Day 25 – The Wildmoos Loop In Mösern

Feb 7, 2024

Today’s Adventure

Cindy and I started out Day 25 with a brightly-colored VVT (Verkehrsverbund Tirol or ‘Tyrol Transport Association’) bus ride to Mösern, about 10 minutes southwest from Seefeld. This put us on the edge of the Seefeld plateau with a long range view down into the Inn Valley not far west of Innsbruck.

We found the trailhead for today’s hike very close to the bus stop but before starting out we made a brief look at the 17th century Pfarrkirche Maria Heimsuchung (Parish Church of the Visitation of Mary) and the huge ‘Bell of Peace’. This 10-ton bell, cast at a foundry in nearby Innsbruck, was commissioned to mark the 25th anniversary of the Alpine Area Work Group. This organization strives to establish consistent and responsible policies regarding environmental and economic issues within the alpine regions of eight adjoining countries.

Today’s hike followed the W28 Winterwanderweg. This trail forms a big loop through a mostly forested area with an extensive network of cross country ski trails and even a golf course – the former was quite busy while the latter was obviously closed for the season. The scenery for both was quite lovely.

The trail also took us past a couple of closed hüttes. The first was the lakeside Möserer Seestube where we had hoped to stop for coffee and perhaps some Apfelstrudel but they unexpectedly weren’t opening until 11:30. We kept on hiking and soon passed the Lottenseehütte, which as expected was closed for their weekly day of rest. Thankfully when we arrived at our lunch destination, the Wildmoosalm, they were open for business.

The Wildmoosalm is in a solid gold location – it is at the intersection of winter hiking trails, cross country ski trails, a shuttle bus route and even a popular horse carriage path. This location no doubt delivers a lot of hungry and/or thirsty customer traffic on a year round basis. It was definitely a happening place during our visit!

From the bottom of the hill the Wildmoosalm doesn’t look all that big, but once you make the climb you find that the outside terrace is only the tip of the iceberg. There are also two large dining rooms inside – one obviously remaining from the original mountain hütte and the other built in a much more modern glass chalet style.

For lunch we both ordered the Hauswurst sausage with sauerkraut and roasted potatoes. In addition to some brown mustard the plate was also garnished with some freshly-grated horseradish that really works well with the sausage – this something that we’ve now seen at several hüttes in the area.

After an enjoyable lunch on the sun terrace (and an amusing session of people watching) we headed back down to the winter hiking trail. A review of the map showed that instead of completing the circuit hike as recommended by the tourist office we could take an alternative return path. That path took us directly back to Seefeld and bypassed the bus ride with more or less the same hiking distance.

Today’s hike was 7.4 miles with 1,240 feet of vertical. We covered that distance in just under three hours.

Tomorrow’s hike won’t be overly long, but it will be special for us as we hope to check out a restaurant that we were unable to visit on our first trip to Seefeld back in 2020 – a blizzard got in the way! Let’s just say that you need a reservation for lunch *and* a reservation for their house specialty …

For Innichen’s main page click here.

For Seefeld’s main page click here.

For the entire trip’s main page click here.