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Appenzell Innerrhoden

Wildkirchli Caves

Caves

Appenzell Innerrhoden

Schwende

Wildkirchli Caves

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Wildkirchli Caves

Recommended by 479 hikers out of 500

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Location: Schwende, Appenzell Innerrhoden, Eastern Switzerland, Switzerland

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Best Hikes to Wildkirchli Caves

4.8

(149)

754

hikers

1. Hike above Lake Seealpsee – Wildkirchli and Äscher

9.37km

03:37

180m

890m

Expert hike. Good fitness required. Sure-footedness, sturdy shoes and alpine experience required.

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4.9

(524)

2,771

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2. View of Seealpsee – Seealpsee loop from Wasserauen

11.6km

05:11

780m

Expert hike. Very good fitness required. Sure-footedness, sturdy shoes and alpine experience required.

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4.9

(186)

1,032

hikers

3. Schäfler Ridge Trail – Seealpsee loop from Wasserauen

14.5km

06:52

1,030m

Expert hike. Very good fitness required. Sure-footedness, sturdy shoes and alpine experience required.

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Tips

Georg Erdmann

February 17, 2021

A mystical place that must be passed through on the way through the rock face to Ebenalp.

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Paul

August 2, 2022

Wildkirchli caves
Three interconnected wide caves (Altar Cave or Kirchlihöhle, Lower Cave, Upper Cave) at an altitude of 1488-1500 m in the up to 120 m high rock face on the eastern edge of the Ebenalp, southwest of Weissbad (municipality of Schwende AI). The altar cave with a flat barrel vault, the entrance of which expands like a porch, was set up as a chapel by Pastor Paulus Ulmann in 1657. This received a back altar wall in 1785 and a new bell tower in 1860. A wall closes off the rear part of the cave (cellar cave) under the wet transverse gap. Hermits lived in the Lower Cave during the summer months from 1658 to 1853. It was then used as a festival hut (inn cave) for the Aescher inn. The renovated hermitage house has served as a museum since 1972. The lower cave narrows at the back to a passage that leads inside the mountain into a high, wide cave (upper cave). You can reach the cave gate 12 m higher via a mighty scree slope. Early finds of cave bear bones and teeth from the area of the rock path in front of the lower caves came to the St. Gallen Natural History Museum. To expand the collection, Emil Bächler carried out excavations in the three caves from 1903 to 1908. In 1904 he discovered prehistoric devices in pieces of flint-like rock from an upper layer of the altar cave. Their similarity to Mousterian (Paleolithic) types proved for the first time the presence of Neanderthals in the mountains. People spoke of the Wildkirchli culture. Later finds in other mountain caves led to the name Alpine Paleolithic. Both terms are no longer generally applicable today.
The state of research around 1900 made it difficult to identify the relationship between cave bear bones and cultural remains during the Younger Ice Age. It was only after 1950 that special sediment analyzes made it possible to classify the cave sediments into the detailed classification of the last ice age (Würm Ice Age) and thus date them to an age of around 60,000-10,000 years. Most of the altar cave had remained untouched. Here the old excavation rubble was quickly excavated and a complete layer profile was uncovered for observation of the individual parts of the sediment and for sampling.
Text / Source: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland (HLS)
hls-dhs-dss.ch/de/articles/012768/2014-11-11

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Roger Eggenberger 🐾👣

July 1, 2025

Simply magnificent here..

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Elevation 1,500 m

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Friday 24 October

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3°C

70 %

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Max wind speed: 12.0 km/h

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Location: Schwende, Appenzell Innerrhoden, Eastern Switzerland, Switzerland

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View of Seealpsee from Schrennenweg

Wildkirchli Caves

1. Hike above Lake Seealpsee – Wildkirchli and Äscher

2. View of Seealpsee – Seealpsee loop from Wasserauen

3. Schäfler Ridge Trail – Seealpsee loop from Wasserauen

Other Popular Places to Check Out

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