Harzer Witch Trail - Brockenumgehung

From Torfhaus to Brocken, do you already know that route? Is the path too difficult for you? Is the mountain not showing its challenging side at all? Or are there simply too many people on the way? Then take the alternative! The Brocken bypass is by no means a second choice. Away from the hustle and bustle of the mountain, it leads on rustic paths further through the Harz National Park. Along boardwalks, we ascend along the Oderteich, once the largest and oldest dam in Germany. It is dammed by a "Cyclops dam" made of huge granite blocks. The water from the pond is transported by the Rehberger ditch to St. Andreasberg. Where it was once used for mining, it now powers turbines in the Samson pit and generates environmentally friendly electricity for the residents. The open mountain meadows around the free mountain town, which stretch almost to Braunlage, are especially beautiful in summer. The Oder Valley deeply cuts the connection between the two towns. But it is not narrowness and darkness, but light and colors that also determine the picture here. In Braunlage, a tourist center in the Upper Harz, the path leads directly past the Wurmberg. From here, a cable car takes you to Lower Saxony's highest peak. The view is breathtaking. Not only to the Brockengipfel directly opposite, but over the entire southern mountain range. Below the Wurmberg, the world once ended here too. We cross the former inner-German border at the crossing over the Bremke, the former border stream. Now we are in the middle of the former inaccessible border area. At Elend, we reach a settlement again and encounter the Bode river for the first time. Here it is the Kalte Bode, whose course we follow to the idyllic hamlet of Mandelholz, before immersing ourselves back into the bright forest that accompanies us to Königshütte. Earlier, at the rest area in the Steinbachtal, we come across the Brocken hikers of the Harzer-Hexen-Stieg.