Urnerboden is a long, flat valley floor on the Glarus side of the Klausen Pass, and it is the largest alpine pasture in Switzerland. From June to September, hundreds of cows, calves and goats graze on its meadows, watched by herders and by a handful of farm buildings, and the cowbells drift across the grass like a distant orchestra. Its walls of rock rise on every side, streaked with waterfalls after rain, and the tiny church and the scattered chalets give it a human scale.
The village has a quirk of geography that confuses visitors. Although it lies on the Glarus side of the pass, it belongs politically to canton Uri, the result of a medieval agreement over grazing rights, and the people speak a dialect close to that of Glarus rather than the speech of the rest of Uri. The line was drawn centuries ago, and no one has seen a reason to change it. It is a reminder that Swiss borders were drawn by farmers and cheesemakers rather than by surveyors.
The riding through the valley is a lovely interlude on the Klausen road. After the tight hairpins of the descent, the road runs straight and flat across the pasture for a couple of kilometres, giving a chance to relax and look around, before descending again toward Linthal in a series of bends. In summer the road is busy with cyclists, and the cows often cross it, so slow down, and be prepared to stop. The surface is generally good but marked in places by tractor tracks and cow pats, so keep your eyes open.
The weather here is variable, with cold mornings and warm afternoons, and thunderstorms can arrive quickly in summer. The air smells of hay, cattle and wet grass, and the light is clear and bright. At the end of the season, in September, the herds are decorated with flowers and driven down the valley in the Alpabzug, a celebration that draws many onlookers. The valley is closed with the road in winter, and snow lies deep.
Services are modest, with a couple of restaurants and an inn that serve food, including cheese, sausage and dairy desserts. Linthal, about eight kilometres down the road, is the nearest place with services, and Altdorf is the larger town over the pass. Buy cheese from a farm stall if you see one, and drink the buttermilk, which is the local cure for sweating in leathers.