Capture the big picture

... when the Roman general Drusus the Elder, adoptive son of Augustus, began to develop the paths of the Celts, Racians and Etruscans into the first correct road across the Alps - the Via Claudia Augusta.

It is the only Roman road in the central Alpine region whose ancient name is still known today. It led over the Reschenpass into the Inn valley to Imst, then over the Gurgltal, the Fernpass and further the Lech following to Füssen and Augsburg.

The Starkenberger Panoramaweg follows sections of this route over and over again. It goes past the headquarters of the Starkenberger in the mystical Salvenklamm full of legends and stories, before the path through the bog of Sinnesbrunn leads up to the natural jewel Gurgeltal. Mighty glacial glaciers formed the valley and created a unique landscape and valuable natural space for rare plants and animals. The most well-known zoological peculiarity is a occurrence of the Alpenskorpions (also German scorpion, Euscorpius germanus) on the sunny, south-exposed steep slope of the Antelsberg between Tarrenz and Nassereith.

Like turquoise-green emeralds, Fernsteinsee and Samaranger See lie at the foot of the Fernpass and astonish the beholder. The Fernsteinsee belongs to the castle and hotel complex Fernstein, which lies on the western shore of the See. In the See lies the ruins of the hunting lodge Sigmundsburg.

The Höhenburg Fernstein is mentioned for the first time in the year 1288 in the sovereign princely bar. Already at that time, the weir had the function of a customs office, which emerged in 1312 from a complaint by the municipality of Imst, after merchants had to wait half a day at the gate.

The Fernpass was an important crossing on the Via Claudia Augusta. This made the presence of horse changing stations and other infrastructure necessary. Shortly above the lock Fernstein can be seen after many years of intense car traffic clear ruts in the rocky bottom of the route.