July 30, 2018
The Lech River flows 158 miles through the countries of Austria and Germany before it merges into the Danube River. It also forms the backdrop to one of Europe’s newest long-distance trails, called the Lechweg. Opening in 2012, the 125-kilometer (78-mile) path runs from the source of the river, at the Formarinsee Lake in the Austrian Alps, to the Lech Waterfall in Fussen, Germany. We spent six days hiking the Lechweg, along what the trail website describes as one of the last remaining wild river areas in Europe.
Our Lechweg route
Since the path generally follows the turquoise-colored river, most people hike the Lechweg from its source, walking towards Fussen. This provides a general downhill slope as one walks. In fact, one hotel owner told us that 98% of the people hike the downstream way. Because of our itinerary, it made more sense for us to trek the Lechweg the other way, upstream, towards the Alps. Even though we had more elevation gain that way, we rationalized to ourselves that hiking upstream would get us in better shape for our next trek in Switzerland.
Visiting Neuschwanstein
After spending the weekend with a dear family friend in Munich, Germany, we took a two-hour train ride to Fussen. The city is adjacent to the castles of Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau, so the train was packed with day trippers. Anxious to warm up for the next day’s Lechweg start, we decided to hike up to the castles. Once we arrived at the top of the path, we joined the crowds to view Neuschwanstein from the Marienbrucke pedestrian bridge. I had been to Neuschwanstein as a teenager, but it was Darren’s first time there. He was just awestruck by the magical view of the castle perched high upon the mountainside.
A Long First Day
In my planning for the Lechweg, I found one hiker blog and also relied on the trail website, which had some information in English. The trek can be completed in six to eight stages. We chose the six-day option, but that entailed a couple of long days with over 15 miles of hiking and more than 4,000 feet of elevation gain. The first hiking stage was one of those days, and the website suggested an 8 ½ to 10 hour hiking duration.
Not knowing how long we would actually take to complete the stage, we began early. After arriving at the Lechweg’s northern terminus, we took a couple of pictures at the Lech Waterfall before starting our trek with a climb up a hillside.
We wound through a forest and emerged at the Alpsee Lake. From there, we had our final views of the Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles at its other end. After leaving the beautiful Alpsee, we left Germany and entered Austria.
The trail climbed through a steep section, with the help of cables, before emerging at the beginning of a long valley.
Even with all the elevation gain on the first day, we managed to complete the 15-mile distance in only about 8 hours, under the website’s estimate. We saw very few people, and those who we did see were mainly day hikers versus multiple-day Lechweg trekkers.
Our accommodations each night of the Lechweg were in small towns and villages. Most of the family-run guesthouses and pensions we stayed in just had two to five rooms. In a couple of cases, when we arrived at the hotels, an older mother (who spoke no English) greeted us. Fortunately, I understood enough German to ascertain that the daughter, who spoke English, would arrive later on to converse with us. It just added to the charm of those remote places.
The Bull and the Bridge
After the challenging first day, the second day of hiking was relatively flat as we walked right beside the Lech River, sometimes sharing the path with bicyclists. We also passed through the first of many cow pastures, marked by gates to open and close behind us.
Our third day featured more climbing and ridge hiking above the river. We were also trekking through the Tiroler Lech Nature Park, encompassing about 15 square miles adjacent to the Lech River. As we hiked, we climbed ever so closely into the Austrian Alps. From the trail we had commanding views of the Lech and the villages along the river.
Since we were hiking the trail “backwards,” I had ensured that it would be marked both ways. And we had the trail website’s gpx file on our phones to assist with navigation, if needed. We found the trail marking to be excellent, with an “L” stencil on many trees or affixed to trail signs.
However, we came to an intersection later in the day that confused us. There was a red sign with the Lechweg symbol in front of us. It was marked with an arrow pointing to our location for those walking the opposite way from us. In our direction was a sign pointing for us to go on a path different from the track on our phones. Going the signed way would eventually meet up with the main trail, but would probably add a mile to our distance. We decided to walk according to our phones.
We soon passed through a cow gate. Rounding a corner, we saw a huge bull grazing in a field. Immediately, we realized that the red sign was probably signifying the end of a detour to go around the bull. We were almost back to the main trail, so we kept on walking. Drawing on our experience hiking around bison on last year on our NPS trip, we avoided eye contact with the bull and quickly moved through the field. We were relieved when we finally joined the main trail again. Needless to say, we didn’t stop long enough to take any pictures!
Our fourth stage of the trek started with another climb from a village to a ridge. Even though the trail was sometimes steep, we never tired of the views below.
The highlight of the fourth day was a hanging bridge, just above the town of Holzgau. We had a choice to cross the bridge, 200 meters long, and the highest in Austria, at 105 meters (344 feet) above the ground, or to climb up several hundred feet through a gorge to meet the trail on the other side.
Even though I am terrified of heights, we decided to try to go across. Right before we arrived at the bridge, we met a group of American women coming the other way. They told us that the bridge was certainly doable, as one of them was also scared of heights. I felt much more confident after talking to them.
