Mount Pilatus: Eles
As promised in my previous article about Mount Pilatus, I planned to delve a little deeper into hiking around some of Switzerland’s most majestic mountain ranges. So, as promised, I will give you just that. Esel was a hiking trail that branches off from the main visitor center of the mountain: Hotel Pilatus-Kulm. The hike up to the Esel peak is about 20 minutes, and only strenuous if you have trouble walking up lots and lots of stairs. I’m not kidding here. The StepMaster 2000 didn’t prepare me for this one.
The wonderful part about hiking in Europe is that no one really cares about what you do. I mean, it’s definitely no American National Park where you’re quite literally being watched by every forest ranger known to man-kind. European mountains and hikes have a much more free and relaxed atmosphere. People are constantly doing reckless things and no one even minds them any attention because they’re too busy pulling off their own shenanigans.
Not only is it directly overlooked when people put themselves in danger, it’s actually encouraged! Okay, okay, I’m not saying I was jumping off the mountain, but I did feel quite liberated, and don’t think anyone would’ve really minded if I had. I was no longer horrified by the threat of being chastised by random onlookers, or being threatened by my mother – all which often happen to me. This was true freedom, and I was just soaking it in.
When we arrived at the top of the Esel trail, we were greeted by glorious 360 views of Switzerland and were surprised by the closeness of the nearby snowy mountains that peeped their peaks through fluffy white clouds. But, like I said, danger was encouraged, so naturally, I obliged. I kid you not, there was even a ladder leading off of the panorama-outlook-type-area and onto the mountain itself. Although a little difficult to climb down, and with my heart beating into my throat at the mere thought of no longer being on the trail, the descend was quite easy. Definitely more mentally than physically challenging.
But once my feet settled onto the soft grassy earth, I knew it would take me an extraordinary amount of effort to gather the motivation to leave my newfound sanctuary. With the light breeze whipping the grass into my ankles, I kept moving forward, compelled to absorb as much of my view as humanly possible. My eyes devoured the surrounding landscape as I plopped down onto a mound of dirt. I wanted to lay down and sleep forever, cradled in the greenery engulfing my body, sheltered by the enormous giants that rose from below me. I wanted to build a house here and drench the entirety of my life staring out into this humanized screensaver. I wanted every single day of my life to be started by waking up to a view as intoxicating as the one staring straight back at me. I was invigorated by the pure luxury of just simply sitting. Simply staring. Simply being.
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