If you're facing the bakery on Mürren's upper road, turn right and follow the road up the hill for about ten minutes. Pay attention to what's going on behind you as you make this short, steep climb because you will be gaining better and better views of Mürren and the surrounding mountains. At the first trail junction, turn right, following the sign for Mürren "Panoramaweg". This will lead you around the front of the hill called Allmendhubel and dump you off on a much wider path (actually a ski piste) on the other side. Follow the wide path in the same direction you've been going, contouring left around the other side of the hill. The trail narrows gradually as it climbs the narrow valley between the Allmendhubel and the next hill, Känelegg. Ignore the two turn-offs for Känelegg. Press on and up along the stream towards the waterfall, shortly before which the trail makes a T-junction.

Turning right puts you on the "high" way to Pletschenalp. This is an easy and beautiful trail through open pastureland, with magnificent views of the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau on your right. You will stay on this main trail for about an hour, playing with numerous photographic possibilities of the "Big Three" behind a foreground of serenely grazing cows and rustic barns. You might see a chamois, or maybe a paraglider taking off from the top of the Würzelegg, just to your left. And the wildflowers--outrageous! Look for my personal favorite, the Alpine Toadflax, a low, creeping plant with purple and orange blooms.

Always read the trail markers because that's the only way you'll know when you've finally reached Pletschenalp. From the Pletschenalp trail junction, you need to follow the sign for Grütschalp. The half-hour descent to the funicular station will take you alternately through woods and pastures, never lessening the quality of the view.

Don't go to the station unless you want to use the toilet. There's a lefthand turn-off just before it, signposted, among other things, for Sausmatten. Within five minutes, you'll reach another fork in the trail, where those seeking Sausmatten should keep left. This is the hardest part of the hike because you've got about a half an hour of steep uphill coming. But it's still relatively easy when compared, for example, to the 800-meter ascent of Busengrat, where you're sliding backwards on loose gravel and pulling yourself up along a barbed wire fence, which is there to protect you from a sheer plummet to the river. When the trail levels off, you leave the woods and wind around the side of the Marchegg ridge. As is probably clear from the ongoing logging of fallen trees, this area was once wooded, too, but the wide open panorama you now see is courtesy of some Föhn storm or another; the Föhn is like the "Devil's chainsaw." In addition to great scenery, this particular area will offer you more blueberries than you could ever possibly eat, even if you come back from the Saus Valley the same way and have your late afternoon snack there as well.

Soon you come to a gate, and there begins your descent into the Saus Valley. The perspective changes: the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau have disappeared behind the ridge behind you, and you are now looking southwest towards the Schilthorn and its strangely-shaped neighboring mountain, the Schwarzes Schopf. Though you will see many Alps (high alpine farms) around you in the valley, Sausmatten, one of the largest, situated along the river right at the mouth of the valley, is your destination. Legend has it that there was once a thriving village there, like a "capitol city" in Fairyland, if you will, but the village and its inhabitants (save an old man and a very young boy, who carried on the family name Sauser) were destroyed by an unseasonable snow storm. Your guess is as good as mine, if there's any truth to this; it is in any case a truly idyllic spot!

But the whole valley is idyllic, and it's a wonder to me, that in the five times I've been there, I haven't seen more of it and have always returned on the very same trail I just described. Though I recommend you do the same because it's all I have in my experience, let me tell you now what little I've heard about the two other ways to get back. As you were coming down into Sausmatten, you probably noticed a lefthand turn-off for Pletschenalp (as you may have also noticed a turn-off in Pletschenalp for Sausmatten). This connecting trail obviously goes higher up on the ridge and is negotiated, in part, by holding onto a fixed wire. What are we to think of that? Maybe it's scary; maybe it's not, but, in spite of the doubtlessly better views it would offer, I'd be more inclined to spend my time exploring further up into the valley and then come back via the "direct" route to Grütschalp, which you'll also see signposted just outside of Sausmatten. Hell-hiker Patty maintains that it only takes about a half an hour to get back this way, with virtually no change in altitude. If you are interested in continuing on in another direction for more of this untouched, unspoiled scenery, please refer to the next chapter for your options.