Museumsweg

We start our hike at the hiking board in Kulmbacher Straße and walk from here towards the town center, past the town hall and church. We hike from the Upper Franconian Textile Museum (https://www.textilmuseum.de) up to the center and from there through side streets to the state road. Here the museum trail runs out of town towards Schauenstein, past the cemetery, and then turns left onto the footpath and cycle path. We follow the path past a pond, then another 200 m until we turn left onto a near-natural forest path and cross the Flurberg forest. We then continue for a while in the open and enjoy the view of Schauenstein. We then follow various pleasant paths in the forest until we can once again enjoy the wonderful view of Volkmannsgrün, Helmbrechts, the Fichtelgebirge and the surrounding countryside.

The forest then welcomes us again with beautiful rock formations at the "Fuchsbau", which accompany us as we soon follow a very pleasant path downhill into the valley of the Lehstenbach stream. We then cross the narrow bottom to the right diagonally downhill, take a path uphill and follow the rather long, stone-built old moat. This relic of bygone days once served as a millrace for a paper mill that was demolished in 1946. We then descend to the edge of the Selbitz valley and walk left to the Lehsten mill and the road. The Lehstenbach has its source between Gösmes and Lehsten and flows through romantic valley landscapes before flowing into the Selbitz after the Lehstenmühle mill. Immediately after the mill, the slate area begins after the gneiss (Münchberger Gneisplatte). We turn right over the old stone bridge from the 18th century (repaired in 1980) to the nearby valley road. We turn right again, under the disused railroad bridge, then turn into a local road on the outskirts of Schauenstein and walk quite steeply past the church, vicarage, castle and park up to the hiking sign at the end of the village in the direction of Selbitz. The castle is home to the Upper Franconian Fire Brigade Museum (https://www.feuerwehrmuseum-oberfranken.de/) and the town's local history museum.

We also walk past St. Bartholomew's Church and the vicarage built in 1573. It is the oldest inhabited building in the district of Hof. On the way, we have probably already noticed the rock formation Sleeping Giant. As we walk through the park, we see the Watching Maiden (legend!) up close. It is the last gneiss deposit to the west. We see another rarity on the left below the castle on the edge of the path: a boulder of eye gneiss with the mighty root of an ash tree clinging to it.

We walk out of town on Hofer Straße and turn left onto a field path just before the sports facilities. Above the sports center, we immediately come to a field and meadow path, which after the sports facilities leads along a field on the right through the meadows downhill past well-kept ponds with a beautiful view, to a field path. We first follow it straight ahead, then turn right uphill to the road. We soon reach the outskirts of Neudorf . We continue along the road and then turn right towards Pinzig and reach the Weberhaus (https://www.schauenstein.de/tourismus-und-freizeit/museen-und-sehenswuerdigkeiten/weberhaus-neudorf/) on the edge of the village. We return to the main road, turn right and turn left before the inn onto a country lane. It leads us, accompanied by pleasant views, over a small hill to the forest. Here we continue straight ahead on the same forest path for a long time. Finally, the Franconian Mountain Trail accompanies us to the stone table on the road in Hüttung.

We cross the road with the other hiking trails and reach the outskirts of Hüttung via a meadow path.We follow the narrow road briefly to the left, then leave it to the right and, keeping to the right, walk along a field path at the edge of a small garden area, always on this field path in a straight main direction past the edge of the Wachhügel to Selbitz until we reach the school near the town hall.

It is worth visiting the small but fine museum in the town: the school museum in the schoolhouse (https://www.selbitz.de/verzeichnis/visitenkarte.php?mandat=152744). We walk in the center on the Reußenbrücke bridge over the Selbitz in the direction of Marlesreuth and soon leave the road to the right and walk along Garleser Weg to the end of the town. There we turn right into the pleasant (now unfortunately also paved) Garlesweg. We continue straight ahead for a long time, later keeping left at the fork, until we reach the single Garles with alternating impressive views of the Martinsberg children's village and, to the right, Naila and the Selbitz valley landscape that accompanies us.

Garles also refers to a wooded hill and a tributary of the Selbitz. The root of the former name Gerlachs (lache) probably means something like boundary marker, i.e. the border to Selbitz. Nearby is the Garlesfelsen rock, which is registered as a natural monument. The legend of the dwarf hole in Garles is a reminder of the mining era.

