Let’s star with the obvious: German is an AWESOME language. I bring this up now because the English word “wander” shares roots with the German word for hike, “Wandern.” It’s a telling connection.
We were lucky that Titisee is just a 1/2 hour bus away from the trailhead for Feldbergsteig, (the Feldberg climb). The official short description of the hike is a “first-class hike with marvelous views and idyllic, narrow paths in the middle of a protected natural environment,” and somehow this is an understatement.
It still feels as if you’re peacefully meandering around the forest. You find yourself in a highly-maintained pathway, but there’s enough time and scenery between each crossroads to make you feel as if you’re (almost) alone in nature. You get to really enjoy your surroundings as a result of this wonderful wandering way.
Be forewarned: this is a long and picture-filled post. I mean, it was a 4 hour hike (plus breaks!) jam-packed with beauty!
We started behind a nature center and hiked up the tallest part of the Black Forest: Feldberg Peak (1493 m). This was the steepest part of the climb, but easily skippable if you chose to take the ski lift.
We’re in in winter as far as calendars go, but it didn’t feel too cold at any point. The temperature remained hovering around freezing, just above it during sunlight and just below it when dark. Somehow, we’ve managed to avoid any significant snowfall.
This means we didn’t get to see snow-laden anything, let alone a white Christmas, but the bright side is a more manageable hike considering we didn’t come with snow pants or “snow shoes.”
At the top is a monument to German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck and a beautiful panorama view.
The 11-story Feldberg tower enhances the panorama view and supplements the Black Forest experience with a small museum exhibit dedicated to Black Forest Ham, or “Schwartzwälder Schinken.” Did they know we were coming? And could I ask for anything better?!?
After enjoying the interactive exhibit and tower’s views, we continued on past our first Hütte, a lovely feature of this German hike, and many others. We quickly found many of the stops along the trail would be closed for the winter season.
A hütte (“hut”) in the Black Forest is place where one can grab a drink, a snack, and enjoy the view with something uniquely from the surrounding area.
Some Hütte carry local beers, others local cheeses, or homemade desserts and liquors. About half the hütte along our path were closed for the winter, but not all. Baldenweger Hütte, about halfway through the hike, was open and provided the perfect break and Hütte experience. The picture at the top of the page is the view out the window!
I wanted to try the hazelnut liquor, which comes highly recommended (by the official trail description!). I missed the single serving on the menu so ended up buying a bottle. Whoops. At least we could take it with us!
As a “Premiumweg,” this trail is scrupulously maintained and sits in a protected nature reserve. Germany and the Black Forest take credit for inventing hiking, despite how incredulous it seems. Perhaps they mean they were the first to promote maintained routes for the sake of their beauty and enjoyment rather than as a way from point a to b (could this even be so?).
The paths were varied, some looked like what you might expect, others looked like goat trails, some had wooden stairs, others had planks laid out for traction.
We found ourselves meandering beside many delicate waterways before our final few landmarks.
Another lovely detail (/major quality): it wasn’t just pro hikers or granola heads. There were parents with babies in carriers, elderly couples, and others our age.I’d read it can get quite busy, as this is one of the most popular hikes in the Black Forest (with good reason) but in this “winter” season we never found ourselves with more than one other group/couple of people.
I can’t speak to the other trails here, but I do feel like with this one we were able to get a wonderful sense of the Black Forest.
Merry Christmas! What a treat to see all the views you both worked to achieve! So awesome! Thanks for sharing.