N09 Benedikt Pilgrimage Path Upper Austria Vorderstoder - Klaus/Pyhrnbahn

The 2nd stage of the Benediktweg heading north starts at the parish church of St. Leopold in Vorderstoder (altarpiece "Kremser Schmidt"). First, continue along the main street heading west in the wide left curve. Before the right curve, turn left onto the path into the ditch, pass a playground, and walk on boardwalks over the mossy ground. After a few meters, you reach a small house on the left. Now follow the path uphill on the right over a bridge, then turn left onto the paved uphill road. Follow this path on the so-called Hutterer side past several farms. After the fourth farm (on the left), turn right onto a slightly descending path, cross the next farm (named Hutgraben; with goats and direct sales or refreshment stop) and enter the forest after about 200 m. There, follow the paved path and after a left bend, partially steeply descending into the ditch. Sharp right along the creek down into the scattered settlement "Hutstückl." After about 300 m, turn left over the creek onto the path and follow the meadow path into the next ditch (municipal boundary). Cross the path, take a short shortcut straight on the old path uphill and continue straight on "Mitterstoder Straße." After about 1 km, you reach the isolated homestead Wartegg. There, opposite the house, turn right downhill onto the field path over the meadow. At the lower end, arrive at a gate with some houses and at a left turn continue along the access road downhill. After the bridge, continue out of the "Loigistal". In the settlement, after the first houses, turn left and follow the path to "Landhotel Gressenbauer," which you pass on the left through the courtyard with a fountain. Now follow, keeping left, the peaceful hiking trail past ponds and way crosses down to "Hotel Poppengut." Just before reaching the L551, turn left at the parking lot onto the village path, pass the Marian prayer chapel, and take the path through the forest. Afterwards, cross the road and continue straight on the sidewalk alongside the road to the large parking lot, then further through the tunnel into the center of Hinterstoder with its parish church (patronage: Exaltation of the Cross); Vorderstoder – Hinterstoder approximately 7.5 km.

From the parish church, continue about 50 m and then turn right at the tourist office or the Alpineum Museum, pass the patisserie on the right, and go to the bridge over the Steyr. Cross this and turn immediately right after about 50 m onto Griesserweg. You are now on the Salzsteigweg along the Steyr. After about 200 m, keep right (wooden hut) and follow the hiking trail along the spacious Kneipp course or park. You can rest here and enjoy the facility. There are also replicas of historic forest worker huts. Continue straight past the Jugendstil house of the former Pension Prieler. Looking to the right, you might see sturgeon in the ponds. We stay on the left side of the Steyr (thus not crossing the next bridge to the L552) and follow the beautiful hiking trail into the Steyr gorge, following the river's course.

After about 400 m on the hiking trail, keep right downhill and after another 300 m reach the impressive Stromboding waterfall. Before this waterfall, cross the Steyr over a footbridge;

Hinterstoder - Stromboding waterfall: approx. 2.5 km.

Do not take the path uphill to the parking lot but go left on the path and over another bridge across the roaring Steyr back to the left side of the bank, following the path another 200 m until reaching a slightly higher gravel road. From here, follow the marked "Salzsteigweg" (locally also called the famous "Flötzersteig") to the narrow gorge downstream. After about 1 km, the valley widens. At the first (Trinklergut), turn left onto the paved path, pass more farms (Schnabl and Karlbauer with wine tavern) and then at the Eisterer wayside cross (after about 1.5 km), sharply turn right down to the Steyr. At the bottom, follow the "Salzsteigweg" to the left downstream along the river.

After approx. 1.2 km, reach a parking lot by the L552 and turn sharply right over the Steyr bridge. Caution: Immediately after the bridge, cross left over the L552 to the access road to a high ropes course. At the parking lot, take the left fork forest road (pay close attention to markings!). Later the path continues as a trail. Follow this for about 3.5 km along the shady east slope downstream, slightly descending to the "Steyrbrücke" of the B138 in St. Pankraz; Stromboding waterfall - Steyrbrücke: 8.5 km.

