Foto: Ege­rer

Zur deutsch­spra­chi­gen Ver­si­on die­ses Artikels

Today, we are hiking from Schil­tern (com­mu­ni­ty Seeben­stein) up to the Weiß­ja­ckel at 576 meters alti­tu­de – a two hours loop hike along nice forest paths. The first part is sign­pos­ted well, whe­re­as in the last third the­re are no more mar­kings, pro­ba­b­ly due to ongo­ing forest ope­ra­ti­ons. Still, no worries – with some sen­se of ori­en­ta­ti­on one finds the right way back to Schiltern.

The start­ing point is kind of a hid­den spot. After pas­sing the place name sign of Schil­tern, the­re soon is Thern­ber­ger Stra­ße at right hand side. One turns into this street, fol­lows it for about 200 meters, until a small bridge leads into a resi­den­ti­al zone. You also find a sign­board indi­ca­ting a 30 km/​h speed limit here. Befo­re you dri­ve into the resi­den­ti­al zone, you see a sign­board mark­ed in blue – “Weiß­ja­ckel”. You can optio­nal­ly park here.

A lot of natu­re and beau­tiful views

We fol­low a forest road; at a house whe­re you see goats gra­zing, this road con­ti­nues as a hol­low way to the left and even­tual­ly ends in ano­ther forest road. We fol­low the blue mar­king, lea­ding us ste­adi­ly uphill through light mixed forest — some­ti­mes the path is wider, some­ti­mes lon­ger. Even­tual­ly, it also ends in the Pit­ten loop trail.

After wal­king 45 minu­tes, the path beco­mes a nar­row steep track on soft forest soil. Soon, we reach our first desti­na­ti­on, “Weiß­ja­ckel”. Howe­ver, this sum­mit cross is loca­ted some­what hid­den on a hill. At a tree with hiking sign­boards we turn left, yet even here, the­re is no view. The­r­e­fo­re, we walk back the short sec­tion. We still fol­low the path mark­ed in blue. Even­tual­ly, we arri­ve at a wider forest road.

Atten­ti­on: we first turn left and fol­low the yel­low mar­king direc­tion cell pho­ne tower – from the­re one has a sple­ndid view towards Schnee­berg, Rax and Hohe Wand. A litt­le bench is awai­ting us here – invi­ting us to take a rest.

After­wards, we hike back the same path, now we fol­low the forest road to Lei­ding. Even­tual­ly, we reach a lar­ge mea­dow, whe­re ano­ther litt­le bench is reser­ved for us, loca­ted hid­den at the edge of the forest. Yet, we do not fol­low the forest path along the mea­dow, but the way, which is mark­ed in yel­low, to the left, back into the forest.

No mar­king in sight

From now on, the­re are – more or less – no mar­kings. One just fol­lows the forest road until one arri­ves at a new “forest high­way”. It is extre­me­ly wide – the­r­e­fo­re you can­not miss it. We fol­low it until we turn into a nor­mal­ly wide path at a sharp right hand bend. The next sec­tion is alre­a­dy the final spurt – we stay on this forest path – final­ly, we end up at the gra­zing goats again, which we have alre­a­dy seen, just from the other side.

Altog­e­ther, it is a nice hike wit­hout crowds of peo­p­le, a lot of natu­re – ide­al for tho­se loo­king for tran­qui­li­ty. The jour­ney is the reward. The track is not appro­pria­te for a baby pram. If you plan a fami­ly hike, it is only recom­men­da­ble for tal­ler child­ren, as the way up is a bit steep – in the first third of the track, one has to mana­ge about 240 meters dif­fe­rence in alti­tu­de. The loop trail is mark­ed in the map of trails of com­mu­ni­ty Pitten.

Portrait Eerwin Jung

Tip from the Moun­tain Secu­ri­ty Service

Dear lei­su­re time sports­men and sports­wo­men,
Our regi­on invi­tes us to spend nice hours in natu­re. Of cour­se, situa­tions may occur, when you or others need help. In Aus­tria, the­re is a legal obli­ga­ti­on to save humans from dan­ge­rous situations/​episodes. This means that you have to take actions to save and safe­guard others – pro­vi­ded you are not end­an­ge­ring yours­elf when doing so.
The most important direc­ti­ves: first alert the action forces (moun­tain secu­ri­ty ser­vice: emer­gen­cy call 140; Euro­pe: emer­gen­cy call 112). Try to safe­guard or clo­se off the dan­ger spot and to ren­der first aid – as fast help is the best help!
Get home safe­ly and in healt­hy condition.

Erwin Jung
Pho­to: Moun­tain Secu­ri­ty Service