Before the single track, we continue straight ahead, past well-kept ponds into an idyllic side valley, which we follow to the end of the forest, where we cross the narrow bottom in the upper valley and hike up through the forest and meadows to the hamlet of Molkenbrunn. We follow the road briefly to the right, soon turn into the road to Nestelreuth and soon come to the next dirt track on the left uphill and always straight ahead across the district road directly to the Hand Weaving Museum in Marlesreuth (https://www.museum-naila.de/). After visiting the museum, we walk just a few meters into the village, but immediately turn right and follow the Nestelreuther Weg out of the church village, over the district road and then downhill with charming views to the once historically important Nestelreuth. The former manor was sold in pieces in 1862. We walk along the road to the right and immediately turn left onto a field path, which takes us downhill through the fields with wonderful views over the former railroad line to Schottenhammer with the once important Hammergut. In the agricultural hamlet, we descend into the Culmitzgrund. Before the Culmitzbrücke bridge, we turn right and walk along the edge of the Culmitzgrund valley at the edge of the forest.

We finally cross the Culmitz, pass under the B 173 and head over to Kalkofen on the western outskirts of Naila. The hiking trail leads uphill to the left past the haulage company. However, if we want to make a detour to the museum in the Schusterhof (https://www.museum-naila.de/), we have to walk straight on for a long time (2.1 km) towards the opposite edge of town to reach the recommended local history museum in the Schusterhof via the center at the other end of town. After the haulage company, we turn into the next street and walk left at the end of the industrial estate into the open and slightly uphill to the edge of the forest. We enjoy the fantastic view of the former district town and the surrounding countryside. We walk parallel on a comfortable path through the forest to the road to Ober-Erbsbühl (view to the Döbraberg). We follow it to the right, leave it at Waldeck to the left and hike, first on a natural path, then again on the road, through the forest to the Rückner game reserve in Pechreuth.

The hamlet of Erbsbühl lies 597 m above sea level on the NE slope of the Breite Bühl, which drops down to the Froschbach valley. The name Erbsbühl first appears in the middle of the 15th century and could be interpreted as a settlement on the Weidebühl to be inherited. The name Pechreuth (two separate parts, each with two properties) indicates a clearing where pitch was obtained by hewing down spruce trunks. However, it could also have been an indication of the location of a pitch mill.

Shortly before the estate, the Frankenweg turns off to the right. However, we continue along the road for a short distance, leave it to the right and walk along a natural path through the forest to the right to the nearby road, then with it across the Froschbach valley to the Fränza inn, named after the first owner with the surname Franz. We hike uphill on the little-used road. Looking back: a beautiful view of the charming valley landscape of the Froschbach, the former Fraischbach (border stream) with the scattered hamlets of Froschbach and Hinter-Dürrnberg. At the top, after the last estate, we turn left into the forest at the OG Christusgrün-Dürrnberg rest area. We soon turn right onto a forest path. Now various forest paths lead us through changing forest sections along the slope of the 729 m high Spitzberg. We have to be careful when we turn right after a while onto a natural path and follow it steadily downhill to the Gerlaser Forsthaus hiking lodge. Along the way, there is a beautiful view of the wide valley of the (Bobengrüner) Lohbach stream, Bobengrün, Bad Steben in the background and the vast land of the eastern Franconian Forest.

The former forester's lodge houses a rock collection of the Franconian Forest Nature Park (https://www.naturpark-frankenwald.de/einrichtungen/infopunkt-gerlas). The house is located in the Gerlas district of Bad Steben and is looked after by the Bobengrün local group.

We cross the valley of the Bobengrüner Lohbach stream on the road to the beginning of Gerlas, but immediately turn right and walk past the last houses into the open meadow. Keeping to the right, we continue on a pleasant path along the edge of the valley floor with a view of a beautifully landscaped landscape, then cross the road and climb slightly uphill to the edge of the forest. Here the view of the 729 m high Spitzberg and the beautiful surrounding countryside becomes even wider and more beautiful. We follow the markings of the Jungbrunnen trail (main circular hiking trail) on a natural field path downhill to the road and enjoy the impressive view of a varied, diverse landscape. We follow the road for about 100 m to the right, then walk around a large field to the right and return to the main road at the Wetterfichte spruce. On the outskirts of Bad Steben, we reach Berliner Straße on a local road to the right, walking downhill through a small park.

