Bärenstein, Mountain summit in Ulrichsberg, Austria

Bärenstein is a 1,077-metre mountain of the Bohemian Forest on the border of the Ulrichsberg and Aigen-Schlägl municipalities in Upper Austria. Its summit is built of Eisgarner granite, and the rounded granite rock castles below the cross, formed by wool-sack weathering, are protected as a natural monument. A staircase leads the last metres up to the summit cross.

The granite of the Bärenstein belongs to the Eisgarn granite of the Bohemian Massif. The rock castles on the summit were formed by wool sack weathering, in which water and frost rounded the jointed blocks, and they are protected as a natural monument. The summit cross was carried up and erected in summer 1993 by a group led by Bernhard Enzenhofer of the Mühlviertel.

The summit cross was carried up and erected in summer 1993 by a group led by Bernhard Enzenhofer, a well-known figure from the Mühlviertel region. The Bärenstein is also the starting point of the Rupertiweg, a long-distance trail running from here to the Austrian-Italian border as part of European long-distance path E10.

The summit is reached on foot via marked hiking trails; the last metres to the summit cross are climbed by a staircase. From the top you look over the upper Mühlviertel, north to the Lipno reservoir on the Vltava a few kilometres away, and in clear weather south to the Alps. In winter the 12 km Bärnsteinloipe, a medium-difficulty cross-country ski trail, runs over the mountain.

The granite blocks around the summit display distinctly rounded shapes created through a special weathering process. Water seeps into natural cracks in the stone, gradually reshaping them from the inside out over immense periods.