The cow that wears a bell like this must be huge.
It was as big as my head – and heavy, too.
Oh, the excitement of riding up to the top of Mt. Pilatus!
  On a crystal clear day, miles and miles of powdery,
 jagged Swiss Alps were in view.  That cherry red
 gondola with the Pilatus logo was pretty cool.

All layered up, we hiked around at the top of the 6,801 ft.
 mountain.  Lazy but spectacular mountain climbing.

On the way down, the steepest cogwheel railway in
the world is the transportation.  The maximum gradient
 is a mind boggling 48%.  The cogwheels are designed
 on a double rail with cogs facing each other, which not
 only prevents them from climbing out of the
 track, but prevents the car from toppling over
 in severe crosswinds common in the Alps.
The birds were in full force, soaring the thermals
on this clear day.  On the left side of the photo,
you can see the red cogwheel train.  The line still
uses the original rack rails that are now over 100
years old.  While they have worn down, it was
discovered that the fix was simply turning
the rails over, providing a new wearing surface
that would be sufficient for the next century!

Never has the Pilatus-Bahn had such excited customers.
  We pretty much flipped out over seeing the Pilatus
 name everywhere.  OK, so they named the
 mountain before the airplane, but still…
A close-up of the cogwheel car design.  The bench
seats are all at an angle, so you’re level during
the extremely steep descent.