Hiking Tour: “Nord-Süd-Weitwanderweg 05 Stage 18: From Mugelschutzhaus to Fensteralm and Plotscherbauer”

The North-South-Long-Distance trail (Nord-Süd-Weitwanderweg, also known as the “05”) starts in the north of Austria at Nebelstein and ends in the south of Austria at Eibiswald. The trail is ~500km long, ~18 000m in ascent and the same amount in descent. The trail was initiated by Carl Hermann and officially established on the 25th September 1970. The trail is separated into 3 parts: the northern part from Nebelstein to Plankenstein via the Mühl- & Waldviertel and the Wachau, the middle part from Plankenstein to Trofaiach via the Ötscher, Hochschwab and Eisenerzer Reichenstein, and the southern part from Trofaiach to Eibiswald via the Pack and Koralpe. It normally takes 3 weeks to complete the entire trail.

	Nord-Süd-Weitwanderweg 05 – Checkpoints
	Mugel: Mugelschutzhaus

Personal impressions:
Transportation:
I’ve planned to accomplish this stage as the second of an 8-day multi-day trip. As I stayed the night at the Mugelschutzhaus, I was able to directly start the tour the next morning.

The hike:
This hike was part of an 8-day multi-day trip. Initially, I planned to start at the Mugelschutzhaus and stay overnight at the Gleinalmschutzhaus – just as recommended in the official guide. Luckily (!!!), when doing the reservation at the Mugelschutzhaus, I got informed that the Gleinalmschutzhaus is closed. The originally and recommended tour would have been more than 27km and 1750m in ascent without ANY hut in-between (no food, no water). Making the stage till the next hut (Sattelhaus) would have resulted in a total of approx. 40km distance and 2000m ascent… – with a lighter daypack no problem but having the heavy backpack, no fun!
I therefore replanned and decided for a detour to stay overnight at Plotscherbauer. Luckily, I was able to reach the very friendly owners and indeed, I was told that they have at their attic some mattress for staying overnight.
I started the tour after having an awesome breakfast at the Mugelschutzhaus and collected my stamp . The tenants also provided me with some snacks for the tour . The tour itself first follows an easy and very well-marked gravel road while providing scenic views in multiple directions. Only the descent into the Trasattel is steep and requires some attention. After the descent, the tour then ascends again up to the Hochalpe, again very well marked.
At the very scenic Hochalpe the tour then merges with the  Zentralalpenweg 02  and follows the joined trail towards the Hochalm, again offering impressive distance views on the surrounding mountains. From there, the tour also allows an amazing view back to Mugel and the Mugelschutzhaus.
At the Hochalm, the tour turns left and follows the meadow downwards – unfortunately with no markings and potentially easy to overlook! The tour descends till the former Almwirt which is no longer serviced. From there the tour now follows a gravel road through the forest. Although the map indicates to follow a trail through the meadow and alongside the river, it seems that this trail is no longer maintained. Markings were removed and you find yourself very quickly at a dead-end. I found my way through the forest back to the gravel road, all markings are now following the gravel road and it turns out to be an easy hike up to the Pöllasattel.
I did a short break at the Pöllasattel and enjoyed my provided snack from the Mugelschutzhaus before following the small trail up to Wurzegg and further to Fensteralm. The trail became heavily overgrown and it required some common-sense to make it through till finally reaching again a gravel road.
The gravel road seemed very new, was wide and easy to hike on. However, the junction just before the saddle below the Fensteralm was no longer visible and only because my GPS told me, I found the crossing! Hopefully they will fix the markings here soon again.
Once in the saddle, I had to leave the official … trail and I followed now the 534 trail down to Plotscherbauer. The trail itself is again very scenic. After the initial ascent, it offers a scenic view on top of a rock towards the Fensteralm and the Speikkogel, and I became aware of what demanding tour I will have to do the next day! Anyway, the view was so great that I decided to have another break here, enjoying the sun and the view.
The rest of the trail is relatively easy, there are one or two exposed points that require attention. Finally I arrived at Plotscherbauer, famous for the very tasty Brettljause (a must try!!!). After having an excellent dinner and a few beers, some nice conversation with the locals playing cards till the hut closed, I went up to the attic and had an excellent sleep (turned out I was the only guest staying overnight).

Summary:
Overall, a fairly easy and again very scenic stage! Because of the wired situation of the Gleinalmschutzhaus, I had to spend an extra day doing a detour down to Plotscherbauer but got rewarded with again, an excellent dinner and a very good sleep.