Muottas Muragl (and Moremots)

The weather forecast for today was quite mixed: A sunny morning and possible showers and thunder in the afternoon.
So I chose an early start for a 3-hour-walk to the restaurant Muottas Muragl, famous for its great view over the Engadine valley.

I went on a path that’s not one of the main tourist attractions, but winds its way up through ancient forests of Swiss pine and larch, then follows a little river and finally meets the „tourist highway“ close to the restaurant. 

For the first two hours, I didn’t see anyone at all. It had rained last night, as you can see in the pulsatilla seedhead (extra 1). There were hundreds of them. That path must have been amazing in early summer.

As I came out of the shadowy forest, I took a break near the little stream, and spotted a rather small kestrel (extra 2) on one of the rocks. Maybe a juvenile? It seemed to enjoy the sunshine, just like the marmots, of which I (again) saw dozens. 

They were not at all afraid of me, and didn’t even call their warning whistle. One big animal clearly enjoyed the sunshine, it had practically flattened itself on the ledge in front of its burrow. A young one groomed itself just next to it (extra 3).
I watched them for about 20 minutes, just happy to be there. Before I walked on, one of the adults was grazing so close to me that I could take its portrait (extra 4).

I was happy to arrive at my destination around noon. The hike was just 8 km long, but about 700 meters up. I promised myself to get fitter before attempting something like this again.

Still, my timing was almost perfect. As you can see in the main blip, taken on the top, the clouds were closing in already. 20 minutes later, it had become too cold and windy for me to order the coffee I had wanted to drink on the restaurant terrace. I took the wonderful funicular railway (extra 5) to get down again, and soon watched the rain wash over the slopes I had walked up in the morning.