Limestone Alps & Gesäuse

Wild rock & wild forests

The Ebenforstalm welcomes hikers and bikers.

(Bild: Hannes Wallner)

Experience Austria's wonderful biodiversity and nature. By e-bike through the Kalkalpen and Gesäuse National Parks.

Trans National Park is probably the most unique mountain bike tour in Austria, which impressively demonstrates that preserving nature and experiencing nature need not be a contradiction in terms.

240 kilometers, 7500 vertical meters and two protected areas connect the vibrant Upper Austrian town of Steyr with its long history of iron processing with the idyllic and wildly romantic mountaineering village of Johnsbach in the Styrian municipality of Admont.

Of course, you could master the cycle tour at record speed, but the Trans National Park is far too good for that. Because the beauty of the Kalkalpen National Park is often only revealed at second glance, when you stop, observe and marvel. It's better to take your time and take it easy on the bike tour, but be rewarded with something incredible.

Franz Sieghartsleitner from the Kalkalpen National Park

(Bild: Hannes Wallner)

"Especially in spring, countless orchids are in full bloom along the roadside," enthuses Franz "Siegi" Sieghartsleitner from the Kalkalpen National Park: "In May, you can experience the courtship of the proud black grouse directly from the saddle of your bike, as well as the rutting of the stags in autumn, and even lynx can be seen in our forests." The Trans National Park is said to be particularly beautiful in autumn, when the deciduous forest offers a colorful spectacle in a class of its own. The untouched beech forest in the Kalkalpen National Park has even been awarded UNESCO World Heritage status.

Unlike in many protected areas and forests in Austria, mountain biking is not only permitted in the Limestone Alps, it is encouraged. Those responsible here are aware that only those who are allowed to experience nature are also prepared to protect it.

The old forest railway line is known for its rock tunnels.

(Bild: Hannes Wallner)

Only a few difficult sections characterize the tour.

(Bild: Hannes Wallner)

Mountain biking is welcome in the protected area
"Where farmers and hut owners drive their cars, cyclists should also be allowed to ride," Siegi is convinced. And so we pedal from Reichraming partly along the former forest railway line up to the Ebenforstalm. The view over the Reichraminger Hintergebirge and the Sengsengebirge is a dream. While Sieglinde and Erich provide us with all kinds of delicacies, you can also recharge your e-bike battery at the Ebenforstalm.

A special spot in the national park can be found in the Bodinggraben. Where the Counts of Lamberg once indulged in hunting, landlady Maria Hahn now serves up food in the Jagahäusl. Wildkäsekrainer, Beuschel or potted mice - even the hunters' rifles come to rest with such culinary delicacies. And if you look closely, you will find traces of wild animals everywhere. For example, the shell marks of the red deer that stop by at night to check what delicacies she is preparing for the many cyclists in the national park.

Hunting lodge landlady Maria Hahn

(Bild: Hannes Wallner)

So close and yet completely different is the Gesäuse National Park, measuring ten by ten kilometers, through which the untamed Enns thunders loudly as a wild river in this section, giving the region its name Gesäuse.

Wild rocky mountains and the white waters of the Enns
More than 230 species of insects and plants can only be found here in the Northern Limestone Alps, such as the ornamental feather carnation, which you can smell before you see it thanks to its sweet scent, or the northern giant eye. The weaver's garter is a climbing artist and only feels at home here in the jagged rock of the mighty Planspitze. "We are a white water and climbing destination," says Andreas Hollinger from the Gesäuse National Park. 1040 climbing tours can be found on the walls of the Hochtor, Buchstein and Reichenstein groups. The Dachl north face with a thousand meters of vertical rock is legendary.

There is no better way to experience the Trans National Park than in the saddle of a Hrinkow bike, which are produced in Steyr.

(Bild: Hannes Wallner)

The Trans National Park is therefore the only official cycle tour through the Gesäuse National Park. This is also indicated by the prohibition signs that can be seen everywhere along the route from Hieflau via the Hochscheibenalm to Gstatterboden and on to Johnsbach. You don't have to cycle everywhere, especially not in a mountaineering region that some even call the "University of Mountaineering". "The Limestone Alps simply have a much more moderate landscape, where not everything is as rugged and forbidding as here, and are therefore better suited to cycling," says Andreas.

INFO

• Info and booking center
  Trans National Park
  04782/93093, info@ bookyourtrail.com
  www.bookyourtrail.com
• TVB Steyr and National Park Region
  07252 / 53 229-40
  [e-mail]
  www.steyr-nationalpark.at
• TVB Pyhrn-Priel, Windischgarsten information office
  07562 / 5266, [e-mail]
• TVB Gesäuse, Admont information office
  03613/2116010, [e-mail]

All the more special is the Trans National Park in the Gesäuse, which leads past mighty avalanche tracks and dead spruce forests. "A national park means allowing wilderness," says Andreas. And so the bark beetle is not a pest here, but rather provides new life in the form of more climate-resistant deciduous forests as the spruce forest dies off. Anyone who appreciates our local nature will feel like they are in paradise in the Kalkalpen and Gesäuse National Parks. And there is no better way to experience this magnificent paradise than by bike.

The Trans National Park Mountain Bike Tour is divided into six enjoyable stages with lengths between 22 and 52 kilometers, which are by no means too demanding. Many establishments such as the Villa Sonnwend National Park Lodge near Windischgarsten or the Gasthof Kölblwirt in Johnsbach have specialized in cyclists and some offer bike cellars with charging facilities.

And if you want to spend a longer and more rustic vacation in the Gesäuse, you can also rent one of the alpine huts of the Styrian State Forests.