Jungbrunnen-Weg HRW 1

The inauguration of this beautiful, varied circular hiking trail fitted seamlessly into the celebrations for the 175th anniversary (2007) of Bad Steben as a state spa. The name is also a reminder of the distant year 1832, when Bavaria bought the oldest, already popularly used healing springs in the Free State. Their healing effects were first mentioned in 1444. The steady upward development of the state spa was confirmed in 1925 when the town became a spa.

We start the hike at the hiking board in the spa gardens, walk along Badstraße and Hauptstraße before leaving Bavaria's northernmost state spa on Pfaffensteig. Along the way, it is worth taking note of the sights:

The Alexander von Humboldt monument (erected in 2007 by the Bad Steben History Society), the Maria, Queen of Peace Catholic parish church built in 1963, the mining office and the Humboldt House (commemorating Humboldt's stay in Bad Steben) and finally the fortified church of St. Walburga, the town's landmark. According to unattested tradition, it dates back to 1020.

Before we turn into Pfaffensteig, we pass the town hall, where the world's first vocational school for miners, opened by Humboldt in 1793, once stood. On the Pfaffensteig, which was once used by priests on their way to Lichtenberg, we soon turn left through the gardens, then follow the path steadily uphill to the viewpoint on the 653 m high Landeshügel (see end of description). The hiking trail leads over the hilltop and the state road to an unpaved road to the left and on a footpath to a road junction (detour: Mordlau). The Bad Steben district of Mordlau, which presumably took its name from a murder case in days long past, once consisted of two colliery houses and was situated on a medieval road leading from the Rodach valley into the Saale valley. Otto Knopf writes that spa guests used to praise the good beer from the street shaft, which was served in so-called "Streuhütten" (arbors) when the weather was fine. The Mordlau mining district was one of the most productive in the Franconian Forest.

We keep to the right, but soon leave the tarred road onto a dirt track and hike uphill between the fields at the edge of the forest to Rumpelbühl with its beautiful views: ZPR Blankenstein (paper mill), Eisenbühl am Gupfen, Obere Zeitelwaidt, wind turbines near Berg an der A9. Before the house, the path leads through the Oberzeitelwaidt estate on the right downhill into the forest. We walk mainly through well-kept high forest, mostly keeping to the left downhill, past Untere Zeitelwaidt, until we reach the forest path in the valley area of the Thüringische Muschwitz. We follow it to the left to the near end of the forest and have a view of the nearby toad mill in the valley, before which we turn left.

The Obere and Untere Zeitelwaidt and the Krötenmühle are districts of Bad Steben and offer a beautiful view across into Thuringia to the Schlegeler Kulm (726 m). The names are reminiscent of the once manorial forest beekeeping.

We follow a path slightly uphill through the forest, past the mining information board, then along the edge of the forest to the outrun of the former ski jump. There is a vineyard at the top of the slope, which is described elsewhere. We walk further on, then turn right and walk slightly uphill on dirt tracks via the cul-de-sac, past the children's playground and the bus stop to Carlsgrün, where the Adelskammer, the oldest inn in the Franconian Forest, offers a refreshment stop. As the altitude increases, the views become wider and more beautiful.

In the village, we walk uphill along the Turnhallenweg, past the fire station, cross the road (Bad Steben-Langenbach) and the cycle path and follow the meadow path slightly uphill to the old Langenbacher Straße, which is lined with avenue trees. This road leads us to the right to a historically significant crossroads. We enjoy the wide views over the Muschwitz valley with the Sieglitzberg and the transmission mast in Thuringia, to the south of the Frankenwarte and the Spitzberg.

This crossroads was the site of a chapel, which Albert Frotscher writes about in his church history (Wehrkirche): Chroniclers of earlier times reported a first chapel built by missionary monks in 1012 outside the village of Steben, about halfway along the old road to Langenbach. Moritz Völkel writes: The name Silla, with the final letter pronounced as an indistinct a, is derived from Sill according to the old dialect, which means soul in written German. Silla is a diminutive of the soul (the small soul). In its shortest form, the Silla would therefore be the small chapel of the soul.

