Brennkogel - traverse

From the parking lot in the Gulling, follow the forest road downstream to Flick’s holiday property. There, follow the yellow sign "Tourengeherbrücke" and cross the stream. At the signposts behind, turn right ("Ski route Seekoppe/Brennkogel") and follow a forest road downstream into the "Weiße Gulling". At the sign "Seekoppe", continue straight on the forest road and at two subsequent forks stay on the main path, which runs along the stream and eventually crosses it. Then pass through a gate and a wildlife feeding station. Afterwards, the forest road rises, passing a hunting hut and the sign "Ski route Hochrettelstein". Downstream, continue past more huts until the path crosses the stream again and shortly climbs on the other side, where on a ridge a steep pull path branches off to the left, which you follow towards the forest edge. This path soon bends left and climbs about 50 meters before turning left again and leveling out. Exactly there, an old hunting trail angles sharply to the right and leads downstream through dense fern towards the forest. Initially quite distinct, this path becomes indistinct after a short steep section in the forest. Here, continue straight and slightly uphill downstream, avoiding animal tracks that turn right and downhill. Soon, the hunting trail becomes clearly visible again, crossing a stream on stepping stones and several wet sections afterward. You reach a clearing through which the path leads clearly and then crosses a mossy forest meadow with a slight ascent. Shortly after, it joins a pull path that climbs steeply downstream. After a bend, it initially climbs steeply further downstream, later flattening and reaching open bilberry terrain. Where it forks, take the right branch, which continues to climb slightly. At a raised hide, the path becomes a grassy trail that soon turns right and curves around a tarn to the Brennkogel saddle.

From the Brennkogel saddle, follow clear trail traces eastwards along the ridge to reach the summit of the Brennkogel.

From the Brennkogel summit, retrace your ascent ridge back to the first saddle and, off-trail, turn left to descend into a grassy cirque. There, cross a terrain threshold to reach a clearly marked path and follow it left. The trail leads gently downhill into another grassy cirque and makes a sharp right turn to reach the forest edge in a wide curve. The trail then turns right and shortly below meets an old, grassy overgrown track, which you follow left towards the Brennkogel hut.

Below the Brennkogel hut, a further trail leads diagonally left downhill from the Brunntrog and soon switches to switchbacks, which can be hard to spot in dense bilberry bushes. At a windfall, trail marks are lost. Here, descend parallel to the forest edge in the fall line until the terrain becomes gentler and you find the path again, which leads right through some tall trees to an almost flat meadow, where it disappears again. Turn left and descend along the fall line, looking out for a crossing path to take left. GPS and track are very helpful here. The grassy hunting trail leads left into the forest and makes a long, beautiful traverse downstream. This trail is still well preserved but is now rarely walked by humans (keyword: rubber hunting), so the removal of fallen wood by the considerate visitor is crucial to keeping it passable in the future. Finally, the trail joins a forest road. Here, turn right and shortly afterward left onto a grassy pull path leading downstream again. At its end, slightly offset downward through dense young forest, you can pick up the old hunting trail again. Partially already heavily overgrown, this path continues downstream to a wide old clearing. At an avalanche strip, the trail disappears briefly, but 50 meters further, it is visible again, allowing you to pick it up and follow it into the forest. After a swampy section, you reach a raised hide at the edge of a meadow with an access road from the right. Here, continue to the lower left end of the meadow, cross a small stream to the left through overgrown terrain, and head towards a wildlife feeding station. From there, a wide forest road leads uphill and downhill, merging in the valley floor at some agricultural buildings with the main path, which you follow left to the Tourengeher Bridge, where you turn right to return to the starting point.