Lynx Trail - Stage 10 Lassing-Hochreit

Starting out from the car park in Lassing, you head towards Göstling. Once you have reached the car park at the Hochkar toll road, turn right towards Hochkar. Shortly afterwards, you take another right onto the clearly marked hiking trail no. 16, which takes you through the Lassing and Aibl Schottenschlag woodlands (approx. 1150 m above sea level), the Oberer Hochkarboden pastures, and finally to the Hochkar mountain (situated at an altitude of 1491 m). From there, you follow a gently ascending gravel road to the Blachlboden pasture, which features a man-made mountain lake (built in 1998) at the base of the Scheiterkogel mountain. Looking back over the Hochkar ski slopes, you’ll see the Stumpfmauer and Gamsstein mountains, with the Haller Mauern range rising up behind the Scheinecksattel pass. The hard Lias limestone that surround you (characterised by a reddish hue) is impermeable – resulting not only in small rock pools and gullies, but also giving rise to an abundant flora. From the Blachlboden pasture, the narrow gravel road takes you in an easterly direction, walking horizontally below some small rocky crags until you reach the karst terrain of the Schrottleitneralm. Diagonally to your left, a trail winds its way up a strip of grassland, to a flat ridge situated north of the Schmalzmauer mountain. On the ridge, you walk through a fence-gate to your right, and briefly follow the ‘Teufl R.-Steig’ trail down towards ‘Seelucken’. Half-way down the slope, the path turns right, taking you across rubble fields below some crags. Finally, the trail continues uphill in a moderate incline, through strips of grassland set between clusters of spruce trees. Having left the steep terrain behind, you once again find yourself back on the main ridge. This next stretch leads through beautiful scenery, taking you over some grassland hills beneath the gentle, mountain-pine-covered ‘Geißhöhe’ ridge.Turning diagonally left, you keep following the trail along the northern side of the Geißhöhe ridge, walking uphill. Just before you’ve reached the top, the path traverses the ridge’s steep, overgrown northern slope, running in between dense mountain-pine fields. Back on the eastern crest of the ridge, you make your way down through the narrow aisles that have opened up between the mature spruce trees, leading to a flat expanse of grassland. Next, you traverse the rock-strewn meadows of the ‘Munsinplan’ slope keeping right as you walk along fence remnants close to the crags on your right-hand side (South). After a short descent into a hollow with boulders and rocks, you reach a wooded crest (situated just before the incline that leads up to the Ringkogel mountain). Here, at the ‘Planstiege’, the trail forks off to the left, towards the ‘Schwarzalm’. Follow this route downhill until, just before the Schwarzalmhütte cabin, there is another fork in the path. This time you turn right, making your way down through the strange and fascinating karst landscape of the ‘Kessel’ area (take care not lose your bearings – concentrate on the markings that identify the trail). The trail ends at an elevation, from which you continue your journey to the Wiesenalmhütte cabin (1486 m) – walking across gorgeous wild-flower meadows. The ‘Wiesenalm’ counts among the most remote and beautifully situated alpine pastures in the Hochkar mountains. Looking to the south-west, you see the expansive ‘Kessel’ area with its dramatic karst landscape, characterised by enormous sinkholes, karst plains and chasms. Once you have reached the Wiesenalmhütte cabin, you follow the moderately declining mountain ridge down to a broad ridge covered in grassland and wildflowers, which offers a great view of the Dürrenstein mountain. Now the path veers left, leading down through sparse woods and over the small saddle before the Hocheck peak, until you come to a fence gate. From there, you take a small footpath which winds its way down through some light, mature woods until reaching a forest road, which takes you directly to the beautifully situated Leckermoor. From there, you follow a paved road towards the Hochreit plateau, walking past the charming Ablaß farmhouse and B&B (one of our Luchs Trail accommodation partners), as well as the equally attractive ‘Groß Schöntal’ and ‘Klein Schöntal’ farmsteads. In between the two farmsteads you’ll see the turning for a hiking trail to your right, which takes you all the way down to the village of Göstlin