Caumasee & Crestasee – hiking in the Flimserwald

Perhaps Peter feels guilty for giving us so many rainy days this summer. Currently, he is not stingy with magnificent sunny days. The steel-blue sky spontaneously lured us to Flims yesterday. For a long time I had been flirting with the lake hike in the Flims Forest. Like blue pearls, the Flims lakes, fed underground by the karst system in advance, lie between the dark green trees. You have to seize the chance of a sunny November day. The nice thing about the off-season is that there are hardly any people in the mountains and popular excursion destinations, such as Lake Cauma, are pleasantly slowed down. However, it is better to carry the provisions for the hike yourself because together with the tourists, the hosts of the restaurants have also said goodbye for a short time to recharge their batteries for the approaching winter.

The lake hike can be done from Zurich as a half-day trip. We depart Zurich at 11:37 a.m. and arrive at the Flims Waldhaus Caumasee post bus stop two hours later.

Türkisfarbiger Caumasee

After a few minutes, we reach Lake Cauma, which sparkles in the purest turquoise. The fencing around the lake looks improper in the off-season and takes away all its charm. What it’s like here on hot summer days?…

Fairytale Flims Forest – Hike from Lake Cauma to Lake Cresta

From Lake Cauma we follow the hiking trail through the Flims Forest in the direction of Lake Cresta. Due to the spontaneity of the trip, we are a bit haphazard on the road. The goal is to reach Lake Cresta just before sunset at the latest. At the numerous forks in the path in the forest, we lose track of whether we are still on the right course (at some point, Lake Cresta is no longer written on the signposts).

Swiss Grand Canyon: Ruinaulta

So it happens that halfway to the finish near Conn we suddenly stand on a steeply sloping scree slope and look at the Vorderrhein 400 m below. The observation deck of the Ruinaulta (which is partially reminiscent of the Grand Canyon’s Horseshoe Bend) is also a popular destination in the area.

Lonely Lake Cresta

The way to Lake Cresta is also marked in a slightly confusing way. Nevertheless, we reach the gem below Trin Mulin in the late afternoon. The low autumn sun makes the colored leaves shine in all shades of yellow and red. We sit down on the jetty and stay there until the darkness has swallowed all the colors and the first stars glitter in the sky.

Hike from Lake Cauma to Lake Cresta

The map shows our route. The route is about 8 km long and mostly flat. The pure running time is around 2 hours. The starting point Flims Waldhaus, Caumasee can be reached by post bus from Chur. The Felsbach-Crestasee stop is a 15-minute walk from Lake Cresta. The post bus runs every hour in the low season. The viewing platform on the Vorderrhein is located about 5 minutes from the Conn restaurant.

Hike Waldhaus Flims – Lake Cauma – Il Spir – Lake Cresta – Trin Mulin: Key data of our tour

Starting point	Bus stop Flims Waldhaus, Caumasee
Reachability	Accessible by public transport
Length	7.77 kilometers
Elevation gain	↗ 96 m 352 m ↘
Duration	2:00 p.m.
Destination	Trin Mulin Bus Stop, Lake Cresta

Most important questions about Lake Cauma