The Salten high plateau is popular with tourists and locals alike for its stunning landscape, featuring sun-drenched larch meadows and magnificent views of the surrounding mountains. The forest road on the Salten winds gently up and down across the high plateau and is easy to walk along, whereas in the opposite direction, the first tarmac section from Jenesien (Gasthof Edelweiß) has a considerable gradient (26%).

Accessibility

From Bolzano, take the main road to Jenesien. Once in Jenesien, follow the signs towards Flaas and Mölten. You will reach Schermoos and park in the car park where the road down to Mölten begins. There is also a bus stop here.

Description

From the car park in Schermoos, we followed the wide forest road No. 1 to the left, which winds its way in a long arc around the entire Langfenn hill (with its little church) at a moderate gradient. This first section of the route has a moderate gradient of 7–10% for around 500 m (with peaks of 13%). The forest road then continues almost flat, with a few short inclines on a gravel surface, until we finally reach the wide Langfenn meadows (1,481 m). Here, a path branches off to the right, leading up to the Lafenn Inn (1,527 m), near which stands the old church of St. Jakob. We ignore this turn-off to the Lafenn Inn and follow the signposts to Jenesien. Initially, the path descends briefly (14%) before continuing in a south-easterly direction to the so-called Rabenbühel (1,493 m), where the path climbs gently again (a short stretch of loose gravel). From here on, we are accompanied by a number of sculptures depicting local legends, and our walk leads gently downhill to an information board with a map. Passing several junctions leading to various meadows, we finally reach a stone hut on the Saltner Höhe (1,467 m). Following a gravel path that initially slopes gently downwards, we reach the start of a tarmac road, which then descends steeply (26%) to the Edelweiss inn (1,351 m). We return to the Schermoos car park via the same route.