After Darren took some pictures and video, we walked quickly across. I focused on staying right behind him and not looking around (or down, as the metal floor of the bridge was see-through).
Finally on the other side, we recorded a video of the experience.
A Stormy Stage
We had been walking southwest from Fussen since we had begun the Lechweg; that changed on the fifth stage of our trek. Another long day of almost 16 miles began with us leaving a valley and climbing 2,400 feet in about 7 miles.
Taking a break at the top, we surveyed the sky. The forecast had been for rain in the late afternoon most of the days, well after we finished our hiking. Now, at 11:30 am, the sky in front of us was black. A storm was definitely coming towards us. The question was whether it would bring thunder and lightning with it, which would stop us from hiking on the exposed ridge where we were currently walking.
Our pace quickened, as we hoped to get to the next village before the storm hit. About 5 minutes before arriving there, the rain began. It soon turned to an outburst, with thunder in the distance. We quickly got soaked, but made it to a building overhang at the edge of the town. Out of the elements, Darren decided to leave his pack with me and scout out any other locations to wait out the storm.
He soon returned, having found a small open chapel that was located about two blocks away. Even though it was still pouring, we walked quickly down the road. It felt great to enter the warm room, comprised of just a few rows of pews. Once inside, I got my phone out and checked the weather forecast. It called for another hour of rain, then clear skies for the rest of the day. So we waited while the thunder boomed and flashes of lightning lit up the sky just outside of the door.
The rain stopped about 20 minutes later, and we began to walk. Not two minutes later, the rain started again. Fortunately, we had turned a corner and saw an open cafe at the bottom of the hill. Inside, it was filled with other hikers and bikers stranded by the storm.
We had planned to eat a picnic lunch in the next town, but instead ordered a plate of fresh goat cheese from a neighboring farm and two venison wurst (sausages), accompanied by a delicious mustard-horseradish sauce. We were cold and wet from the storm and the food helped us warm up quickly.
Finally, the rain subsided, and we could begin hiking in earnest again. The trail was a little muddy, but we made good time as we turned to the south facing valley. Even with the 1 ½ hour total rain delay, we arrived in the ski resort of Lech about 8 ½ hours after starting.
Finishing the Trek and Enjoying the Town of Lech
We stayed in Lech two nights because the final trekking day was a hike up a west-facing valley to the remote Formarinsee Lake that is the river’s source. Being Sunday, we encountered many hikers on the trail, with almost all of them hiking downhill (and towards us). Since the trail was narrow and rocky in some places, it made our progress slow going, but we covered the final 8.8 miles of distance in about 4 ½ hours, climbing 2,385 feet in the process.
At the end of the trail we reached the southern terminus sign, a duplicate of the one at the Lech Waterfall. After taking a picture there, we headed to the lake and enjoyed a picnic lunch to celebrate the completion of the trail. An hourly bus took us back to Lech and our guesthouse.
We really took a liking to the resort of Lech, as we marveled at the number of other people who were also there hiking. With many trails leaving from the city center and gondolas / chairlifts on both sides of the mountains surrounding the town, it was a definitely a hiking mecca.
Our trek had taken us through the Tyrol and Vorarlberg states of Austria, and we enjoyed dinners at a couple of excellent restaurants along the way. One night Darren had kasespatzle, and the next night I had knodels (bread dumplings).
Desserts included apple strudel or topfenstrudel (cream cheese strudel), accompanied by vanilla ice cream.
We found the Lechweg to be one of our favorite all-time treks. The combination of the river scenery, small villages, and trail solitude made the hiking very satisfying. The path itself was moderate, with a couple of difficult sections thrown in, but we were both surprised at the amount of flat or slight grade along the trail. And by walking the Lechweg “backwards,” we traveled further into the Alps each day. We woke up every morning looking forward to trekking in the ever towering mountains around us.
We are now on a train traveling south to Italy, where we will stay in Verona for a week. The plan is to relax and take a couple of day trips before heading north again. With 295 miles of hiking now complete, we have one more trek scheduled: a 230-mile hike across Switzerland. This trek, our most challenging, will begin in about 10 days’ time.
Take a look at our final impressions from the Lechweg, recorded just after we finished our trek at the Formarinsee Lake.
The views on this trek were amazing. I pondered about how trails are created, shared, and used throughout history and I would think a majority of people (americans in particular) have no idea that these paths exist and provide not only recreation but sometimes the only path to get places on foot. when I hiked that 1.5 miles up to the Delicate Arch in Utah it wasnt long but difficult and hot and we still saw trail markers and paths set up to guide casual hikers. It definitely made me think more about the evolution of travel and how, if we had to go back, how would you find all of these trails and tracks.
Spot on, Oleg. The very place where we sit (Liechtenstein) has had a human presence for over 5,000 years. Some of these trails have been around since Roman times. Others trials were like the Via Alpina near Italy were built during WW I to move troops. The history in Europe captivates my imagination. It is something I think about all the time while we trek. Thank you for your comment.