Outings - easy but fun hikes

A good way to introduce your family to hiking near Vienna is the Hagenbachklamm. It is a good, clear path. (You might be able to get lost, but you would really have to work at it.) The scenery is lovely - you follow the line of a creek through the woods, with some rocky outcroppings. Where needed there are wooden bridges. At the end of the Klamm is the opportunity for pony riding or for visiting a center for breeding birds of prey. Some of the birds we saw at Kreuzenstein came from here. 'Officially' the walk takes 45 minutes in each direction. That sounds about right. There are no proper playgrounds, but there are several places where earth 'slides', root 'ladders', and side trails up and over rocks or stepping stones instead of the bridges tempt the younger crowd. Also a mysterious stone doorway into the side of the hill. There are very few steps involved. I wouldn't do it just after a period of heavy rain, as parts look like they get very muddy. There were a few picnic tables.

We really enjoyed the falcon station. We were handed an information book keyed to numbers on the cages. The information was in German, but Latin and (usually) English names were included. The first bird we saw was an owl, who immediately turned away from us, raised its tail feathers and dribbled. But most of the others looked like they wanted to pose with their best sides to the camera. The aviaries are large, and had lots of green. That made it harder to see the birds, but it gave them a lot of privacy.

There is a fair amount of parking available at the entrance. There is also a back way in only 10 minutes walk from the falcon station. Drive through Klosterneuburg direction Tulln. The entrance to the Klamm is between Maria Gugging and St. Andrä. We saw mountain bikes and a twin buggy. Not my idea of fun, but possible.


OK, now you've had a taste of it and want something similar, but a step wilder. Try 'Erlebniswelt Mendlingtal'. This is a museum and two hour hike that shows the way wood was brought into the valleys for burning into charcoal for the iron industry. (The two hours does NOT include getting back to the car!) As the driving time is also about two hours each way from Vienna, this is a fairly major undertaking.

The wood was cut in the mountains, and somehow (often just dropped down steep side waterways) gotten to the small river. A dam in the river allowed the workers to send large amounts of water through at times to carry the wood down to the next collection point where it could be sorted and passed on, or used. The dams and associated engineering have been restored and replaced with the help of an EU grant. Twice a month there are regular shows of how this was done. We were once there when an extra show was being done for a group. Exciting! (First Sunday and third Saturday of the month.)

Much of the museum is concentrated at the lower end of the walk. Exhibits try to explain what jobs needed doing around the valley, and how the families of the woodcutters lived while their menfolk were up in the woods. Unfortunately, the commentaries are spoken, and the sound quality is awful, making the German quite hard to understand. A bit further up there is an old water powered sawmill. Then you hike past the various sites needed for the 'triften'. Other items along the path are an eating shelter and a flour mill. There are frequent commentary plaques with interesting information in German. At the top of the hike there are trout ponds. (Yes, there is an coin-op machine that sells a generous handful of fish food for .50).

The 'Herrenhaus' (squire's house) has been turned into a Gasthaus. We'd had a late lunch and weren't ready for eating trout, but the Apfelstrudel was really good. Children will enjoy the play ground there and the rabbit hutches. There is also an example of the branch and bark shelters the workers would live in on the mountain. Steven thought it looked comfy until we pointed out that more than one person would live in it, and that with all the hard work there were no washing facilities.

The walking is similar to Hagenbachklamm, but you are definitely going up hill, the path is often narrower, there are more wooden sections, often attached to the sides of overhanging rocks, more steps up to the bridges. The official word is that baby carriages don't work, but light buggies do. We saw a young child on a parent's shoulders. Another group had the buggy along - being carried in folded condition by one of the adults. About what I would expect from seeing the route. Comment about mud is also valid here.

Drive out the Westautobahn, get off at Ybbs and take 25 South to Göstling.

BTW If you want less walking, but still want to learn about the wood industry, there is an outdoor museum with models instead of the full size things if you take the cable car up from Mariazell. Hands on for children, but it might be a good idea to have spare shirts along for the kids in case they get wet. Steven loved it a few years ago. I enjoyed our first visit.