Kleine Mühl

The Kleine Mühl is a left tributary of the Danube in Upper Austria’s western granite and gneiss highlands. It shares its name with the Große Mühl and Steinerne Mühl, giving the region north of the Danube its title: the Mühlviertel. Rising near Ulrichsberg and Julbach in an area called Bräuerau, the stream flows south-west for 32 kilometres before joining the Danube at Obermühl. Its upper reaches are protected as part of the Natura 2000 site Böhmerwald-Mühltäler. The river’s average flow is 3.3 cubic metres per second and it drains a catchment of 382.3 square kilometres. Among its main tributaries are several unnamed brooks that feed the main channel as it winds through the highland landscape. Visitors find quiet footpaths along the Kleine Mühl’s banks, especially in the protected upper valley. The old Höglmühle at Hühnergeschrei, now disused, stands as a reminder of the region’s milling past. The surrounding granite hills and mixed forests offer gentle walks and views across the rolling countryside.