The Lech: The Last Wild One – An Alpine river and its landscape in the 21st century

The Lech – It is considered one of the last untamed rivers in Europe north of the Alps. Whereby ‘untamed’ is a relative term here: coming in the Alps from Vorarlberg to the Tyrolean-Bavarian border near Füssen, the river is powerful, rough and wild. Shortly after the Bavarian border, however, the Lech is dammed up in a narrow corset from hydroelectric power station to hydroelectric power station.

A brief geographical orientation: the Lech rises in the Lechquellengebirge mountains near the Formarinsee lake, above the winter sports metropolis of Lech am Arlberg. It flows through the Tyrolean Lech Valley, where it separates the Allgäu Alps (to the left, to the north) and the Lechtal Alps (to the right, to the south). At the Lech Falls near Füssen, it leaves the Alps and flows through the Bavarian Alpine foothills, where the river flows into the Danube at Marxheim, at the foot of the Franconian Jura (a low mountain range of the southwest German stratigraphy) after 257.8 kilometers.

The special feature of the Lech lies in its geographical orientation: compared to other rivers in the northern Alps, its origin is much more southerly, i.e. closer to the main Alpine ridge. While in the foothills of the Alps, it heads straight north towards the Franconian Jura. This is unprecedented among the Bavarian Alpine rivers between Lake Constance and Königssee. In this way, the Lech Valley offered a unique migration route for fauna and flora until the late 19th century. A biotope bridge between the Mediterranean region and Central Europe.

With the impact of modern man, the river landscape has changed increasingly rapidly and radically over the past 125 years with the help of technological development. In the 20th century, the amount of land used for agriculture, industry and settlements increased relentlessly. This was accompanied by a growing need for safety, which led to flood protection with dams and river straightening. In earlier times, many rivers were used as trade routes for rafting, but today their water is used as a commodity for energy production. As a result, many rivers have suffered the same fate: flowing waters have become chains of dams. There is hardly any other river landscape in Germany that has been or still is more severely affected than the Lech.

In order to consciously perceive the river landscape of the Lech with its special features, it helps to look back to the last formative epoch in which nature and landscape took on their present form: the Würm Ice Age (115,000 – 10,000 years before our era). Characteristic features include the steeply rising hanging valleys from which the tributaries flow to the left and right of the river in the alpine ‘Upper Lechtal’. Moraine landscapes with their typical ground forms such as drumlins, dead ice holes or ridges characterize the ‘Middle Lechtal’. There are also traces of former ice reservoirs that formed on the edge of the Alps at the end of the Ice Age, which can be seen today in the Füssen Bay. The ‘Lower Lechtal’, originally characterized by wide gravel plains and broad alluvial forests through which the river meandered on its way to the estuary delta. The appearance of the gravel meadows and alluvial forests never lasted long, the dynamics and creative power of the river were too great. The floods that occurred in spring and early summer at the latest, caused by melting snow and thunderstorms, reshaped the countless water arms that carved their way through the valley.

A journey along the banks of the Lech
If we were to set off on a journey along the Lech, my tip would be to start at the mouth. In my opinion, this best symbolizes the state of the Lech today: from the present to its origin. We start with the state to which the Lech, like many other rivers, was transferred at the beginning of the 20th century and end in the sublime, majestic, Arcadian-looking backdrop of the Zug Valley in the middle of the Lechquellengebirge mountains.

The journey takes us from the mouth at Marxheim (river kilometer 0, 392 m above sea level) below the Franconian Jura along the Bavarian Lech, which, constricted and canalized, is more like a dammed river than a flowing water from power station to power station. Occasionally, the river is accompanied by remaining floodplains. At the Lech barrage Ellgau (km 17), the Lech is dammed up with the Lech Canal that flows into it shortly before. While the course of the river here embodies the modern Lech, the ‘Münsterer Alte’ can be discovered on the right bank (to the east) as an original-looking tributary. Further south, upstream, the course of the river features wide gravel banks for around 20 km, through which the remaining water meanders. The view is reminiscent of the former gravel meadows of the original Lech.

Occasionally, a residual area of wild, sprawling riparian forest can still be discovered along the corrected riverbank. These small-scale forests, which were frequently flooded in earlier times, quickly give an idea of why ‘wilderness’ was often seen as negative in earlier times. It was seen as impenetrable, confusing, untamed, unproductive, uncomfortable, etc. Today, in an age where so much has to fulfill a purpose as well as a function, the mind and soul search for precisely such places. The American natural philosopher Edward Abbey once put it this way: “[…] Wilderness is not a luxury, but a necessity of the human spirit, as vital as water and good bread.[…] A civilization that destroys what little is left of the wilderness, the sparse, the primal, cuts itself off from its origins […].” The challenge here lies in the balance between originality and progress. A circumstance – highly topical – that was already discussed in the Romantic period.

