Dotzlar-Hainbach-Schwarzegrube

You start through the residential area, past an old bakehouse, the center of the village. On the mountain, you will be rewarded with a view back to the village and the castle of Dotzlar. From the viewpoint of the premium hiking trail "Via Adrina", you can enjoy a panoramic view of the castle and further to the Rothaar ridge, and on the other side, you can see the villages of Arfeld and Schwarzenau, all the way to the Hüttental. The Hüttental area made history around 1700, when the Pietists settled here. They lived in simple and poor huts, which is how the name "Hüttental" originated. Their members were baptized in the Eder river. The Eder river winds through the villages to the Edersee and then into the Weser river. After that, you will reach the idyllically located Café Hainbach. The farm that can be seen at the bottom of the Mühlbachtal valley breeds the rare Wittgensteiner Höhenvieh, which you can see grazing in the meadows. Take a break along the way and enjoy the panoramic views. Before heading around Blosenberg, you can catch a glimpse of the golf course in Sassenhausen. While circling the "Großer Keller" nature reserve, with luck, you may spot rare animal species in the juniper heath, such as the red-backed shrike. Impressive here are also the giant spruces with their thick trunks and extraordinary growth. Passing the boundary stone that marks the border between the counties of "Wittgenstein-Berleburg (WB)" and "Wittgenstein-Wittgenstein (WW)" including Hohenstein (Laasphe). Before returning to the village, you will pass by the memorial stone where the princely forest ranger Friedrich Kroh from Dotzlar was killed by a poacher. Upon arrival in the village, you will find a small chapel from the 1300s, which marks the end of the hike. Crossing the meadow, you will return to the parking lot.