Rhön Mountains

High Rhön

The High Rhön (German: Hohe Rhön or Hochrhön) is that part of the central Rhön that lies in Hesse, Bavaria, and to a lesser extent in Thuringia; it covers an area of 344 km² (132.8 sq mi)^[3] Landscape fact files by the BfN (c.f. section on Natural region division) and is up to 950.0 m (3,117 ft) and whose highland plateaux with elevations starting at 600 to 700 m (1,969 to 2,297 ft) are covered by solid basalt. Its core area in the northeast used to be called the Plattenrhön. The High Rhön is a natural regional major unit in the East Hesse Highlands; see Natural regions.

The High Rhön has five main mountainous regions:

• Wasserkuppen Rhön
• Long Rhön (Lange Rhön)
• Dammersfeld Ridge (Dammerfeldrücken)
• Kreuzberg Group
• Black Mountains (Schwarze Berge)

At the heart of the Rhön, albeit only the fourth highest summit of these mountains, is the Heidelstein (925.7 m (3,037 ft)) on the border between Bavaria and Hesse on the Rhine-Weser watershed. It forms the main high point on the plateau of the Long Rhön, which runs northeast over the Stirnberg (901.9 m (2,959 ft)) as far as the Ellenbogen (Schnitzersberg) (815.5 m (2,676 ft)) without crossing any significant lower ground. Within the Long Rhön the basalt layer is almost unbroken.

At the Heidelstein, another natural region, the Wasserkuppen Rhön, branches off in a north to northwesterly direction to the Rhön's highest summit, the Wasserkuppe (950.0 m (3,117 ft)), whose basalt likewise covers a wide area, but is broken in places by bunter sandstone and muschelkalk – in particular the basalt kuppen of the Weiherberg (785.7 m (2,578 ft), northwest) and Ehrenberg (816.5 m (2,679 ft) northeast) are slightly separated from the rest.

Between the northeastern end of the Wasserkuppen Rhön at the Ehrenberg and the plateau of the Long Rhön from the Heidelstein to just beyond the Stirnberg is the Upper Ulster valley, which cuts into the bunter sandstone by up to about 300 m (984 ft) and divides the Plattenrhön in two.

The Long Rhön runs southwest along the main watershed to the Dammersfeld ridge which continues along the watershed via the Hohe Hölle (893.8 m (2,932 ft)) and Eierhauckberg (909.9 m (2,985 ft)) to the Dammersfeldkuppe (927.9 m (3,044 ft)), the ridge being clearly narrower than the Long Rhön and its basalt layer being interrupted several times. The Großer (808.6 m (2,653 ft)) and Kleiner Auersberg (about 808 m (2,651 ft)), separated by the valley of the Schmale Sinn, are also part of this natural region.

South of Heidelstein and Hoher Hölle the narrow head of the Brend valley near Bischofsheim forms the boundary with another mountain group of the High Rhön, the Kreuzberg Group, which contains the Arnsberg (843.1 m (2,766 ft)) and the Kreuzberg (927.8 m (3,044 ft)). In between these two mountains lies the source of the Sinn. This river, which forms a wide and deep valley head flanked by the Dammersfeld ridge, flows to the southwest.

On the other side of the Sinn valley, and southwest of the Kreuzberg Group, are the Black Mountains (German: Schwarze Berge), which include the Schwarzenberg (Feuerberg, 832.0 m (2,730 ft)) and Totnansberg (839.4 m (2,754 ft)). They are separated from the Kreuzberg Group by the narrow valley of the Premich's upper reaches, the Kellersbach.

Clearly different from the aforementioned ridges is the eastern slope of the Long Rhön, which forms the transition zone from the High Rhön to the muschelkalk region of the Mellrichstadt Gäu (Mellrichstädter Gäu), the eastern part of the Werra Gäu Plateaux. Individual domes rise from the descending Triassic beds east of the solid basalt covering of the Long Rhön in the interfluvials of the tributaries of the Franconian Saale between Brend and Streu, notably the Gangolfsberg (735.8 m (2,414 ft)) and the Rother Kuppe (710.6 m (2,331 ft)). This landscape bears a clear resemblance to the Kuppen Rhön.

The Wildflecken Training Area, which covers an area of 74 km² (28.6 sq mi), equivalent to almost a quarter of the High Rhön, is not accessible to the public.

Kuppen Rhön

The 1,200 square kilometres (460 sq mi)^[3] of the "Kuppen Rhön in its narrow sense", to which the Anterior Rhön also belongs,^[4] is the wide outer fringe of markedly different relief, that circles around the High Rhön from the northeast (in Thuringia) through the northwest (in Hesse) to the southwest (with small parts in Bavaria). Numerous dome-shaped isolated mountains and hills rise above the valleys to 500–800 metres (1,640–2,625 ft), whose basalt covering is concentrated around the summit regions and does not blanket the entire landscape, as it does in the High Rhön. The domes or kuppen are the stumps of heavily weathered former volcanoes or volcanic pipes. Between pointed cones and broad domes lie many small plateaux, especially common in the Anterior Rhön.

