The anticipation begins as soon as you start studying the map. A path runs like a zipper through the dense contour lines. That's easily 30 hairpin bends. As always, it is difficult to estimate how narrow they really are, how steep the terrain is and how blocked the path is that winds its way downhill for several hundred meters. It is not marked on the singletrail map. I will find out what that means.

So let's get there. And I wasn't wrong about that: The ascent is almost completely rideable. The fog swallows up the view and even sounds seem muffled. The summit is unspectacular, the damp swathes create a ghostly atmosphere, if you will; and for the less poetically inclined, definitely an autumnal one.

But I'm here for the descent. The start is nice and steep and the first bend is easy to negotiate. The remaining bends are just wide and sloping enough not to be a challenge. They are not switchbacks but simply bends. But this is just the beginning. The Map promises a sequel, which will almost certainly be trickier.

It's high time I revealed which mountain I'm on. I'll come back to that. Several signs announce that I am in a nature reserve. The rules: Dogs on a lead, don't leave the paths, don't uproot any plants. Mountain biking seems to be allowed.

Am I allowed?

The continuation cannot be found straight away. There is a wooden fence and bushes where the path should branch off. Only when I use the fence as a ladder to look over the first line of bushes do I realize that there is actually a path continuing here. It is marked on the topographical map. That at least makes it likely that I can use it. Do they want it to grow over and disappear and that's why they haven't put up a gate? Or is the barrier simply intended to deter people who might be overwhelmed by the steep terrain?
I heave my bike over the fence and roll off. The hoped-for switchback paradise follows. Sometimes it's just rideable, sometimes not. I keep climbing back, trying again and again. The snaking line never ends. When the trail crosses a forest road, the continuation is again almost impossible to find, it is so narrow and inconspicuous. I'm challenged to the point of being overwhelmed, it's just perfect. I have found my switchback Eldorado.

Was that legal? A search in the canton in question reveals that its government generally approves of mountain biking on trails, provided there is no legally binding ban. So I wasn't breaking any laws. And yet I can vividly imagine what would happen at the start of this narrow path if bike traffic increased. And that would be quite possible if I provided clear geographical information here.

I can therefore only recommend searching the map for interesting trails and going on a discovery tour; even if this does not open up a secret paradise in the majority of cases, but consists mainly of searching, pushing and carrying. Every now and then you come across a gem. If you leave it where it is, the fun lasts the longest.