rules of the trails

Walk through the woods and remote parts of the route in silence, and don’t hurry. Listen to the sounds of nature and tune yourself in to its life. Not only will the wild animals thank you, but it will please your heart.

 


Long-distance hiking, when planned properly, is a sustainable way to spend a vacation. Enjoy the direct contact with nature, and discover the landscape and its inhabitants.

 


This is obvious to most hikers, but unfortunately not to everyone: Please take your garbage and all the packages and wrappers with you in your backpack, and throw them out in their designated place. And if you pick up a bit of rubbish that someone else has left behind, you’ll be doing a favor to nature and to the others who come after you to seek its calming effects.

 


When possible, use the public toilets in the main centers. If you still need to relieve yourself in the wild, use normal toilet paper. Do not use paper handkerchiefs, and never use wet wipes; they take a long time to decompose, and it creates a lot of work for the people who look after the trails (usually in their free time). Whatever you’ve left behind, please cover it with a bit of earth or leaves.

 


Please use the marked hiking trails. Carelessly crisscrossing along unmarked paths leads to destruction of the vegetation and biotopes, especially when more people do it. It causes damage to farmland.

 


Keep your dog on a leash, especially in the spring. Many wild animals bear their young in the spring. Generally, it is obligatory to keep your dog on a leash wherever animals may be living in the wild. You should also observe caution around grazing cattle. Female cattle can be especially dangerous for dogs and people. Be careful where your dog leaves excrement. Especially in areas where cattle feed is grown (meadows, pastures, clover fields, etc.), dog excrement endangers the health of livestock (causes spontaneous abortions).

 



The knight of the Alm explains:

At the age of 7, the sons of knights left their family of origin and served as bellboys for other knights to ride, hunt, make music and learn the correct manners. At the age of 14 he became a squire, got a sword and learned the knight craft. After another 7 years he was finally knighted.