Hiking in Elm, Kanton Glarus, Switzerland

We drove for 1 hour 15 mins, from the canton of Zurich, east-south-east through Schwyz, and into the canton of Glarus. I guess that's "canton" in English and French, but "Kanton" in German, hence the confused non-consistency. Up a side valley, at the very end, sits the secluded village of Elm.

At the end of an unlikely-looking narrow road, a man sat on a wooden bench waiting for customers to ferry up the mountain. Riding a little, 4-person cable car up, we were able to begin our hike at a higher elevation. There were only two of these blue cars going, one on each side. One went up while the other went down (8 minutes each way). Can you see the hole in the mountain rock face on the left? It's Martin’s Hole, a "natural spectacle." Twice a year, in March and October, the sun shines through it onto the church tower in Elm. Kind of cool. It's 16 metres wide.

On our hike, we passed several waterfalls, streams, and wildflower species.

We climbed up to the top of the waterfall, and beyond, to a plateau where the river was flat and fun to play in. That's my foot on the right, above, and see the rest of my family way down the hill by the stream? No? The three of them are down there resting/playing, just before the stream plunges off the mountain, and that's how steep that hill was, right over the top of the waterfall. I was sitting on an overhang suspended over lots of nothingness. Quite a rush. I had to climb down backwards!

I just love fields at high altitude, filled with random collections of happy, free flowers planted by God.