there was grass, trees and other vegetation visible. The view was breathtaking and no picture can ever do justice to the beauty of the gorge. The path wound around the rock cliff and got more narrow as I walked closer to the West gate. At one point, there was a large cavern where rocks filled the gaping hole between the rock cliff that I was walking next to. I understood from the signs (that were in German) that there used to be a waterfall at the point that had dried up a while ago. The entire gorge was created from a glacier that used to sit on top of the rocks and had melted. The water eroded the rock into the rock cliffs that I saw which is similar to how the Grand Canyon was formed.

I followed the path (which was an easy stroll...I definitely needed that after my day of hiking/walking everywhere) and the area between the rocks got more narrow. After going around a major bend, a small waterfall appeared! It was a lot smaller than Reichenbach falls but still cool! The waterfall looks like nature turned on a water faucet and forgot to turn it off. The water falls off the rock cliff into the river directly. I went into carved out caves and I got a closer look at the waterfall. I continued to walk in the cave but I followed a route that led out to be near the river again.

Then, I walked in and out of the cave and viewing ledges as the rock cliffs came closer and closer together until they were a mere few inches apart. The rock sides no longer looked chiseled as they did before, but were carved out in long strips. They reminded me of what craters look like on the moon from pictures except vertical. After 20 minutes of dodging in and out of caves, I saw bright light and I exited the gorge to a view of the river and the mountains at the West gate. The gorge is a magnificent place that proves the beauty of nature.

I bid the gorge farewell and I made my way back to the train station (though not before taking a break at the playground nearby the rest station on this side of the gorge gate). I took the small blue train back to the Meiringen train station. I missed the train to Interlaken by a few minutes and had to wait about an hour to catch the next train. I took this time to have dinner because I had a feeling I would not be back to Our Chalet until late. My journey back was long because I had to wait for long periods of time between some trains. During my layover in Speiz, I ventured out of the train station and went into town a little bit. Spiez is situated on a beautiful lake. Among houses and shops, a castle overlooked the lake. The town centre was quaint and filled with different shops which were closed.

I made it back to Our Chalet around 10:30pm and I trudged back to camp house, falling into bed right away. The day was filled with many adventures and one thing that I find entertaining is that I had four people ask me for questions during the day;  once in English, twice in Swiss-french and once in Swiss-german. Then, I was reading the Hunger Games on the train and a woman started to talk to me. She and her family had biked from somewhere past Adelboden to Interlaken...what a long bike ride!

Reichenbach falls and Aareschlucht Gorge are definitely worth seeing and I am glad to have satisfied my appetite for waterfalls on this day off!