Wild camping at the Spaneggsee
Neither the Confederation, the canton nor the commune forbids a night at the Spaneggsee. But at 1'420 metres the lake sits below the treeline, in the middle of the working Alp Talalp-Spanegg, and that ground is the alp tenant's to decide.
What do these mean?
Illegal A specific rule bans it, usually with a fine, and it can be enforced. Sleep somewhere else.
Not allowed No real place to camp here. A gated site, a developed area, or nowhere sensible to lie down, even if no fine is attached.
It depends You can sleep here, but there's a condition first: ask the landowner, book a spot, stay inside a set zone, or use a bivvy instead of a tent. The report says which.
Tolerated No rule clearly allows or bans it, but a single night is accepted in practice and nobody enforces against it. Normal for high bivouacs above the treeline.
Legal Camping one night is fine here. Either a rule allows it, or we checked every law and found nothing against it. Still: pitch late, leave early, no trace.
Three levels, and not one of them says no
Wild camping at the Spaneggsee has no prohibition standing against it, and because that is an unusual thing to be able to say, here is exactly where I looked.
Federal. Queried at the lake on 12 August 2026, LV95 2'728'502 / 1'215'135, WGS84 47.074764 N / 9.130677 E, surface 1'419.7 m: no federal game reserve, no wildlife rest zone, no BLN landscape, no mire, floodplain, dry-meadow or amphibian object, no Emerald site, no forest reserve, no park of national importance. A positive control at 2'626'000 / 1'154'500 returns federal game reserve no. 3 Kiental, so the layers answer, and an invalid-layer control returns HTTP 400 rather than an empty set.1
Cantonal. Glarus has no camping provision at all. Four cantonal acts were read in full for this site's Wichlenmatt report, and the decisive one is the cantonal fixed-penalty ordinance: it contains no camping entry. In a canton that fines minor offences from a catalogue, an absence in that catalogue is about as good as a negative gets.4
Communal. The cadastre names the Baureglement of Glarus Nord as the act in force at this parcel, which matters because a published building regulation is not always the one that binds. Read in full, it contains zero occurrences of Zelt, Campieren, Biwak, Übernachten, Nächtigen or Wohnwagen, against control terms that match dozens of times, so the scan worked. The single occurrence of "Camping" is in the list of things permitted in the Sport- und Intensiverholungszone, which is a zone type rather than a rule about you.3
And what is drawn at the lake itself. The extract for parcel 3, 7'859'124 m², lists 160 restrictions, every one of them with surface geometry, so nothing was silently skipped. At the exact coordinate the designations are the water body, a noise-sensitivity level, and a Landschaftsschutzzone. That last one is worth quoting, because people assume it does more than it does:2
"Die Landschaftsschutzzone bezweckt den Schutz von besonders schönen Landschaften. Es dürfen nur standortgebundene Bauten und Anlagen neu errichtet werden."Gemeinde Glarus Nord, Baureglement, art. 49, the version the public-law cadastre names as in force at this parcel.
Buildings and installations. Not people, not paths, not nights. The instrument that could carry an access or camping rule in this commune is the Naturschutzzone under art. 48, and the nearest one is 2'078 metres away. So the legal answer here is genuinely empty, and I am not going to dress an absence up as a prohibition to make the verdict tidier.2
Why it is still a no, and what to do instead
Here is the part that decides it, and it has nothing to do with statutes.
The Spaneggsee is at 1'419.7 metres, which is below the treeline here. That is not an impression, it is on the same map as everything else above: the cadastral forest zone starts 76 metres from the water, the Spanneggwald begins 571 metres away, and the Lochhütte stands 334 metres off. The lake sits in the middle of the working Alp Talalp-Spanegg above Filzbach, on the alp road between the Habergschwänd chairlift and the Talalpsee, which is a walked and worked landscape rather than empty ground.6
The standard this site applies, and why. Above the treeline, a single considerate night outside protected areas is the case the Alpine Club's own guidance describes, and it is broadly tolerated. Below the treeline that argument does not exist. You are on someone's pasture, in sight of someone's hut, next to someone's forest, and the absence of a communal rule is not a permission from any of them. So a spot below the treeline stays a no here unless a named landowner has openly said yes for that exact ground, and at the Spaneggsee nobody has published such a permission.8
What would actually change the answer. One phone call. The ground belongs to an alp with a name, Talalp-Spanegg, and alp operators in this canton are reachable through the commune of Glarus Nord and the Kerenzerberg lift company, which lists the alp among its dairy stops. If the tenant says yes for one night on a corner of their ground, you are camping with permission and none of the above applies. If you cannot reach anyone, that is your answer, not a loophole.7
Or go up. The Spaneggsee is on the Mürtschenstock circuit and on the first stage of the long-distance route from Filzbach towards the Murgseen. The Mürtschenstock is 1.22 km east and rises to 2'293 m, and the Murgsee dam stands at 1'813 m, 4.56 km south-east, which is above the treeline. I have not checked the communal rules on that side for you, because the Murgseen are in canton St. Gallen and a different commune, so treat that as a direction rather than a verdict.6
If you want a Glarus lake this site has already checked and cleared, the Fessisee and the Wichlenmatt are both lawful and both high enough for the argument to work.
