Estimated net time	4-5 hours
Difficulty	No difficulties. The whole route is hiked on forest road and path.
Drinking water	You walk along rivers/streams at the beginning of the hike. Also some small sources of running water higher up. No stable access to running water above 1300 metres.
GSM coverage	Coverage throughout the route, except possibly at the summit (July 2010).
Parking	Room for many cars at trail head. Per 2010 there is a fee of EUR 2 per day.
Start height	865 metres.
Vertical metres	1175 metres for the roundtrip.
Trip distance	9.9 km
GPS-file	X
Map		Google Interactive Map
Route photo

From Salzburg hit motorway A10 south, and then head east on road B162, which eventually becomes B166. Approximately 30 km after leaving A10 you get to the village Rußbach. Leave B166 and drive into Rußbach centre. Right in village centre you will find a number of yellow signs for various hiking routes. Look out for route "35", signed "Gamsfeld via Traumwand". Follow the signs and park at the first car park (you can drive further up, but this route description assumes you park at the lower car park). Pay for your parking (EUR 2 per 2010).

Start walking by following signs for route 35. After a little more than 700 metres on the road a forest road, signed route 35, forks left. Follow this forest road. Whenever there is a fork on the forest road you should follow the leg that is marked with red-and-white paint.

At approximately 1320 metres, when you get to some wooden buildings scattered around, you should turn left onto a path heading uphill. Follow this path, marked with red-and-white paint, all the way to the summit. Note that as you get close to the summit you should not enter the first small top. Instead head a little left (north). This will take you to the second small top, and again you should head left (north). Soon you will see the summit, marked by a cross.

Descend by reversing your ascent route.

22. July 2010

Our last full day of our Austrian holiday 2010, and my last Austrian hike this time. Since I hadn't done anything above 2000 metres I thought I better get "one of those" in the bag, and since Gamsfeld also has a fine primary factor, and a modest drive from our rented house at Altaussee, it was an obvious candidate.

Elisabeth decided to join me for this hike, and after having bought fresh rolls for the rest of the holiday team, we hit the road, and started our hike at 8am. Even at this time of the morning, and even inside the valley forest at the beginning of the hike, it was starting to get warm. And by the time we got above 1100 metres and out of the forest, we could understand that the sun was going to have an impact on our pace.

Above 1320 metres, when leaving the forest road, the terrain got steeper, and the pace was reduced a couple of notches. From here on it was a short stop every 10 minutes, to check the GPS altitude, and to have a some water at alternate stops.

At 1960 metres we met a father and his 9 year old son, who probably had been the first to reach the summit this fine Thursday. And a little later I, having left Elisabeth a little behind, overtook a couple. The woman said something to me, but her German wasn't exactly Hochdeutsch, so I just nodded and smiled, and aimed for the summit.

At the summit we relaxed a few minutes, trying not to step on too much of the sheep droppings covering most of the grass clad summit area. After some photos and water we headed back down, doing a mix of running and walking, and after 1:10 hour we were back at the car. The plan now was to drive back to Hagan Lodge and pick up the kids, in order to go swimming in Altausseer See, but this failed miserably since we weren't able to find any space at any of the car parks. So instead we bought a lot of cold drinks and headed back to Hagan Lodge.
Photos 22.07.2010