Hiking Tour: “Nordalpenweg 01 Stage 10 | Nord-Süd-Weitwanderweg 05 Stage 12: From Hohe Veitsch to Voisthalerhütte”

The Northern Alpine Long-Distance trail (Nordalpenweg, also known as the “01”) starts in the east of Austria in Perchtoldsdorf (city border of Vienna) and ends in the west of Austria in Bregenz / Bodensee. The trail is ~1000km long, more than 50 000m in ascent and the same amount in descent. The trail is known as the most spectacular long-distance trail through Austria and was officially established on the 22th June 1975. The trail is separated into 61 stages and has multiple variants. For example, the trail can be either started from the city border of Vienna (from Vienna to Bregenz) or from the Neusiedlersee to the Bodensee (lake to lake). In addition, the trail offers multiple alpine variants and even climbs up to the Zugspitze, the highest summit of Germany. It normally takes 9 weeks to complete the entire trail.

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.

	Nordalpenweg 01 | Nord-Süd-Weitwanderweg 05 – Checkpoints
	Hohe Veitsch: Graf-Meran Haus. Seewiesen: Alpengasthof Schuster (Seewiesen 36). Voisthalerhütte

Personal impressions:
Transportation:
This tour is part of a multi day-trip. As I have visited the Graf-Meran Haus a few days before coming from Niederalpl when doing the  05 , I stayed this time overnight in the hut as Robert and me continued our trip on the  01 .
 
The hike:
Robert and me decided to start the hike early in the morning (07:45), right after having breakfast at the hut. The forecast was extremely hot weather with potential rain or thunderstorm in the afternoon and unfortunately, the first part was right.
During checkout, I collected the stamp for both trails. The first part, from the hut towards the steep part of Teufelssteig is scenic. Also, at the edge before entering the steep part, the view is once again stunning. However, then the trail becomes steep and slippery. Although the view is still great, all our concentration was needed to hike down towards Rotsohlalm in a safe manner.
Other than a few days ago, this time we did not stop at Rotsohlalm (it was simply to early) and continued then our hike eastwards towards Seewiesen. Starting at Rotsohlalm, the trail is very easy and follows most of the time gravel roads through the forest. The trail once more becomes scenic when reaching the Turnauer Alm, although it became very warm due to sun exposure. After passing this beautiful alpine pasture, the route once again leads through the forest. Several signs are warning to keep on the marked trail only since the trail leads through a snake resort. Although we watched carefully, neither Robert nor me saw any snake, except the ones on the sign .
Shortly before the Göriacher Alm, the trail vanishes a bit, but with some logic and basic navigation skills one can make the way to the already visible huts at the Göriacher Alm. One of the hut is serving simple food and beverages and due to the very hot day, Robert and me decided for a well-deserved break at the hut for one or two cool beers.
We continued then the tour by follow the trail down to Seebergalm. The last bit is again exposed to sun and it became very demanding as temperature became really hot but also humid. This got amplified by the fact that after the Seebergalm, there is another ascent up to the Seebergsattel (saddle). From there, finally the tour follows a trail through the forest but is partly very steep and requires once again full concentration.
We arrived at Seewiesen (Checkpoint) fairly exhausted, thus the lunch-break at Alpengasthof Schuster came right in time. In addition to a nice Schnitzel with one or two cold beers, we also collected the desired stamp here.
After the break, we hiked through the village of Seewiesen and then on the trail through the valley of Seetal – again very much exposed to sun on a day with very hot temperatures. At the end of the valley, the trail now ascends again through the Böser Wald (evil forest), but this time it was welcomed and not considered evil at all . The tour then bypasses the Franzosenkreuz and then follows again a trail through the valley towards the already visible Voisthalerhütte (Checkpoint). The hut however is not directly accessible and requires to first bypass it on its right hand-side and then ascend fairly steep up. Just a few meters before the hut, both my Suunto watch as well as I were drained all energy. With last remaining power and the great support of Robert, I managed to reach the hut. Once there – man – I think I had never ever a more delicious beer! . And while having a second one, I also collected my desired stamp .
 
Summary:
In principle, this is a very scenic and promising stage! However, due to the hot temperatures combined with high humidity, the stage turned out – at least for me – to be very demanding. Thanks to the good infrastructure (many huts on the way), the stage was doable though.