ST09 AAT: Danielsberg - Hühnersberg

The Danielsberg nature trail will lead you through the small nature conservation area on this unique hummock which stamps the landscape of the Lower Möll Valley. In Kolbnitz, the main village of the municipality of Reißeck, it is impossible to ignore the use of water power to generate energy. Right at the start you will cross the pressurised pipeline of the Reißeck group of power plants. At almost 1,800 metres, the difference in altitude between the reservoir and the power plant is the second largest in the world! Shortly afterwards you will also cross the pipelines of the Malta group of power plants, which take the water from the Kölnbrein reservoir in the Malta Valley to the power plant between Kolbnitz and Mühldorf. At 200 metres in height, this reservoir has the highest retaining wall in Austria! Given the worldwide discussions on energy, it has to be asked whether water power should be unconditionally welcomed as an emission-free form of energy, or whether the high demand for natural areas to be used for reservoirs and pipelines is not imposing too much of a strain on the landscape. The Reißeck group of power plants currently has an answer: Its subterranean pumping station means that its efficiency can be substantially increased without any visible interventions.

Near the municipality of Mühldorf you will once again be walking on historic soil: Emperor Friedrich I, known as “Barbarossa”, once returned here from the Crusades with his brave warriors and stopped to rest in the gorge. He fell asleep exhausted on the “Barbarossa table” while some of his soldiers kept watch overnight. Soon the Devil appeared to them and chased them. You can discover how the story ends on the enchantingly beautiful trail through the gorge.