spirit gorge | mittenwald

Leutasch-Klamm Wasserfallsteig

Alrighty, this blog post is coming quite a while after the actual trip. The spirit gorge is such a short hike that I was debating if I should write up a post, but here we are. And I’m here to share a short story with pictures!

When I was traveling around Europe, I figured I should probably visit Germany. But as a person who gets stoked on mountains more than cities, I made an effort to find an easily accessible German town with hikes on the way to the Italian Dolomites, and Mittenwald was the perfect spot. We were teetering between fall and winter so weather was not cooperating. We had to deal with the rain the whole time during our visit and I even waterlogged my camera, but it cleared up right as we got to the main part of the gorge. But the fall colors were absolutely wonderful! Coming from the state of Washington, any amount of fall colors makes me happy! And one of the coolest parts of the gorge walk is that you cross the line between Germany and Austria, so if you want to check off countries to visit, a hike like this is perfect!

From our lodging in town, Ferienapartmenthaus Hubertushof we got a few snacks from the local grocery (likely Rewe) and began our journey. Unfortunately we were cheap and cooked at our lodging so I have no recs for where to eat. Before heading to the waterfall, I decided that we better check out the nearby lakes, Lautersee and Ferchensee. There’s a lot of cute little nature playsets along the lakes. You can make a little loop out of the lakes but generally, it’s an out and back.

We then walked along the river to reach the trailhead, labeled as Wanderweg zur Leutschklamm. We actually entered it backwards, because the signs all along kind of allude to the story. You can opt to walk back the same way or take a normal trail (rather than the metal boardwalk) back, so it’s up to you which way you want to take the trail. There’s plenty of overhung bridges and gapping depth to the walk, so it’s exciting if you take your time to enjoy this short trail.

Shot on Canon Rebel T6