Rennsteig im Frankenwald

We start our hike at the German hiking hub in Untereichenstein.

In addition to the memorial stone and hiking board on the right bank of the Selbitz, boards on the left bank in Thuringia provide information about this ancient mountain trail. We pass the Rennsteig Hotel, the Rennsteigwanderer (1903) and Ehrenhain, with the memorial to the victims of the death march of the Buchenwald concentration camp prisoners, to Stephanseck with the three Rennsteig ponds planted in 1934 (formerly Stephanseichen, named after the esteemed hostel father Stephan). We reach the crest of the Franconian Forest via the single hills of Absang and Kießling and enjoy wonderful views, especially of Franconia. On a meadow path with a long row of young deciduous trees, we come to the Wiesbühl trailhead (625 m refuge, information station). It used to be a former outhouse on the old post road.

We continue along the beautiful path next to the road to Schlegel. To the left is the Taubenhügel (628 m), to the right the Krähenhügel (657 m). At the end of the village, we walk through a field, across the road and over the Gernrauchwiese meadow, which has been permitted to be crossed for decades (Julius Kober), to the forest. On the route so far, we have been accompanied by beautiful views of Eisenbühl with the Gupfen, Wiedeturm, Lichtenberg, Lobenstein, Spitzberg, Döbraberg and the entire surrounding area with the Sieglitzberg (transmission mast) and the nearby 726 m high Schlegeler Kulmberg, a basalt cone.

On a forest road, we now cross a wide, quiet forest area, which reaches its highest altitude so far at Gehrenflecken (713 m). To the left of the path are the sources of the two border streams (to Bavaria), the Thuringian Muschwitz (also Moschwitz, to Selbitz-Saale) and the Franconian Muschwitz (to Rodach-Main). A hiking trail branches off in a southerly direction to the site of the once popular Jägersruh hunting lodge, which fell victim to the border security measures. Passing benches and rest areas (along the entire route), we come to Rodacherbrunn through varied woodland.

Detour (150 m): Rodach spring, Hindenburg fountain on the road! The key to the spring is available in the nearby (guest) house.

On pleasant forest paths, we come out over the 724 m high Finkenberg at the small, pretty cemetery of Grumbach, where there is a beautiful view of Grumbach and the second highest mountain in the Franconian Forest, the 792 m high Wetzstein with the Altvaterturm tower that dominates the landscape. Through the fields (view towards Wurzbach) and across the road, we follow the Eisensteinstraße on a comfortable path along the edge of the forest, then together with the Dreiwappen-Weg through the forest area of the Hohe Tanne.

Even Julius Kober found neither a particularly tall fir tree nor one of the three historical boundary stones from 1513 (according to the Lehesten town book) or a Dreiwappenstein here. The historical boundary stones were intended to remind us that we were leaving the territory of the former Principality of Reuss j.L. and entering the territory of the former Bishopric of Bamberg (HB = Duchy of Bavaria; HSM: Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen).

We briefly enter Bavaria again and then, after the accompanying hiking trail has left us again to the left, soon cross the once insurmountable border to Thuringia at the charcoal pile to the cemetery of Brennersgrün, the former forest outworks of Lehesten. At the back of the cemetery, a memorial stone commemorates the forest warden Eduard Birnstiel, who was shot dead by poachers in 1895 and who explored and marked the Rennsteig route Ziegelhütte-Brennersgrün with Ludwig Hertel. Here we enjoy the beautiful view of the village and the Wetzstein with the Altvaterturm tower.

From the beginning of the Hohe Tanne forest area to here, we are accompanied by the Nortwald trail with the Rennsteig trail markings. At the end of the village, we turn left towards the forest and walk past an R (out of a total of five) on a metal plate, which was cast in the Heinrichshütte in Wurzbach and embedded in the stone. We cross the young Doberbach, pass an open space at the foot of the Wetzstein where a hunting lodge once stood. Here, before the Second World War, the Saar-Schlesien-Weg (now E 3+6) left the Rennsteig towards the Wetzstein at 722 m above sea level. We continue along the edge of the forest and through the forest to the rest area with information boards on the Bavarian-Thuringian border. We cross the former border strip and come to the Kurfürstenstein on the Bavarian side, probably the most beautiful and oldest boundary stone from 1513, with the Bishop of Bamberg and Elector of Saxony coats of arms. We now follow the Schönwappenweg with many old, historically significant coat of arms stones on a pleasant path and a comfortable forest path to the Ziegelhütte (676 m above sea level). Here it is worth taking a detour straight ahead to the Lauensteiner Höhe with a fantastic view of Staffelberg, the towers of Banz Castle and Lehesten.

