Via Ferrata North Eifel & Hürtgen Forest

Last update 28-Sep-2018: At Vossenack there is no longer any need to drive on the B399, which is cut off by a well-paved farm road.

Please note: This route is 500 meters on a dirt (but easily passable) road in the Roertal between Obermaubach and Zerkall.

The route starts at the Landal Park Eifeler Tor, which is being built against the Schwammenaueltal dam. If you come by car from the Netherlands in one day and drive back again, for example Zweifall or Vigt is an ideal starting point.

The route is followed clockwise, and from the Schwammenauel dam you will get the following climbs:
- Hubertushöhe (the route also goes off the main road to the viewpoint),
- Foxesanac
- Kevelaerberg (steep climb up to 14%). This is followed by a 7 km long descent over the intermediate L24, which received a completely new road surface in 2018!
- Gressenich Forest
- Großhau (or: Katzenknipp, or: Rennweg)
- Four short climbs in the Roertal between Obermaubach and Hausen. On this route you will also pass the picturesque evenings (a village with many half-timbered houses)
- The Hahnenberg
- House Kermeter.

The route leads through the northern part of the Eifel and the Hürtgen Forest. This region is well connected to tourists, so there are many federal highways that easily bring tourists to the Eifel. This also means crowds on these streets on weekends.
This route bypasses the federal highways as much as possible (except for a distance of 1.5 km, this is not possible). However, the state roads that connect villages and federal highways can also be busy on weekends in good weather (many motorcyclists are on the road here). The main road between Zweifall and Vicht can be very busy during rush hour and on weekends after the early morning. There is a combined bike path/footpath along this road, but the lower sign says "Cyclist Free": this means that you are not obliged to follow the bike path (and that's also better because this bike path sometimes looks more like a sidewalk where you can't go fast).

But fortunately there are many roads where it is quiet or where cars are not allowed to come and this is especially true for the Rennweg and various roads in the valley of the Roer and the ascent of the Hahnenberg.

The road through the Gressenich Forest (between Vicht and Stevenshütte) has bumpy (patched) asphalt, which applies to both the ascent and the descent!