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Walked out to Nietzsche’s Rock near Silvaplana-Surlej.

Large weathered boulder leaning into the turquoise shoreline of Lake Silvaplana with forested mountains behind
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Wallet Recovered

Yesterday I shared that I had lost my wallet. We were still juggling some logistics last night. The mountain huts we are visiting are cash only but our guides have been kind enough to loan us some Swiss Francs. We tried to get cash last night and that proved to be very difficult with the other credit cards we have.

This morning I woke up a little early and was thinking how someone would contact me if they found my wallet. My website is the first thing that a search engine would suggest for my name and I have this Hello page. My profiles at other sites are listed there and that made me think I should check various social platforms. I went to LinkedIn not expecting much and scanned my notifications.

To my astonishment there was a comment from Martin Lienhard saying he had found my wallet! 😲

LinkedIn comment from Martin Lienhard stating he found a lost wallet in Guarda Switzerland and will leave it at the local Volg store.

Incredible! I found the Volg store he mentioned and they didn’t open for another 45 mins. Right at 7:30a I asked the hotel to please call the store and confirm they had it. They did! 🥳

I let our guides know and took a rest day from hiking (which I was considering anyway) and made the trip to collect my recovered wallet!

After a train ride back to Guarda, then the bus into the village, I ducked the rain and ran into the Volg Guarda where the nice cashier reached under the counter and produced my wallet! Joy!

Smiling man in a wet Columbia rain jacket holding up a black leather wallet outside a Volg store in a Swiss village

So where was it? The whole thought about the train station in Ardez was a dead end. Martin’s wife found it by one of the city water fountains — the one that we dipped our feet in. That means when I realized I didn’t have it, as we were walking to dinner, it had only just fallen out of my pocket no more than a 100 feet away.

A huge thank you to Martin Lienhard and his wife and the Volg shopkeeper for recovering my lost wallet! 🙏🤩

Makes me wonder — we’re the Goats of Guarda watching over me while we were there? 😊

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Switzerland & Italy Log - Day 5

Weather: Cooler day. Very windy on the mountains today. Raced to chair lift before storm and lightning arrived.

  • Depart Guarda and take bus to train station
  • Take train to Funicular.
  • Guide Dave gets a lot of static from the conductor about having the wrong tickets.
  • German lady that moved to Switzerland sits across from Tammy and I and starts a lengthy conversation with Tammy.
  • Arrive at funicular and take it 1,000 feet up to start hike.
  • Huge climb up to Segantini Hütte.
  • Delicious lunch. I had Barley Soup.
  • Hike traverse from hut through rock field and take upper trail.
  • Mad rush down to chair lift before storm shows up and possibly shuts lift down.
  • Get on lift and have a slow, cold, stormy, raining, anxiety producing lift ride.
  • Rainy walk to hotel.
  • Attempt to get cash and fail.
  • Shop.
  • Dinner at restaurant.
  • Downtime in room.

Jump to day 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 or Switzerland & Italy 2023 collection.

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Tyler, Mazie, and Tammy at the Segantini Hütte.

Blond curly-haired child in a red FC Bayern Munich jersey standing on a rocky Alpine ridge with snow-capped peaks behind Young hiker in an orange Columbia jacket and bucket hat stands arms outstretched on a rocky Alpine summit with snowy peaks behind Woman in a teal and yellow jacket standing on a rocky alpine ridge with snow-capped mountains and a valley town behind her
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Hike to Segantini Hütte and Pontresina

Another day of great hiking. Started with train ride to funicular and then a big hike up to the amazing hut followed by a traverse on the mountain and a cold, rainy, stormy descent on a chair lift.

Part of Switzerland & Italy 2023 collection. Also see Zuoz to Pontresina from Europe 2004 Collection collection.

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Pretty simple calendar for this part of our trip.

Weekly calendar view for a Switzerland hiking trip July 16-20 showing daily hikes ranging from 8 to 11 miles each day.
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Current POV. Wow!

Snow-capped Alpine peaks with a glacier flowing down into a forested valley below, under a clear blue sky. Snow-capped Alpine peaks with a glacier flowing into a forested valley, viewed from a green mountain ridge on a sunny day. Rocky alpine summit looking across green valleys toward snow-capped peaks and a glacier flowing between mountains under blue sky Rocky alpine ridge with sweeping views of snow-capped peaks and a glacier descending into a green valley below a clear blue sky.
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Lunch at Segantini Hütte. So amazing.

Stone mountain hut at Segantini Hütte with Swiss and canton flags flying, hikers resting outside, rocky Alpine peaks behind. Hikers eating and drinking at outdoor tables beside a stone mountain hut with rocky Alpine peaks under a clear blue sky.
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Lost Wallet

Update: My wallet was recovered!

Yesterday morning I realized I had lost my wallet. The previous day we had finished our first hike and while waiting for the train in Ardez I gave Tyler some cash so that he could get small ice cream cups for the group from this self-serve stand. That was the last time I saw my wallet.

I realized I didn’t have it when walking to dinner that night, but assumed it was in the room and didn’t think much of it. The next morning I looked for it and started to worry when I didn’t find it right away. Where was it?

I traced my actions and remembered the ice cream. I also remembered that Tyler brought me change back and I put that in my wallet. But i didn’t. I found the change in my pants pocket.

So where did my wallet go? I suspect I set it down by the train station thinking I would put the change in it, then I didn’t. I also was rearranging my backpack at the same time.

Our guides did there best to try and find it. Dave actually took the train back to Ardez the next morning to look for it but no luck, and then hiked back to the group. The hotel called around as well, no luck. By the late afternoon after having looked everywhere multiple times I declared it lost.

I keep all my important numbers and info in 1Password and years ago read a suggestion to tag items with “Wallet” that are in your wallet. That paid off yesterday when I was able to confidently inventory all I needed to deal with.

Net it isn’t too big of a deal. Unfortunately I had a good bit of spending money in it and that is gone. But everything else is in the process of getting replaced now. And having everything on my phone gives a good backup.

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Suggested Rule:

The quality of a social network decreases by the square of the quantity of posts about social networks.

Get above 10% and there is nothing left.