Hiking on the Isel Trail – field report

The Isel river has always been there – for thousands of years at least. It has shaped the landscape through the ages, with its ravines, rocks and smooth sandbanks. The Isel’s source is the Umbalkees glacier snout – in the heart of an arctic-like landscape in the Hohe Tauern National Park. Close to the summit of the majestic Rötspitze, it bursts forth bubbling under the glacier. Then the still young river makes its way down into the valley, drowning out all other sounds with its constant roar.

A rock at the mouth of the Drau marks the start of the trail, which was officially opened in 2020. From here, yellow signs point the way. Step by step, you head up to the source. Five days are suddenly a whole lifetime, the life of the river. And time takes on a completely different meaning.

The first stage of the hike leads you comfortably along the Isel for around 17 kilometres, first through the sun-kissed town of Lienz. Bruck Castle seems to be bidding you hello from above. The town then disappears and the greenery takes over. The Isel has resisted all the intrusions of the modern world. The wide riverbed has enabled habitats to develop here that vanished elsewhere in Europe long ago. Otters and the Danube salmon known as huchen have made their home here, and the rare German tamarisk shrub grows in many places, immersing the banks in a pale pink colour with its flowers.

A triumph of conservation

Yet all of this might never have been possible. ‘In 1971, there were plans to build a hydroelectric storage power plant in East Tyrol,’ explains National Park Ranger Andreas Angermann. The power plant was supposed to divert the glacial rivers into a reservoir. But dedicated environmentalists, the low price of electricity and the fluctuations of the river – low water flow in the Isel in winter and massive amounts of glacier water with rock flour content in summer – stopped the project from going ahead. ‘I’m glad about that, because temporarily storing the water for the power plant would have prevented the natural fluctuations in the water level and obstructed and impeded processes,’ he adds. So this natural gem has survived and hiking fans can enjoy it in its undisturbed wildness.

Stages two and three from St. Johann im Walde to Prägraten am Grossvenediger stretch for around 30 kilometres almost entirely along the very lively river. The valley soon narrows and the cataracts near Feld signal the arrival of the powerful, alpine Isel in its upper reaches. The closer you get to its source, the more spectacular the nature becomes: at the Umbal Falls, the Isel plunges down with a mighty roar. A mist of spray shrouds hikers as they get right up close to the river on the water trail. Further up, civilisation yields to the rugged nature. Snow fields alternate with wild flowers, interspersed with the whistling calls of marmots.

With the jackets drying over the oven in the Clarahütte hut, the river has to remain outside. Karin, the hut owner, sings ‘Don’t worry, be happy’. Two guitars, the right song, and then strangers become friends.

Three-thousanders within reach

The next morning, the 3,000-metre peaks seem close enough to touch and the alpine wilderness reveals its blaze of colour: like a white and turquoise ribbon, the Isel is streaked with carpets of flowers. The rust-coloured alpine roses vie with the blue of the gentian. On the last stage, hikers have to negotiate the last big steep step, which was still covered by the glacier a few decades ago. Past the glacial lake, the pyramid-shaped marker emerges as the last point of the trail, with the imposing Umbalkees glacier and Dreiherren peak reigning supreme behind it. It’s both joyful and somewhat sad, because everyone can see how much the glacier has shrunk. The threat now facing the Isel is climate change. Because if the glacier disappears, so does the river. But it is still there and inspires everyone with its wildness. The five stages allow you to witness the river’s journey from its icy birthplace to its confluence with the Drau. And those who walk this trail become one with the river and return home transformed.