At the "Steyrbrücke," continue straight on the far left path along the Steyr bank for about 300 m. At the next fork, turn right onto a short forest road and reach a small pumping station, then continue left past it on the forest path. This leads as a trail through the forest with a right turn uphill and emerges onto a paved village road. Walk about 100 m left into the settlement and at the intersection turn right towards the train station.

Variant: At this intersection, you can take the so-called "Fischersteig" at your own risk (!) (sometimes marked with blue-white signs), a historical trail that is unsecured and unmaintained (very dangerous when wet). It leads along the Klauser Lake partly over very narrow and steep paths; creek crossings are not safe; there are also landslides. In this variant, go straight ahead in the settlement on the paved road or bike path to the new bike bridge over the "Teichl," keep left on the paved path and after about 1.5 km (historic railway bridge over Klauser Lake) reach the entrance (metal turnstile) to the Fischersteig. Initially on a gravel road, then on the left a very steep descending path down to the Vorderer Rettenbach or the so-called Rettenbach bridge with a wonderful view of Klauser Lake and the crystal-clear waters of Rettenbach. Over the Rettenbach bridge, go steeply uphill on the other side and continue along the very steeply descending, canyon-like shore of Klauser Reservoir, then down once again directly to Klauser Lake, and finally further to where the (now meadow path) meets the paved feeder road to "Gut Traunfried." Follow this road to the left, go under the A9 motorway bridge, and continue about 500 m to the AV trail sign (ascent to the westernmost outcrop of the Sengsengebirge, the Spering). From here, the Fischersteig leads left down to the banks of Klauser Reservoir. Then walk for about 2 km mostly close to the shore to the "Gasthaus Seeblick." From there, you can already see the end of the lake with the dam. The Fischersteig then follows briefly the Benediktweg, crossing the dam – in its further course along the western Klauser side of the lake back to the Steyr bridge (marked).

The (marked) main path, however, goes towards the train station (see sign in the settlement). We follow the street or bike path in this direction, cross directly over the bike bridge across the motorway, then cross an access road and follow the gravel path towards the station, then turn right and enter Güterweg Pernkopf, which goes under the railway. Follow this path further, go through the forest down after some houses, and cross the "Teichl" on a bridge. Now follow the road straight ahead, which then curves slightly right and makes an almost sharp left turn uphill. After about 500 m, turn right (at the access road to the farmstead Aubauer; see sign) to the Pernkopf farmstead. Cross a small pass before descending again through the forest into the valley of the so-called Vorderer Rettenbach. Caution: Several forest roads branch off here (pay attention to path markings) – but we follow the paved road. To the north rise the outskirts of the Kalkalpen National Park, the mountains of the Sengsengebirge.

After about 1.5 km, always descending, and after the bridge over Rettenbach (and still about 300 m before a larger parking lot), turn left (see signs) onto the access road to the Speringbauer farmstead and follow the path or forest road along the right side of Rettenbach, past the junction to the ascent to Spering, through a wooden gate, then above the A9 until the end of the forest. On a large meadow (Helm-Alm), follow the forest road straight (see signpost), go past Helml-Alm, and continue straight on the road, which partly ascends or descends through the forest, and at times offers views of the Tote Gebirge, the Kalkwerk Steyrling, and the river mouth of Steyrling into Klauser Lake. After a meadow area, reach a bridge on the left, from where the road is paved and leads us to the "Gut Traunfried" farmstead and further to the Klauser Lake reservoir. After another kilometer, see two tunnels and the A9 bridge, then after about 500 m, pass under the A9 motorway again and continue along the paved road. Soon, you can see left above Klauser Lake the Klaus Castle (worldwide center of the evangelical mission community of the Torchbearers with a Bible school). Follow the path past Gasthaus Seeblick to the dam, which you cross.

On the other side, follow the B138 sidewalk to the right for about 100 m. On the right is the parish church of Klaus, our stage destination;

Steyr bridge – Klaus an der Pyhrbahn: 13 km