From there, we walk straight ahead together with the Silla trail (US 33) on the black path (black cover) through the fields and on through a wooded area to a crossroads of field paths on a ridge. Here, and already on the way, we can enjoy wide views: Obersteben, Bad Steben, Kurpark, Therme, Spitzberg and the Seifengrund. This is the valley floor with its ponds, through which the Seifenbach stream flows. The name comes from the ore extraction by soaps. We cross the Bad Steben-Geroldsgrün district boundary on a pleasant path straight ahead and reach the village of Steinbach near Geroldsgrün, situated on Langesbühl and Hagenbühl, at the sports field on the state road at the Rhine/Elbe watershed.

We cross the district road, walk a few meters in the direction of Hirschberglein, but turn left past the field barn onto a field path with beautiful views. After just under 500 m, we come to a crossroads and follow the field path with views to the right until we reach the road, a good 300 m before the Hirschberglein village sign. After the first property in the village, we turn left and walk uphill along the watershed path to the Frankenwarte (8.50 m), which stands on the 679 m high Hirschhügel and offers a beautiful view.

We continue along the ridge and then only come back to the village road at the second field path on the right, which we follow to the left to the end of the village. There we turn left and then immediately right onto a path that leads us past the last houses through the beautifully landscaped fields and through a wooded area. Back in the open, we enjoy the view of the Spitzberg, Gerlas and Bobengrün, the valley landscape of the Bobengrüner Lohbach stream all the way to Berg. We walk down the field path, cross the road and soon turn right on the local road past the last houses to a field path on which we reach the forest on the left by the large oak tree.

The watershed path leaves us to the right. In the forest, we come across a pleasant, natural path. However, we take the forest path to the left through changing forest sections downhill into the lower village of Gerlas, to the "Gerlaser Forsthaus" hiking home of the FWV OG Bobengrün with an information point (geology) of the Franconian Forest Nature Park.

Together with other hiking trails, we enter the forest from the courtyard side, then come out into the open and back into the forest at the foot of the Spitzberg on pleasant paths further along in the forest. We continue along our grassy forest path until we come to a forest road. There we cross the road into the forest, walk on the forest path for about one kilometer through the forest, pass the Bobengrün sports field and enjoy the view of Bobengrün, Bad Steben with the Landeshügel.

We then leave the forest path sharply to the left and walk slightly downhill on pleasant, natural forest paths until we are greeted at the edge of the forest by an impressive view of Bobengrün, the valley of the (Bobengrüner) Lohbach and the variedly structured surroundings. On a meadow path, then on a field path along the edge of the forest, we pass the church and reach the beginning of Bobengrün. In the elongated street village, first mentioned in 1410, with St. Paul's Church built in 1961/62, the Whitsun conference of the Bobengrün YMCA takes place every year at Whitsun in the high forest of the Mühlberg with well-known preachers, attracting thousands of mostly young people from all over Germany and other countries.

We immediately take the first road to the right to Brunnenplatz, cross the main road keeping left, walk uphill along Glöcklaweg and come to Stebener Weg. We follow it uphill and turn left until the road turns into a field path. We walk through the fields and then up the hill to the right, past the large beech tree and enjoy the wonderful view back to Bobengrün, the 729 m high Spitzberg, Thierbach, Marxgrün and Hügel from the vantage point. The museum trail now accompanies us to Bad Steben. At the edge of the forest, the previous view of the 729 m high Spitzberg and the beautiful surrounding countryside becomes even wider and more impressive.

We walk in the forest to the open heights dotted with rows of hedges, walk downhill on a natural field path to the road and enjoy the impressive view of a beautifully structured, varied landscape. We follow the road to the right for about 100 m, then walk around a large field to the right along the edge of the forest. After about 200 m, turn left and reach Geroldsgrüner Straße on the outskirts of Bad Steben. We turn left briefly and turn right into Schwimmbadstraße. Here we pass the former outdoor pool and turn right again to reach our starting point, the spa gardens of Bad Steben.</p