Augsburg – the largest city on the Lech river – has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2019 with the “Augsburg Water Management System”, which boasts 22 individual sites in the city and the surrounding area. Also worth mentioning is the Augsburg city forest (nature reserve, Forest of the Year 2024), which is, among other things, Bavaria’s largest remaining alluvial forest.

At Scheuring Kaufering (approx. km 68), the river is increasingly accompanied by steeply rising valley slopes. Here, various hiking trails invite you to take extended tours along the river. From Landsberg (a. Lech) it is the Lech-Höhenweg or Lech-Erlebnis-Weg that leads us in the direction of Füssen.

At the height of Schongau (approx. km 125), we leave the ‘Untere Lechtal’ and enter the moraine landscapes followed by the Füssener Bucht in the ‘Mittlere Lechtal’. Above the Schongauer See (reservoir!) follows the Litzauer Schleife – a real gem. Here you come across a river landscape that once spread along many of the river bends in the Lechtal. To the left and right of the chain of dams that the Lech still forms here, you can discover traces of the Ice Age in the landscape. For example, the dead ice landscape in the hills around the Wieskirche (east of Steingaden) or the Drumlinfeld near Prem.

Where Lake Füssen once stretched out is now home to Lake Forggensee, Germany’s largest reservoir with a water surface area of around 15 km². This corresponds to around a quarter of the size of the former ice reservoir. Although silted up, the Bannwaldsee, Hopfensee, Schwansee and Weißensee lakes have survived the test of time. The view from the royal castles near Hohenschwangau offers a proverbial royal view of the Füssen Bay and the old-established cultural landscape of the Königswinkel. At the Lech Falls (approx. km 167) above Füssen, we now leave the Alpine foothills and the ‘Middle Lech Valley’.

As we enter the Tyrolean Lech Valley, we enter the ‘Upper Lech Valley’, where the landscape and the landscape experience change fundamentally! From Füssen, we follow the ‘Lechweg’ along the banks for 125 km towards the source region. From now on, rugged, steeply rising mountain peaks accompany us to the left and right, at the foot of which the Lech flows towards us interspersed with gravel banks. The view from the Johannesbrücke bridge (km 189) between Weißenbach in Tirol and Forchach is always breathtakingly beautiful. The weather, as it is at the moment, can only enhance your perception of this landscape. Over the next few kilometers, countless side streams flow into the Lech from both sides, constantly feeding gravel and dead wood into the alpine Lech River.

Shortly after Steeg, the valley narrows more and more until the Lech finally disappears into the narrow Lech Gorge. If we follow the pass road in the direction of Warth, the rushing river can only be seen or heard sporadically. Shortly before we reach Warth (approx. km 236), a narrow mountain road on the right leads up to Lechleiten. The detour rewards you in summer and winter with an impressive view over the gorge. Be it down to Tyrol or up towards Lech, the winter sports capital of the Vorarlberg jet set.

Once you reach the village of Lech (approx. km 242, at 1,444 m above sea level), it is worth making a detour up to the Rüfikopf (2,362 m) before plunging into the Zug valley. Both from the panoramic platform and from the summit, it offers an impressive panoramic view of the rugged mountains of the Allgäu Alps to the north, the Lechtal Alps to the east, the Arlberg to the south and the Lechquellengebirge to the west. To the south, on the slope edge of the adjoining Rüfspitze, you can clearly see how water makes its way along the mountain flanks.

From the village of Lech, we now embark on the final stage, which immerses us in an unexpected landscape. The Zuger Lechtal valley, which leads up to the Formarinsee lake, seems to have sprung from another era. Certainly a mountain landscape steeped in culture that could not be more pristine. It is therefore not surprising that the Formarinsee was voted the most beautiful place in Austria in the ORF program “Nine Places – Nine Treasures”. Below the Formainalpe at 1,840 m above sea level, we finally reach the source of the Lechur after a good 256 kilometers. If you have the time and inclination, I recommend a detour up to the Steinernes Meer (km 257.8 at approx. 2,000 m above sea level). At its foot, the water collects in small rivulets, which, following the force of gravity, brings the Lech on its way…

Mark Robertz
His attention is focused on the landscape in its many forms. His focus is on the photographic realization of landscapes as they are formed by nature and shaped by human use and culture. He also likes to perceive landscape as a resonating space for his own soul. In the same way that he sees landscape as a work of art. He regularly passes on his knowledge to interested parties in workshops, on photo trips/excursions and as an author. He is a member of the BBK – Professional Association of Visual Artists.