The map lies about this lake, and here is how
One technical note, because it changes what a terrain scan tells you and because this lake shows it perfectly.
The federal elevation model flattens water to a single plane. Sample a grid around the Spaneggsee and 37 of the 1'681 points come back at exactly 1'419.7 metres, to the decimal, which is the lake surface. Run a slope analysis over that without masking and the flattest, most inviting ground in the whole basin is the middle of the lake, and it wins convincingly. Real ground never returns an identical elevation 37 times.5
Masked, and keeping fifty metres from the water, the flattest ground near the lake is 1.8 degrees at 1'430.1 m, LV95 2'728'652 / 1'215'385, about 90 metres from the waterline, with a second option at 2.8 degrees and 1'422.0 m some 56 metres out. I am recording those because a reader deserves to know I measured rather than guessed, not as a recommendation to use them.5
The place itself: WGS84 47.074764 N / 9.130677 E, LV95 2'728'502 / 1'215'135, surface 1'419.7 m, commune of Glarus Nord, canton Glarus. Talalpsee 2.32 km north at 1'084 m, Habergschwänd chairlift 3.39 km north, Filzbach 5.14 km north at 698 m, Mürtschenstock 1.22 km east at 2'293 m, Murgsee 4.56 km south-east at 1'813 m.6
Where you can legally sleep
- On the alp, if the tenant of Alp Talalp-Spanegg says yes for one night on a corner of their ground. That is a permission, and it is the only thing that turns this into a proper yes7.
- Higher up, above the treeline, where the ordinary Swiss tolerance for a single considerate night applies, keeping out of protected areas8.
- Not on the shore of the Spaneggsee itself, which is below the treeline, on grazed ground, within sight of the alp huts.
- Two Glarus lakes this site has already cleared: the Fessisee and the Wichlenmatt.
General rules for wild camping
This list is the whole reason a place with no rule keeps having no rule. Take it to the spots where you actually sleep out, and take it especially seriously anywhere someone else's cattle are grazing.
- No fire. An open fire has no place in the mountains. A gas stove is enough.
- Pitch late, strike early. Set up towards evening, gone again early. A bivouac is one night, not a base camp.
- Leave no rubbish. Everything you carry up you carry down, organic scraps and toilet paper included.
- At least 50 metres from any water for the big business, so you do not foul what people and livestock drink.
- Stay small and quiet. A small group, no speaker, no drone, dogs on the lead, and the alp staff's word goes.
Disclaimer
This article reflects my research and assessment to the best of my knowledge, as of August 2026. It is based on the publicly accessible and official sources linked below. It does not replace legal advice and is not a binding statement of the current legal situation.
The verdict on this page is not a legal prohibition and does not claim to be one: no federal, cantonal or communal norm forbids spending a night at this lake as far as I could determine on 12 August 2026. The negative rests on the site itself, on the treeline, the working alp and the absence of any landowner permission, and on the standard this site applies to spots below the treeline. Glarus Nord could adopt a rule, and the alp could grant or refuse permission. Before every tour, check the current sources yourself and follow instructions on site. A genuine emergency bivouac in distress is a separate question from a planned camp. Anyone who spends the night outside bears responsibility for their own conduct and any consequences themselves. Hikebeast, Leon Helg and Saftladen GmbH accept no liability for decisions made on the basis of this text, and call on no one to break applicable law.
Frequently asked questions
Is wild camping allowed at the Spaneggsee?
Does canton Glarus ban wild camping?
What does the Landschaftsschutzzone at the lake actually forbid?
Could I get permission?
Where should I go instead?
Leon Helg
Swiss filmmaker and software developer. Spends his free time in the Swiss Alps and maps his favourite spots for Hikebeast. Posts as @leon.helg on Instagram and TikTok.