However, we take the footpath and cycle path downhill to the left and then continue alongside the road to Zigeunerbuche and briefly across a wooded area to Steinbach a.Wald. The rather stately beech tree, planted on 2 August 1950, is the successor to the former original beech tree, which was intended to commemorate 5 October 1530, when Dr. Martin Luther traveled through here with an electoral escort from Coburg via Judenbach to Lehesten and preached in the church there.

The village, first mentioned in documents in 1190, had been in the possession of Langheim Monastery since 1187. Around the beginning of the 13th century, the construction of an 18-metre-high tower mound was begun (in the village) for protection, as a refuge in times of war and as a storage facility. This developed into the fortified church that still exists today. Two bridge stones on either side of the railroad bridge, made in 1984 by the academic sculptor Heinrich Schreiber from Kronach, greet hikers. The bridge between the two stones is intended as a symbol of the connection and togetherness between Thuringia and Bavaria. During the division of Germany, these works of art were intended to illustrate the desire for the reunification of the two German states. We soon come to the real watershed obelisk at the traffic circle on the edge of the village next to the road from Steinbach am Wald. Created in 1850 and renewed in 1956, the watershed stone (624 above sea level) bears witness to the fact that the Rennsteig divides the waters along its entire length, to the north towards the Elbe and to the south towards the Main and Rhine. An artistic replica of this obelisk stands in the middle of the traffic circle island.

After the watershed obelisk (on the B 85), the original route of the Rennsteig leads along the B 85 to Schildwiese near Kleintettau. This less attractive route does not need any further explanation at this point. The hiker who wants to follow the original route stays on the footpath and cycle path parallel to the St 2209 until the Schildwiese.

We follow the alternative Rennsteig trail (blue R) for the next almost 9 km, go around the traffic circle and walk a few meters along the road until we soon turn right into the forest. On the alternative Rennsteig trail, we hike through well-kept forest sections to the Three Brothers.

This is a cross that still stands on the old Heersstraße, but no longer on the original route of the Rennsteig trail. In 1634, three members of a Protestant family are said to have been caught on the run there by the vengeful Kronachers pursuing them and miserably beaten and stabbed to death. From the entrance to the forest, text and picture boards inform us about interesting facts about the forest in the past and present.

In the forest, we soon come to the fairytale meadow and the site of the Weidmannsheil forest house fire (680 m memorial stone), which developed into the Hotel Weidmannsheil in a long, eventful history and was destroyed by arson on February 29, 1988. The Rennsteigverein was founded in the Waldhaus on 24.05.1896. Shortly afterwards, we come across the Red Tower. This is a painted tree stump to which young runners (and previously railroad construction workers) were sent to climb with a 13-pound key.

We continue through changing forest stands, with information boards about the forest from the Rothenkirchen forestry office, until we come to the Schildwiese meadow after a pasture.

From Martin Weber, we know that customs duties were levied here on the border between Bavaria and Thuringia as early as 1414 and that a small house converted into a customs house stood here in 1454. Now it is not far to the Kleintettau refuge and the two historic boundary stones (689 m), which today mark the Bavarian-Thuringian border. The Bavarian side is adorned with the Brandenburg eagle and the quartered Hohenzollern shield. On the Thuringian side, the boundary stone shows the coat of arms of the Duchy of Saxony.

We continue straight ahead, cross back into Thuringian territory for a short distance and finally reach Thuringia after Kuhwald, which is still in Bavaria. Here, a narrow, pointed wedge of GDR once jutted into Kleintettau. Passing the Himmelreich, we reach the Kalten Küche, one of the most important mountain passes and resting places, on various paths in a straight direction, mainly through changing meadows; a historical site that many high personalities and large military campaigns passed through in the course of the past. A number of information boards and the information center of three nature parks (Thuringian Forest, Thuringian Slate Mountains, Franconian Forest) provide a wealth of information. Julius Kober writes about this place: Here, the Thuringian Forest has now merged into the Franconian Forest.