When we visit the Schreiner Graphic Museum (https://www.grafikmuseum-schreiner.de/), we follow the markings through the spa facilities to the museum in the Kurhaus.

Without the detour, the museum trail leads us to the left to the end of the northernmost spa town in Bavaria. There, we turn left briefly at the turning point and walk along the bank of the first Seifenteich pond, then across a meadow to a natural path at the edge of the valley. We follow this uphill in the idyllic Seifengrund. Near the tennis courts, the Seifenbach joins the Pfarrbach coming from Obersteben to form the Stebenbach.

Soaps were areas where ore (gold, silver, tin) was extracted from flowing waters by repeated washing. The Seifenbach was dammed up by kettle-shaped mounds of earth. The alluvial clay or soap rock was set in motion with the help of the water flowing over it and by constant pushing. The lighter soil was carried away, while the coarser pieces of rock remained in place. After being washed away several times, the ore could be extracted and processed in the nearby Zerrennfeuer.

We cross the stream and its bed diagonally upwards and then follow the field and meadow path past another soap pond until we reach the path coming from Lochau. As we walk on, we should look around from time to time because of the beautiful view. Follow the path along the edge of the forest to the road on the outskirts of Hirschberglein.

If you want to enjoy the view from the Frankenwarte on Hirschhügel, you have to climb up the hill to the left along the Wasserscheidenweg. On the nearby Hirschhügel (679 m), the Frankenwarte stands on a ridge covered in boulders. From the 8.50-metre-high stone round tower with its viewing hatches under the slate-covered tent roof, you can enjoy a beautiful panoramic view of the Höllental valley, Lichtenberg, Bad Steben, the mountain ranges near Nordhalben, Geroldsgrün, Spitzberg, Schneidberg, Waldstein and Kornberg in the Fichtelgebirge.

We follow the road briefly to the right and then turn left onto a soft meadow path, on which we descend slightly over an open ground and through a forest on the heights to the school in Geroldsgrün. We follow the road downhill to the main road. Before we turn right to the end of the village, we should make a detour to the fortified church, the beautifully colored buildings of the Faber-Castell company and a stop for refreshments. Our hiking trail continues to the right. We then walk in the direction of Dürrenwaid. After the last houses opposite the Geroldsgrün leisure area, we cross the main road, take a path to the left uphill into the forest and reach a comfortable forest path at the top which we follow. We walk along the edge of the forest, across open fields and back into the forest until we come to a forest path. It leads slightly uphill to the right through a high forest interspersed with deciduous trees until you reach a path spider (Emma-Ruh).

We walk along the forest road past the Emma-Ruh in a straight main direction, quite steeply in places, to the refuge at the Hoppeles Kohlstatt rest area, with the Willi Pfeifer memorial stone. It commemorates the pre-war chairman of the Frankenwald-Verein local group in Hof, who rendered outstanding services to the hiking trails and tourism in Dürrenwaid and Silberstein in the pre-war years. Shortly before reaching the summit, watch out for two strong beech trees on the left-hand side of the path: Two branches of one beech each have grown together to form a single branch. At the former Kohlstatt with the refuge and the Pfeifer memorial stone, we come across the European long-distance hiking trail 3+6. Following its markings, we pass close to the Lotharheil slate mine and ascend to the slate table.

A short detour and a visit (easy 250 m) to the idyllically situated Lotharheil slate mine, the only slate mine in the Franconian Forest, is highly recommended (register: 09267/91010). From the slate table, we follow the markings of the European long-distance hiking trail 3+6 to the left over the Penzelskamm ridge down into the Ölsnitz valley. Near the valley we come to a forest path, which we follow at a sharp angle to the left down the valley near the bottom. After just under a kilometer, we turn right, walk downhill in the young forest and cross the Frankenwaldbach stream and the Rodach valley on a weir (Mengerswehr). We walk past the former school furniture factory ama, then take the road to Nordhalben a few meters to the right and then turn left. We climb quite steeply on a road via the hamlet of Regberg up to the state-approved resort of Nordhalben, 500-700 m above sea level, and to the lace-making school with the lace museum (www.das-kloeppelmuseum.de). The museum trail that began in Helmbrechts at the Upper Franconian Textile Museum ends here.</p