Exploring the mountain farms of Stilfs and Lichtenberg on foot means diving back into the Middle Ages, getting to know the countryside, buildings, ways of working and also a language that make you forget all about place and time because the narrowness and steepness of the meadows allow only limited use of technical equipment. Leaving the small village of Gomagoi (1260m) you can reach Fraggeshof at 1650 m above sea level after 1 ½ hours on foot by taking first of all a forest path and then climbing up through a wood.
Just as many of the mountain farms around us, ’Fragges’ was also erected by shepherds and lumberjacks, as well as mountain people, as a winter barn. At the very latest it developed into a permanent settlement in the 17th century. You can reach the game reserve ’Fragges’, looked after by the national park Stilfserjoch, via the forest track. From here you can continue downwards on an old path through the wood to the hamlet ’Platz’ whose earliest mention dates back to the 14th century. The hamlet ’Vallatsches’, at 1720 m above sea level, is very primeval and has still scarcely received the blessing of technology, in spite of the access path, along which you walk to get there. There are carefully tended meadows of a steepness that can scarcely be beaten and fields previously shored up by stone walls.
After three hours on foot you go downhill again along a path through the wood until you reach the hamlet of ’Faslar’, at 1520 m above sea level, where you will be able to see the smallest parcelling of the fields and meadows of the village community of Stilfs. The first stage of the hike to the farms ends with a descent of about 4 hours to the village of Stilfs.
The second stage leads via more farms along a path in the woods to Schartalm. The descent to Lichtenberg takes a further 2 ½ hours through various medieval clearings to the ruins of Castle Lichtenberg.