Welcome!
Welcome to Square Lily Pad! My name is Karen and I live in Switzerland. I love the outdoors and this website is simply a place to share what I love.
Every post on Square Lily Pad is based on my own personal experience. Be it hiking, biking, or visiting a museum, each post provides my personal account of what it was like along with detailed information about how I did it so that you can learn about how to do it too.
Multi-Stage Trail Progress Tracker
Bike
Bodensee Radweg
5 of 8
Hike
Route 3 Alpine Panorama Trail
20 of 29
Hike in Every Swiss Canton
24 of 26
Completed Trails!
Bike
Route 5 The Mittelland Route
7 of 7
Hike
Route 2 Trans Swiss Trail
32 of 32
Route 47 Zürich Zugerlander
2 of 2
Route 67 Dreiland Wanderweg
3 of 3
Route 84 Zürichsee Rundweg
10 of 10
Latest Posts:
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Hiking from Le Lignon to Refuge de Sales in Sixt-Fer-á-Cheval/Passy Nature Park, France
The hike from the Le Lignon parking area to Refuge de Sales and back in Sixt-Fer-á-Cheval/Passy Nature Park, France is 11 k long with about 700 m of ascent and decent. This hike has waterfalls, wildflowers, mountain views, wildlife, and a hut where you can get a hot lunch and a cold drink.
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Hiking Melchsee-Frutt to Planplatten (Alpen Tower)
This hike is 7 km long with 541 m of ascent and 237 m descent and starts in Melchsee-Frutt and ends at Planplatten (Alpen Tower.)
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Six Year Blogiversary
Happy six-year Blogiversary to me! As of today, I’ve been writing this blog for exactly six years and so it is time to check in on how it’s been going.
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Swimming, Biking and Running the Zürich City Triathlon
The Zürich City Triathlon is held in downtown Zürich every June. This year (2026), I participated in and completed the Sprint distance category – 750 m swim, 20 k bike, and 5 k run. The swim takes place in lake Zürich and the bike and run are along the shore, so a very flat course.
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Hiking Stanserhorn to Wirzweli
This 6 km hike from the top of the Stanserhorn to the small town of Wirzweli has 102 m ascent and 749 m descent. The views on the trail are fantastic, however, the first half of this trail is very steep.
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Hiking the Waldrandweg – Oberdorf, SO to Grenchen + Dinosaur Footprints
The Waldrandweg is a 12 km hike with 200 m ascent and 420 descent that goes from Oberdorf SO to Grenchen. Along the way, this trail passes an old quarry where a large number of dinosaur tracks can be seen.