Hiking in the Schwarzwald

29.4.12 Oppenau, Deutschland (Schwarzwald)

So I started this post about 2.5 months ago after I originally went hiking in the Schwarzwald with my fellow Badger Lindsey... after completely spacing out about my Blog I am back and updating my entries a bit and will try to keep them short, interesting, and colorful.

Welcome to Oppenau!

At the end of April, Lindsey invited me and Erik to go hiking with her on a Sunday in the Schwarzwald.  She had picked out a specific spot that we could get to by a series of trains, set just outside a small town (Oppenau).  There would be waterfalls and the ruins of an old Monastary.  Erik didn't make it, but Lindsey and I still went and had a great time.

Unfortunately, the buses in a small city like Oppenau (unlike Stuttgart) do not run on Sundays... so Lindsey and I decided to hike the entire way out into the forest ourselves.... this mean that we hiked about 25 km total round trip!  We made it through the forest, over hills and through some valleys along the riverbank, through fields and past summer homes and youth hostels.  The waterfalls were really cool! It wasn't one single waterfall, but rather a 6- or 7-tiered / stepped waterfall that wound around the mountainside like a spiral staircase.   We climbed around 300 steps to follow its path to the top, and the views along the way were really neat.

After we reached the top of the falls, it was just a short walk to the monastery where a cloister of Monks used to reside... Quite possibly the coolest ruins I've ever seen.  It was nothing on the scale of a castle, rather small what was left actually, but really neat architecture.  We got some ice cream at the restaurant next to the ruins, hung out for a bit, hiked back (another 2.5 hrs) and caught a train just in time to get back to Stuttgart by 9pm.  Great day of hiking and some awesome views in a really unique and quintessential German location!

PS- We saw some cows, too!