- promising
- Fauna
- Round trip
- Flora
Hikers' parking lot above the "Einsiedelei" forester's lodge
Hikers' parking lot above the "Einsiedelei" forester's lodge
The cave-rich beech groves are home to breeding populations of great horned owls, black and grey-headed woodpeckers. Since 2004, the impressive black stork has regularly raised its young here. If you visit the area early or late in the spring, you can watch the woodcock on its mating flights. The bog woodlands and alder forests along the streams are characterized by the presence of bog birch, ribbed fern, marsh violet and various species of peat moss. The area's greatest botanical treasure, however, is the heart-leaved two-leaf orchid, an endangered orchid in Germany, which has its only North Rhine-Westphalian habitat here. This rare plant can only be found in southern Lower Saxony and Thuringia.
The area is located directly on the "Hiking Trail of German Unity" (Aachen-Görlitz, X 8). A 5.6-kilometre circular trail leads along well-maintained forest paths. From the parking lot, the route first follows the X 8 to the northeast, then the X 5 to the southwest to the old forester's lodge. The upside-down "T" then points the way up to Wolfhardt and back downhill towards Rahrbach. Halfway up, turn north on the white triangle. The path runs along the "Rahrbacher Weidekamp" until you reach a refuge on the ridge. There you can enjoy a beautiful view over the forest areas of the Bilstein uplands to the foothills of the Ebbegebirge. The trail then heads north-east again along the X 8 towards the parking lot.
GPS (UTM): 32 U 428788, 5657602 Google coordinates: 51.065514, 7.983699
The hiking parking lot above the "Einsiedelei" forester's lodge can be reached both from the B 55 (junction north-east of Oberveischede), and from the B 517 (junction north-east of Welschen Ennest) via a narrow, asphalted access road.