Haugstein

The Haugstein is a forested granite ridge rising to 895 metres in the Sauwald uplands of Upper Austria’s Schärding district. It stands near Engelhartszell on the Danube and forms the highest point of the Innviertel region. Granite tors and gneiss slabs mark its slopes, part of the ancient Bohemian Massif. Below, the village of Vichtenstein clusters around its medieval castle on the riverbank. The geology shows rounded domes of coarse-grained granite set in a plateau of metamorphic rock.

The summit holds a stone survey pillar and a metal summit cross, reached by forest tracks and cross-country ski trails. A wooden chapel dedicated to the hunter’s legend stands a short walk away, its interior containing a carved beech trunk. According to the tale, a forester in the service of the Passau bishops was bound head-down to an old beech in 1697 and freed by a white stag. Since then the Jägerbildkapelle has served as a memorial for local hunters. A 64-metre steel lattice tower broadcasts television and radio across the valley.

Paths wind through mixed woodland where red deer and wild boar are often seen at dawn. Views stretch north over the Danube valley to the Bavarian plateau and south to the Hausruck ridge. On clear days the twin summits of the Sauwald and the towers of Passau appear in the distance. The wind-energy zone south of the peak shows how renewable power can coexist with protected landscapes.