FrankenwaldSteigla 12-Apostel-Weg

Listening to silence - Where does the gentle buzzing of the forest bees come from? Where is the deer standing that made the branch crack softly? Listen to the sound of silence, enjoy the peace and quiet! Hiking in the Franconian Forest is a contrast to the sensory overload. New worlds of sound open up to the ear - and natural silence drowns out everyday life!

The "12 Apostles' Trail" takes you across a sunlit plateau, into the valley of the gently babbling Ölsnitz river and through a variety of forest sections. New views open up again and again - the tower on the Lange Bühl provides a special view!

Depending on whether you walk our trail clockwise or anti-clockwise, sooner or later you will come across the trail's namesake: a series of 12 mysterious diabase stones. Scholars argue: have the monoliths stood as a kind of Upper Franconian Stonehenge for 5,000 years? Or were they placed by Christians in the Middle Ages? 12 pieces, a sacred number! Other researchers see traces of modern processing, so is the stone arrangement even younger? The diabase stones are indifferent to this dispute: They stand calmly, rock-solid. Be inspired by this equanimity: It is a wonderful opportunity to enjoy the silence in complete peace of mind!

Wegbeschreibung

From the hiking parking lot at Rotmailseltal, we start our hike in an easterly direction via the meadow path below the Schieferhalde and reach Dürrenwaiderhammer as the first village. On Sundays from 2 p.m. and on Thursdays and Fridays from 5 p.m., you can enjoy a snack or homemade cake at the Dürrenwaiderhammer inn.

At the Ölsnitzbrücke bridge, we cross the road carefully and walk up the slope. Always close to the edge of the forest, with a view of the climatic health resort of Dürrenwaid, the path leads up to the church. Just behind the church at the edge of the forest, you can still see the "Kunstgraben". During the heyday of mining, a water wheel in the Ölsnitzbach stream drove a rotating shaft, the "Kunstgraben", upwards to an artificial shaft. This practical mechanism drained the mining tunnels above the church. This was called "water art".

Now continue along the narrow path to the valley road. At the end of the path, we cross the local road very carefully to the sidewalk opposite. After just a few meters past the former Tannenhof, we cross the road again and reach Silberstein after about 400 m via the "Steig". The village was first built in 1921 on the former "Friedlicher Vertrag" mining site. This idyllic vacation resort with no through traffic lies at the foot of the Hahnenkamm (685 m).

At the end of the village, at the TSV Dürrenwaid sports home, we turn left at the edge of the forest and walk up the sidewalk for around 150 m after the short section of forest. Here we leave Silberstein to the right on a forest road.

Opposite the drinking water reservoir, it is worth taking a detour on an unmarked path to the Brendlafelsen rock 100 m away, from where you can see steeply down into the Ölsnitz valley. Back at the Wasserhaus, we hike on to the signpost at the Pfaffenbächlein stream. Crossing this, the path leads uphill through the forest, along a field path at the edge of the forest, past the Geroldsgrüner Knock and down to Keyßerstraße.

Geroldsgrün has a fortified church (400 m uphill). There are also restaurants here.

However, we carefully cross the main road to the left, walk up the Steinbacher Weg and continue on a field path to the hill (665m). The view back now shows us Hirschberglein on the left, on the horizon the domes of the Döbraberg (795 m), the highest mountain in the Franconian Forest, and the Schneidberg (758 m) with its radio mast. In front of it is Hertwegsgrün and in the valley Geroldsgrün.

When we turn around, we see Steinbach 300 m away. On the left at the edge of the village is the FWV hiking home. Behind the village rises the Langesbühl with its water tower, which is also a lookout tower. We want to go up there.

After the short walk down to the local road, we turn right and walk uphill for 100 m. Before the Steinbach hiking sign, we turn left onto Langesbühlweg, a tarred road that takes us up to the observation tower on Langesbühl. Here we are at the highest point (699m) of our hike. On a clear day, you can see many of the Franconian Forest, Thuringian Forest and Fichtelgebirge mountains.

Now we head north, cross the tarred road at the entrance to the fenced municipal property and walk downhill on a beaten path through a species-rich rough pasture. Thank the owner for permission to pass by walking behind him and staying on the path. To the left of the footpath in the small wood was the "Glückauf" mine. We follow the dirt road, called "Alte Straße", to the right to a crossroads. From here it is another 4 km to Hermesgrün.

The hike now goes down to the left, along the edge of the forest, then right on field margins and meadows, through the former mining area "Bau auf Gott" to a field path, the Tannenweg, and down this to the lower end of the village of Langenbach.

From here, we turn right onto Dürrenwaider Straße and walk uphill for 500 m, then left up a field path for 300 m to the mysterious stones known as "The Twelve Apostles". Now we continue along the field path, past meadows and copses to a pond. We leave the gravel road, which we follow to the right, after 150 m at another pond to the left and walk up to Hermesgrün. We now turn left on the village road, where the Hermesgrün hiking home awaits us.

From the FWV hiking home in Hermesgrün, we walk up the field path together with the Seenweg. After 500 m, we come to a forest road, which we follow straight ahead for another 500 m, then turn left onto a forest road. After 1.3 km we come to a fork in the road. From here, a path (detour) leads to the Schwaabesruh viewpoint 100 m away (it is named after the forester Schwaabe, who lived in the forester's lodge in Langenau around 1900), which offers a wonderful view of the Langenbach valley deep below us. From here, a path leads down to the valley road at Untere Mühlleithen.

However, we return to the forest road and follow it slightly downhill. After about 900 m, turn left onto a hunter's trail. After just 100 m, we reach a hairpin bend and turn sharp right onto another hunter's trail, which we follow for 1 km until we reach a forest road. Walking up this road, we immediately turn onto the forest road on the left. Walking along this road, we reach the slate slopes after 600 m.

(For the cautiously interested: right at the start of the slate quarry, you can see the quarry gorge below from above the right-hand edge of the path. Opposite you can see on the slate wall how our low mountain range piled up ages ago.)

Here, high above the Dürrenwaider Hammer, there is a view down into the Ölsnitz Valley. There are several old slate quarries around this spot. Today, underground slate mining only takes place in Lotharheil, which is located one and a half km SSW of here.

We leave the forest road at an acute angle to the left down a forest path. We walk downhill past a barred slate mining gallery and turn right onto a footpath. Shortly afterwards, we reach another hunter's path, which we follow to the right and now walk along the slate slopes. Here we have another wonderful view of the lower Ölsnitz valley. Another fairly steep descent takes us back to the hiking parking lot at Rothmaiseltal.