Wutach Gorge in the Black Forest is 33 kilometers long and consists of 60- to 170-metre-deep gorges. You can hike along the river (note that it goes up and down all the time and can be quite slippery) and enjoy the amazing flora and fauna.

A good starting point for a hike down the river in the gorge is Schattenmühle (shadow mill). From here you only follow the signs (or the other hikers) and are in the gorge within minutes.

You will hike through lush green vegetation and pass interesting geological formations. For those of you interested in geology: The Wutach gorge is a beautiful example of the South German Scarplands. While hiking down the gorge you will pass several layers of sedimentary rock showing granite, bunter sand stone, tufa and keuper. It’s like walking through the history of our earth.

The hike itself is a treat. You will enjoy the beautiful vegetation, several waterfalls and if you’re lucky you might even see a fire salamander.

At one point you will pass the area where famous Bad Boll, a spa resort, was located in the early 20th century. Nothing is left of this resort nowadays but an alley of old trees and a small chapel.

I will leave you with some more impressions of the hike along Wutach gorge and, at the end of this post, some links to websites with more information.

Please note that you should only hike Wutach gorge when you have proper boots and don’t mind slippery and steep hiking paths.

More information about:

Wutach gorge (only in German)

Great places to stay are the campsite or hay hut at Bruderhof or the beds at Schattenmühle:

Schattenmühle (only in German)

Bruderhof (only in German)

There is a bus for hikers that runs between several entrances to the gorge: http://www.suedbadenbus.de/suedbadenbus/view/angebot/buslinien/wanderbus_wutachschlucht.shtml

The post Adventurous hike through Wutach Gorge in the Black Forest appeared first on Living in Stuttgart.

Calw is a 45 minutes drive away from Stuttgart and Wimberg is located just behind it.

We drove to the “Wanderparkplatz” (parking for hikers) and started our walk in the forest. We followed the track a few minutes and came to the main track, marked with the red and white diamond.

It brought us to a smaller track that led to game reserve. We were lucky enough to spot some of the inhabitants:

Cute, hum?

We walked on and turned into Sommenhardter Weg after 10 minutes. From now on, we followed the yellow blue diamond.

This track was smaller and led us downhill.

We crossed two other tracks…

…and entered Rötelbachtal (Rötelbach Valley). The closer we come to the little river, the mossier the surrounding got. We felt like in a Lord of the Rings movie

When we reached Rötelbach we were stunned by it’s magical beauty.

Seriously, would you have expected such beautiful, unspoiled nature less than one hour away from Stuttgart? We didn’t want to leave the valley at all but hiked on eventually because we knew more attractions were waiting for us along the way.

We left the valley and had to follow a road uphill. We left the forest and reached along a meadow and with it, the next highlight of our tour. The meadows around Zavelstein are famous for its crocus flowers in spring since 1825. Some decades ago, special trains ran from Stuttgart to Zavelstein to bring tourists to this place because everybody wanted to see the blue meadows. Well, that was some years ago. I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed. There were crocus flowers, of course. But the meadow was far away from being blue.

But I don’t want to complain. It was still a nice sight.

Now, we were at Zavelstein, a lovely little town with the beautiful remains of a Zavelstein Castle.

Very cute place!

After we had visited Zavelstein Castle, we walked back to the meadows with the crocus flowers. Just before we reached them, we turned left to the athletic grounds.  At a barn we turned left again and walked along the forest towards Speßhardt. Then, we saw a bench and decided to have a little picnic.

Refreshed, we walked on, turned left at a café in front of Speßhardt, then turned right again and crossed the Rötelbach. Then, we had to follow the blue diamond towards Calw. After the last houses we took the track on the right, leading straight on over a meadow and into the forest. We crossed a street and saw the red and black diamond again. A few minutes later, we recognised the track we walked on at the beginning of our hike and finally arrived at our car. What a lovely hike! It took us around 3 hours and we were stunned by all the beauty we found along the way!

More information about:

Crocus at Zavelstein (only in German)

Zavelstein

Hiking book on amazon: Burgenziele im Ländle: Wandern, Entdecken, Erleben (affiliate link)

The post Zavelstein Castle at the beginning of the black forest appeared first on Living in Stuttgart.

As we started into our Mini-Moon the day after our wedding – and after an extended breakfast with our friends and families – we were looking for something not too far away from Stuttgart. But we still wanted a place in a remote area with nothing around us but nature. It didn’t take long until we decided the Black Forest was just the perfect spot.

On the website booking.com we found the “Hotel Restaurant Waldsägmühle”, a four star hotel in the middle of nowhere. PERFECT!

And if you wonder now if this is a cooking spoon and a egg whip in front of the hotel then I can assure you: Yes, it is. And they are there for a reason. But we’ll come to that later.

We had a lovely room…

… with a balcony…

…facing the black forest:

And guys, the best thing was that you could smell the forest! I’ve never experienced anything like that.

The hotel also offers a spa. It’s small but very nice.

So that’s were we went straight away

But we didn’t only hang out in the spa area, we also went outside because the Black Forest has a lot to offer. As we had three days, we tried three different things:

1.) Barefoot Park

The Barefoot Park in Dornstetten is only a few minutes away from the hotel and it’s great fun.

You walk through ice cold water, across wood, grass, fir cones and – yes – nails and glass. The sensation in your feed is just incredible. It feels like a foot massage!

But my favorite underground is definitely the mud!

Before:

Meanwhile:

After:

Aaaaah, that’s what I dreamed of when I was a child!

When you leave the park, you should wash your feed before entering the car again…

2.) Wolf and Bear Park

The “Alternativer Wolf und Bärenpark” in Bad Rippoldsau-Schapbach was another attraction close to our hotel. The park provides shelter for abused animals, like circus bears. When we went there, it was a very hot day and we thought we won’t see much of the animals, but we were proven wrong:

This feller enjoyed a cool bath in the basin that’s originally meant to hold the drinking water for the bears…

But he wasn’t the only bear we saw:

But we were even more lucky that day. We also saw one of the shy wolfs:

The park is located in a very nice setting, in the middle of the forest, with a little stream running through it.

It was great to see these beautiful, wild animals from a very short distance. And I am a big fan of the concept of the park. It’s horrible what some humans do to animals and there should be more places like this. You can support their work, for example by donating a bucket of food or becoming godfather or –mother of an animal. Check out their website for more information: https://www.baer.de/site2010/index.php?option=com_proforms&jid=3&cid=1&Itemid=80

3.) Hiking

When visiting the Black Forest you have to go hiking. It’s the law! Well, actually, that’s not true but you really shouldn’t miss out on exploring this wide, green area on your own two feet.

There is a bunch of hiking trails that begin or pass the Waldsägmühle. Just pick one of them, all of them are very nice

Again, I was stunned how you can really smell the forest. This spicy scent is really something special. And can you believe how green everything is?

The Black Forest is a magical place and the Hotel Restaurant Waldsägmühle is just the perfect location to stay for a few nights when you want to visit this area. But there is one more thing that’s important for a great Mini-Moon: the food! And man, were we lucky!

Hmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!

Our Mini-Moon was just the perfect final to our wonderful wedding. And  the Full Moon made our Mini-Moon event more special.

More information about:

Hotel Restaurant Waldsägmühle

Barefoot Park (only in German)

Alternativer Wolf- und Bärenpark (only in German)

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