MOUNT ÖTSCHER AND AUSTRIA'S GRAND CANYON
A tour report about our 2-day hiking trip leading through the Ötscher Canyons and up to the eastern ridge of Mount Ötscher.
Tour Day 1 (↔ 14,5 km, 600 m up, 200 m down)
After taking a 2 hours car ride from Austria’s capital city, Vienna, we registered at the visitor center of the natrure park and parked our car at Trübenbach to have approximately equal distances at both hiking days. The beginning of the hike starts quite easily while following the small road to the parking at Erlaufboden, that is the point where you will really enter the nature park. From Erlaufboden you will follow the Erlauf river through the beautiful valley until Erlauf reservoir. Several bridge are crossing the river in this section offering nice views to the beautiful valley. After having passed the Erlauf damm, you are entering the main part of the breathtaking Ötscher Canyons, often called the Grand Canyons of Austria. Deep cuts and steep wall form the environment, while multiple pools and waterfalls along the river create a wonderful scenery.
Already from the beginning, The tour offers a very stunning flora and fauna. You can find the first orchids just beside the road. Along our trip we encountered six different kinds of orchids, including the famous lady’s slipper orchid and later also the famous Enzian flower. With a little bit of luck, you can also find some wild animals. We found a Kreuzotter snake, one of the few venomous snakes in Austria.
All the hiking paths in the valley are in very good condition and many bridges and wooden walkways along the riving make hiking not too difficult in this section. After continuing the journey through they canyons and enjoying the great nature you have to turn left to the side valley of the small Greimelbach, just before reaching the Schleier waterfalls. After another 30 min if hiking through the forest, you will reach the Schutzhaus Vorderötscher refuge, where we stayed overnight.
Schutzhaus Vorderötscher
This is a typical alpine refuge, offering delicous local food and a place to stay overnight in the mountains. It was renovated a few years ago and even offers nine private rooms beside the typical shared sleeping place with dozens of mattresses next to each other. Toilets and showers are shared with other guests but were very clean. After having a great rest from our first day hike, we enjoyed the breakfast and started into hiking day two.
Tour Day 2 (↔ 14 km, 800 m up, 1200 m down)
We followed the small valley of Greimelbach back to the main canyon, where we reached after around 30 min the Schleier waterfalls. From there on, the ascent begins, first out ouf the valley to the plateau and afterwards through the forest across the foot of the mountain until reaching the lower part of south wall of Rauher Kamm. The way up is contiously ascending, but not too steep. After leaving the trees behind, you will enjoy a great view to the south. In the far you can see until Mount Schneeberg, the Rax plateau and Styria. You will reach the entrance to the Ötscher cave system after around 3 hours of hiking, a perfect spot to have a lunch break. The cave system offers more than 26 km of tunnels and multiple entries and is the largest of Lower Austria. After the break, you will ascent a bit more to reach the eastern ridge of Mount Ötscher, the hightest point of the tour at around 1500m elevation.
After having reached the ridge, you will follow it for approximately 15 min towards the east, enjoying great panoramic sceneries towards the south-east. Then the descent begins. The path is quite steep and loose grave makes it slippery while you have to pay attention of the roots. In my opintion, this is the most difficult part of the hike and you really have to pay attention to not fall down. The descent takes about 2-3 hours depending on your hiking speed and leads mainly through a forest. Compared to the rest of the tour, the environment is less spectacular on the north side of the mountain. After having reached the parking area, where the tour started, you can enjoy a snack or a drink in the nearby restaurant “Alte Schule”.
