Around Herzberg

Short Description

Around Herzberg

Description

Welfen Castle and the Eyes of the Southern Harz Mountains

Directions

This tour combines the separately signposted northern and southern branches of the Karst Hiking Trail. Start the circular hike in the morning: at the end, you can visit the castle for coffee, cake, or more. The tour is attractive in both directions. Here it is described in a clockwise direction.

From the castle, the trail leads above the steep slope over the Sieber, one of the few untamed rivers of the Harz Mountains, through sparse deciduous forest. On the slope, sinkholes and landslides form repeatedly, as the river water disappears underground in the gypsum karst. The Nüllberg is made of dolomite rock: at its base, a side path leads to a high-water stream sinkhole. The Siebertal is filled with gravel deposits from the last ice age, which are mined here at Hörden. Above the Sieber Bridge is another stream sinkhole, where the riverbed is dry for several months a year.

From Hörden, the hiking trail follows along the county road beneath the Hausberg with a former castle site. Here, the river water disappears under the road, which shows depressions. Behind the entrance to B 243, it goes into the Lüderholz. The hiker can expect a diverse deciduous forest on gravel deposits from the Große Steinau. Its water also disappears underground, dissolving the gypsum and leaving behind large and small, sometimes water-filled sinkholes, the Eyes of the Southern Harz Mountains.

Between Mühlenberg and the Herzberg Clinic, the trail runs along the forest edge with beautiful views of Herzberg, the Siebertal, and the Southern Harz Mountains through an area of former copper shale mining: Pingenfelder (side path!) bear witness to this poor peoples mining.

The clinic also offers a café (along with an emergency room for foot injuries). The path descends from the parking lot into the Lonau Valley and to the Lonau Waterfall, the only real waterfall in the western Harz Mountains. From here, the final section leads through the city area, but romantically along the mill ditch with numerous information boards on the history of water power usage, over the marketplace and to the Juessee, the largest sinkhole lake in the entire Southern Harz Mountains with its summer swimming lake. The path continues through the beautifully paved pedestrian zone (ice cream parlor, cafes, water wheel) back up to Welfen Castle, where the loop ends. Here, refreshments and a visit to the castle museum await the hiker: in the evening, cultural events (lectures, concerts, readings, ...) are also held in the Knights Hall.

Parking Information

At Herzberg Castle