Sources
- Official federal geodata, queried 12 August 2026 at the Spaneggsee, WGS84 47.074764 N / 9.130677 E, LV95 2'728'502 / 1'215'135, surface 1'419.7 m: the federal game-reserve, wildlife-rest-zone, BLN, raised-bog, fen, mire-landscape, floodplain, dry-meadow, amphibian, Emerald, forest-reserve, national-park and UNESCO layers all return an empty result set. Verified with a positive control at LV95 2'626'000 / 1'154'500, which returns federal game reserve no. 3 Kiental, and an invalid-layer control, which returns HTTP 400 rather than an empty set. map.geo.admin.ch. ↩
- Cadastre of public-law restrictions on landownership, canton of Glarus, extract for EGRID CH576979072241 fetched with geometry on 12 August 2026: parcel 3, commune of Glarus Nord, 7'859'124 m², 160 restrictions, every one of them carrying surface geometry, so no polygon was skipped. Point-in-polygon at the lake coordinate returns the water body, noise-sensitivity level ES III and a Landschaftsschutzzone, type code 1630.52-02-01, Lawstatus in force, responsible office Gemeinde Glarus Nord. Distances from the same geometry: Übriges Gemeindegebiet 58 m, Wald 76 m, Landwirtschaftszone 100 m, and the nearest Naturschutzzone 2'078 m. map.geo.gl.ch. ↩
- Gemeinde Glarus Nord, Baureglement (BauR-GLN001), the version the public-law cadastre names as in force at this parcel, read in full on 12 August 2026. Zero occurrences of Zelt, Campieren, Biwak, Übernachten, Nächtigen or Wohnwagen, against control terms Art. (121 hits) and Zone (66 hits), so the scan is sound. The single occurrence of "Camping" is in the description of the Sport- und Intensiverholungszone, where Camping- und Reitplätze are listed among the permitted buildings and installations, which is a zone definition rather than a prohibition. Art. 49: "Die Landschaftsschutzzone bezweckt den Schutz von besonders schönen Landschaften. Es dürfen nur standortgebundene Bauten und Anlagen neu errichtet werden." glarus-nord.ch. ↩
- Canton Glarus has no camping provision. Four cantonal acts were read in full for this site's Wichlenmatt report, including the Kantonale Ordnungsbussenverordnung, and none of them contains Campieren, Zelt, Biwak or Übernachten. The fixed-penalty ordinance is the decisive one: in a canton that sanctions minor offences from a published catalogue, the absence of a camping line is a substantive negative rather than an unexamined gap. gesetze.gl.ch. ↩
- Terrain analysis, 12 August 2026, from the federal terrain model on a 25 m grid over LV95 2'728'002 to 2'729'002 east and 1'214'635 to 1'215'635 north, 1'681 samples. 37 of them return exactly 1'419.7 m, which is the lake surface: the model flattens standing water to a single plane, so an unmasked slope scan reports the middle of the lake as the flattest ground in the basin. With those cells masked and a 50 m buffer kept from the waterline, the flattest ground is 1.8 degrees at 1'430.1 m, LV95 2'728'652 / 1'215'385, 90 m from the water, then 2.8 degrees at 1'422.0 m, 56 m out. geo.admin.ch. ↩
- Setting and reference points from the swisstopo gazetteer and the cadastral zoning, measured from the lake: Talalpsee 2.32 km north at 1'084 m, Habergschwänd chairlift 3.39 km north at 1'262 m, Filzbach 5.14 km north at 698 m, Mürtschenstock 1.22 km east at 2'293 m, Murgsee dam 4.56 km south-east at 1'813 m in canton St. Gallen, commune of Quarten. Immediate surroundings named on the map: Betlis 142 m, Mättli 178 m, Rossboden 250 m, Stäfeli 267 m, Spannegg 323 m, Lochhütte 334 m, Spanneggwald 571 m. The cadastral forest zone begins 76 m from the water. map.geo.admin.ch. ↩
- Alp Talalp-Spanegg, the working alp the lake sits on, above Filzbach on the Kerenzerberg. It appears on the Kerenzerberg lift company's own dairy-stop listing, and the approach is the Filzbach sports centre, then the chairlift to Habergschwänd, then roughly twenty minutes down the alp road towards the Talalpsee. The commune of Glarus Nord is the other way in. No wild-camping fee or arrangement is published for this alp, so nothing of the kind is quoted here; any permission is a matter to settle with the tenant directly. kerenzerbergbahn.com. ↩
- Swiss Alpine Club, information on bivouacking and wild camping. The SAC position is that a single, considerate, one-night bivouac above the treeline and outside protected areas is generally tolerated in Switzerland. The qualifier that matters at the Spaneggsee is "above the treeline": below it, the argument does not apply, and what governs instead is the landowner's word. Guidance, not law. sac-cas.ch. ↩