Lynx Trail - Stage 11 Göstling (Hochreit) - Lunz am See (Seehof), with shuttle

A shuttle taxi will pick you up from your accommodation in Göstling after breakfast, and drive you to the Steinbachtal valley – dropping you off at the car park commonly used as a departure point for the Ybbstaler Hütte mountain. This saves you almost 2 hours of hiking, ensuring that today’s comparatively challenging itinerary stays reasonably manageable.

Starting out from the car park, you follow the signposts for the ‘Ybbstaler Hütte’ mountain hostel (elevation gain from car park: 730) – walking first on a forest road, then on a clearly marked footpath until you have reached a hunter’s cabin. This is where you cross the forest road. After a natural spring, you turn left onto yet another forest road. Shortly afterwards, you turn right, leaving the forest road for a steep ascent, until you reach the forest road that will take you all the way up to the Ybbstaler Hütte. From the Ybbstaler Hütte, you head south-east, walking up a moderate incline through the sparsely forested Karsttrockental valley, where the effects of recent heavy storms are still visible. The route continues to follow a gentle incline, past several karst hollows and sinkholes, before a steeper stretch takes you up to the Legsteinalm pasture (where you will spot an alpine cabin that has been repurposed as a Mountain Rescue base). At the Legstein hunter’s mountain, you pass the Jungfraunbründl spring. You are now in the north-eastern part of the Dürrenstein Nature Reserve, whose total area encompasses around 3500 hectares. At the centre of this remarkable conservation area is the Urwald Rothwald, one of the largest remaining primeval forests in Central Europe, which has been declared a ‘Category 1a’ protected area by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). As you continue on your journey, the rocky trail takes you across karst terrain and in between creeping pines, all the way up to an undulating plateau. Around 2 hours after leaving the Ybbstaler Hütte (mountain hostel), you have reached the Dürrenstein summit (1878 m), marked with a beautifully crafted, iron cross – the perfect place for a well-deserved rest whilst enjoying stunning panoramic views. Your descent to the ‘Leonhardikreuz’ – a junction of hiking paths marked by a cross (1406 m) leads first through dwarf-pine shrubs, and then across the alpine meadows of the Herrenalm pasture. If you have some time and energy to spare, adding 15 minutes’ walk for a stop-over at the ‘Herrenalmhütte’ mountain hostel is well worth the effort. Having returned to the Leonhardikreuz junction you embark on a steep descent to the idyllic Obersee lake. From there, a forest road takes you through the romantic wilderness of the Seetal valley. Having passed a karst feature known as the ‘Roaring Bull’ (an underground waterfall) and the Ludwigfall (a waterfall that plummets down a vertical, 50-metre high cliff), you arrive at Mittersee lake. To the east, the landscape is dominated by the craggy rock-faces of the Hackermäuer range, while the ‘Seemäuern’ and the ‘Höherstein’ mountains characterise the landscape to the west. From Mittersee lake, you continue on the signposted path, heading out of the Seetal valley until you arrive in ‘Seehof am Lunzer See’ – a small hamlet on the picturesque Lunzer See lake. You have now reached the end of your hiking journey on the Luchs Trail. Why not take a little rest in this lovely spot, refresh tired feet in the cool waters of the crystal-clear mountain lake, and think back over the adventures of the past few days. If you have opted to spend the night in the alpine club mountaineering village of Lunz, a shuttle will take you to your chosen accommodation. 

Nevertheless, something is waiting for you the next day: It is definitely worth exploring the pretty mountaineering village of Lunz am See. The village gained economic importance in the late Middle Ages through its iron processing and iron trade. The magnificent Amonhaus, a Renaissance building, bears witness to the prosperity of the former hammer masters. The noble mansion, where even Emperor Franz I stayed, today houses the town hall, as well as the Hammer Lords and Handicrafts Museum. The official end point of the Lynx Trail is the World Heritage Center "Haus der Wildnis" directly in the center of the village. Experience the last primeval forest in Central Europe without harming the flora and fauna of this sensitive habitat. Thanks to interactive technology, you will gain unforgettable insights into the wilderness, the primeval forest and the "forest network" on more than 700 m² of exhibition space. Translated with DeepL