Hernsteiner Lindkogel

In contrast to its namesake, the Hoher Lindkogel in the Vienna Woods, the Lindkogel near Hernstein is a rather unnoticed mountain among hikers. There is also no official path to it, and it takes a little sense of direction to reach its summit.

But let's start from the beginning. A signpost outside Alkersdorf at the Red Cross points the way to the Hohe Mandling as my destination. I follow the markings from there through the forest. Once the forest thins out, there is a view of the Hohe Wand with the Dürnbach quarry near Waldegg. As I continue, I pass the crossroads with the brown picture where there is a cross and a bench. From there, the route ascends quickly along a forest road, and several times a path branches off to the right from the road into the forest to take me directly to the summit.

However, I follow the directions of a local I meet on the way and continue along the forest road until I reach a crossroads near Karlreut - a place that is also marked with this name on most hiking maps. Here I turn right, a wide road without markings continues here. On the way I can also see the Vordere Mandling, otherwise there are no other views up to here. You walk around almost half of the mountain until you reach the opposite side, where you can see down into the valley through the logging work. Now the time has come and the last hundred meters of ascent become steeper without a path.

I finally reach the highest point of the Lindkogel, which is marked with a wooden cross and a rather weathered deer antler on it. There is even a summit booklet hidden under the cairn.

For the descent, I follow a path that branches off a few times but leads back to the hiking trail I came from. Of course, you could also "take" the Lindkogel summit with you and continue on to the Mandling, for example. For today, I am content to have found the summit of a mountain that is not so often visited and hike comfortably back to the starting point in Alkersdorf.