Our stage start is in Obdach, which was first mentioned in a document in 190 and was elevated to the status of a market town in 1324. Today, the village is characterized by a beautiful townscape with some still preserved historical buildings. These are also witnesses to the fact that Obdach was once a regionally important trading center due to its location on the road over the Obdacher Sattel. With its closed market place, the gate tower at the southern end and the wide old houses, Obdach offers the picture of a culturally and historically very interesting medieval market. We leave Obdach along the same Styrian circular hiking trail as our hiking route "From Glacier to Wine" and pass farmsteads and lonely, but all the more beautifully situated houses to the Weißenstein Hut (Tel. +43 0664 2439459, open from June to September, closed on Mondays and Tuesdays), which invites us to a well-deserved rest and refreshment after a little more than 800 meters of ascent.
A few hundred meters after the Weißensteinhütte we reach a crossroads, where we leave the Styrian circular hiking trail and keep to the left to reach the 1,993 m high Speikkogel, probably the most beautiful vantage point between the Zirbenland and the Lipizzanerheimat bordering to the east. From now on, the remaining 3 km of our tour is downhill. From the Speikkogel further east we soon reach the north-south long-distance hiking trail 05, whose section here also represents the Via Alpina. To reach our destination, the Salzstiegl, we keep to the left and hike slightly uphill to the Salzstieglhaus (Tel. +43 3141 2248), which is located at the pass of the same name, which connects the Murtal with the Lipizzaner homeland. As an alternative to the Salzstieglhaus at the pass, the Moasterhaus (Tel. 3141 2160), which is a member of the "Wanderhotels Steiermark", can also be used for an overnight stay or a stay of several days. The following day we head for the Pack, our next stage stop.