The Rigi-Kulm Is An Imposing Alpine Mass, Six Thousand
Feet High, Which Stands By Itself, And Commands A Mighty
Prospect Of Blue Lakes, Green Valleys, And Snowy Mountains
- A Compact And Magnificent Picture Three Hundred Miles
In Circumference.
The ascent is made by rail, or horseback,
or on foot, as one may prefer.
I and my agent panoplied
ourselves in walking-costume, one bright morning,
and started down the lake on the steamboat; we got ashore
at the village of Waeggis; three-quarters of an hour distant
from Lucerne. This village is at the foot of the mountain.
We were soon tramping leisurely up the leafy mule-path,
and then the talk began to flow, as usual. It was
twelve o'clock noon, and a breezy, cloudless day;
the ascent was gradual, and the glimpses, from under
the curtaining boughs, of blue water, and tiny sailboats,
and beetling cliffs, were as charming as glimpses of dreamland.
All the circumstances were perfect - and the anticipations,
too, for we should soon be enjoying, for the first time,
that wonderful spectacle, an Alpine sunrise - the object
of our journey. There was (apparently) no real need
for hurry, for the guide-book made the walking-distance
from Waeggis to the summit only three hours and a quarter.
I say "apparently," because the guide-book had already
fooled us once - about the distance from Allerheiligen
to Oppenau - and for aught I knew it might be getting ready
to fool us again. We were only certain as to the altitudes
- we calculated to find out for ourselves how many hours
it is from the bottom to the top.
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