Hike to the Mutterberger See Lake in Stubai

The hike starts from the bottom of the Gamsgarten cable car lift station at the Stubai Glacier, so it's best to park in the highest car park. (Most cars park at the lower Eisgrat cable car so the upper car park should be fairly quiet). If you're arriving by bus, this is the very last bus stop on the ST line from Innsbruck.

At the very end of the car park you'll find the start of the trail. It starts as two fairly wide gravel roads. The the right hand side road and the wooden bridge which crosses over the thundering river. The first part of this road is wide, but quite steep and winding as you climb the first 200 vertical meters. 

After just under 1km/30 mins (depending on pace), you'll come across another wooden bride over the river which has a sign for the Mutterberger See and the Neue Regensburgerhütte. The sign estimates from this point that it's 2.5 hours to the lake, which is pretty accurate. Take this route, cross the bridge, and follow this trail. This section of the trail is much narrower but there are trail markers along the while way. It crosses some alpine meadows, goes through some bushes and involves crossing a few streams, so gore-tex hiking boots are recommended.

At around 2400m the trail flattens out a little and you'll come across some beautiful streams and shallow lakes with crystal clear waters. As the trail traverses across the side of the mountain, you'll reach another small stream with two wooden bridges crossing it. It's just after this point that the final upward section comes, which leaves the main trail that runs from the Dresdenerhütte to the Neue Regensburgerhütte, and climbs up to the beautiful mountain lake, the Mutterberger See. 

After you've enjoyed a short break and some pictures up at the lake, continue along the trail, which leads back to the main trail between the two huts. The first section of this descent is a really nice and gradual descent, with stunning views across the Stubai Glacier and the Sulzenau Ferner. As you cross one more wooden bride over a thundering stream (the waterfall is just above you), you'll join back on to the same wide gravel road that you started on. 

Depending on what you prefer, you can either walk the whole way down on the gravel road, or follow the narrower trail alongside it that is closer to the river. Along this section you might come across a number of marmots so listen out for their whistling.

Just before the 7.5km mark you'll reach the bridge where you first lift the main gravel road, and from here it's just under 1km back to the car park at the bottom station of the lift.

Options to vary this hike:

Instead of hiking the full circuit, some people choose to take the cable car up to the middle station and start their hike from the Dresdenerhütte. Of course it's also possible to do the reverse, and end the hike here and take the cable car back down to the valley.