UBC October 2026 - Where the Rhine Begins

On our little road trip through Grisons' Alps, we discovered a rather unexpected sight: a lighthouse at more than 2,000 meters (6,500 feet) above sea level.

But why is there a lighthouse up there, hundreds of miles from the sea?

Because this is where the story of the Rhine begins.

The lighthouse stands near the Oberalp Pass, high in the Swiss Alps. A relatively easy hike from here takes you to a small mountain lake called Lake Toma, which is considered the source of the Vorderrhein, the “Anterior Rhine,” one of the two main headwaters of the Rhine.

We didn't make the hike to the lake this time. But even without seeing it, I found it fascinating to stand beside the lighthouse and know that somewhere up there, water begins a journey that will eventually carry it through Switzerland, past Germany and the Netherlands, and into the North Sea.

And the Vorderrhein isn't alone.

Farther south, another river called the Hinterrhein, or “Posterior Rhine,” begins in the Swiss Alps.

The two rivers travel separately for quite a distance before finally meeting at Reichenau, near the Swiss city of Chur.

And this is one of those moments in geography that I find strangely satisfying: two rivers become one.

From here, the combined river is simply called the Alpine Rhine. It continues northward through Switzerland, eventually reaching Lake Constance (here's a post that includes a video showing off the beauty of Lake Constance) and then continuing its journey towards the North Sea.

There is something wonderfully humbling about seeing a river at both ends of its story.

At one end, it is a little mountain stream emerging from an alpine landscape.

Farther downstream, it has become a major river.

And all of that water began with tiny drops of rain and melting snow, gathering together and finding their way downhill.

Which makes that rather improbable lighthouse on the mountain suddenly seem like a very appropriate symbol: it marks the beginning of a journey that ends hundreds of miles away at the sea.

Maybe the fun isn't always in knowing more about the thing itself.

Sometimes it's in discovering where it all started.

What's something in your own world whose beginning would surprise you?