In the valley of the wood

Description:
From the Weißenbach car park in the Reichraminger Hintergebirge, follow the themed trail marker "Im Tal des Holzes" (In the valley of the wood), past the Weißenbach Chapel and the Bergerwies Hut, up the wooded northern slope of the Stefflkogel and then through the beech forest back down to the Reichramingbach and back to the starting point.

Theme trail: In the valley of the wood

Directions:
From the parking Weißenbach in the Reichraminger Hintergebirge, follow the themed trail marker "Im Tal des Holzes" (In the valley of wood) and cross the Reichramingbach stream right at the beginning. You hike on the gravel road along the Große Weißenbach almost without any ascent.

After 15 minutes you reach the Weißenbach Chapel. It is one of the few remains of the disappeared settlement in the Weißenbach, where about ten families lived until 1960. The chapel, renovated in 1999, was built in 1828 and was the centre of village life, especially on Sundays and holidays.

Immediately after the chapel, the Kleine Weißenbach flows into the Große Weißenbach.Here you branch off onto the left-hand gravel road, follow the markings "Im Tal des Holzes" (In the valley of the wood) again into the Große Weißenbach valley and soon reach the Bergerwies hut (not permanently managed). The hut was built around 1950 and was accommodation for lumberjacks and hunters. Here we also find a reconstructed coal mill - a considerable part of the felled wood used to be processed into charcoal. After only 5 minutes on foot, the road makes a left turn.

It is definitely worth taking a short detour here, following the course of the stream straight ahead. Until the flood of the century in August 2002, there was still a forest road along the Große Weißenbach, the connection to the Ebenforstalm. Large parts of this road were washed away by the water masses overnight. On this section of the road in the northern part of the Kalkalpen National Park, you can clearly see how nature, with the help of its forces, shapes new landscapes and, piece by piece, makes human institutions disappear. Concrete bridges, foundations and metal girders will be visible for a long time, but here we can witness the impressive return of wilderness.

Back at the bend in the road, we hike up the wooded northern slope of the Stefflkogel on the gravel road. After a good hour's walk, turn left at a road bend onto a forest path. In about 20 minutes, you descend through a beautiful beech forest to the Reichramingbach stream, where the loop comes to an end. From here it is only a short distance back to the car park.