Over a foundation of Middle Bunter sandstone lie stratigraphic sequences of Upper Bunter (Röt), muschelkalk and keuper, the last two rocks only surviving where they have been protected by an overlying sheet of basalt. Woods cover less than a third of the area and are largely restricted to the summit regions. Five natural regions may be distinguished:

• Anterior Rhön
• Auersberg Kuppenrhön
• Soisberg Kuppenrhön with the Hessian Skittles
• Milseburg Kuppenrhön
• Brückenau Kuppenrhön

The eastern part of the Kuppen Rhön is the Thuringian Anterior Rhön, which reaches a height of 750.7 m (2,463 ft) at the huge plateau of the Gebaberg in the southeast. There is hardly any keuper escarpment there at all. The kuppen and plateaux rest directly on a bedrock of muschelkalk. This natural region runs northeast from the wide, pyramidal Pleß, 645.4 m (2,117 ft), far into the Bunter sandstone of the Stadlengsfeld Hills that descend to the River Werra. In the west the Middle Felda Valley forms a natural boundary between Kaltensundheim in the south and below Dermbach in the north.

West of the Felda valley is the Auersberg Kuppenrhön (Auersberger Kuppenrhön), which lies mainly in Thuringia, but extends into Hesse in the southwest. This natural region runs from the town of Auersberg in the south, which gives the region its name, to the boundary with the Long Rhön at the Ellenbogen, 756.8 m (2,483 ft). In the northeast of the region, the prominent kuppe of the Baier reaches a height of 713.9 m (2,342 ft), but its northernmost summit is the popular viewing mountain of Oechsen. The western boundary is the Middle Ulster Valley between Hilders in the south and below Buttlar in the north.

West of the Ulster valley is the Soisberg Kuppenrhön (Soisberger Kuppenrhön), which lies mainly in Hesse, with elements in the southeast also extending into Thuringia. This region reaches a height of 629.9 m (2,067 ft) at the Soisberg in the north where the countryside is enclosed by the Seulingswald forest. It reaches even greater elevations in the extreme southeast, where the Habelberg (718.5 m (2,357 ft)) west of Tann stands opposite to and north of the Auersberg. This natural region is well known for the Hessian Skittles, a striking regular array of high, gently rounded, basalt cones up to 552.9 m (1,814 ft). North and south of the skittles most of the kuppen in this natural region are also arranged in a row along the watershed between the Werra and the Fulda and between the Ulster and the Haune respectively. To the west they do not quite reach the Haune at the Haune Plateaux; to the south the Nüst valley below Obernüst forms a natural boundary.

The almost entirely Hessian range of the Milseburg Kuppenrhön (Milseburger Kuppenrhön), which bounds the Wasserkuppen Rhön, up to 950.0 m (3,117 ft), south of the Nüst valley and west of the Ulster valley. Again the keuper escarpment is missing and even the muschelkalk only appears in islands around individual domes. The majority of the basalt and phonolite cones sit directly on the sandstones of the Middle Bunter. Cutting deeply into the sandstone, the rivers of the Haune and the Fulda flow westwards. The phonolitic cone of the Milseburg (835.2 m (2,740 ft)) is the only mountain in the Kuppen Rhön that exceeds the 800-metre-mark. Even the height of the Großer Nallenberg (768.3 m (2,521 ft)) south of the Fulda, is not reached in other parts of the region. To the southwest the area is bounded by the rocky sandstone of the Hoher Kammer (700.0 m (2,297 ft)), as it descends from the heights of the Dammersfeld ridge (up to 927.9 m (3,044 ft)).

Separated from the Kammer by the upper reaches of the Döllbach, the Döllau, the Große Haube (658.1 m (2,159 ft)) on the Rhine-Weser watershed opens the Brückenau Kuppenrhön, whose western half is in Hesse and whose eastern half is in Bavaria. The valleys of the Schmaler and Breiter Sinn running southwestwards, divide the natural region, which is clearly more heterogenous than the other ranges of the Kuppen Rhön, into three segments. In the west, the rugged plateaux of dolerite and basalt transition into the Landrücken, whilst the northeast of the Kleiner Auersberg (c. 808 m (2,651 ft)) leads up to the Dammersfeld ridge. Between the more rugged plateaux and ridges there are gently domed basalt intrusions that rise up, especially in the southeast, left of the Sinn near Bad Brückenau. The Dreistelzberg in the extreme south reaches 660.4 m (2,167 ft).

Walks and hiking trails

There are well-marked walks and hiking trails in the Rhön which are looked after by the Rhön Club. The Rhön-Höhen-Weg ("Rhön Heights Walk" or RHW) is marked with a horizontal, red teardrop. It is 137 km (85 mi) long and runs from Burgsinn in Main-Spessart district through Roßbach, Dreistelz, Würzburger Haus on the Farnsberg, Kissinger Hütte on the Feuerberg, Kreuzberg (monastery), Oberweißenbrunn, through the Red and Black Moors, over the Ellenbogen and the Emberg via Oberalba, past Baier to Stadtlengsfeld and on to its destination at Bad Salzungen on the Werra River.

Other hiking trails are:

• The Ortesweg ("Village Way") signposted with a 2/3-full red triangle and running from Kleinheiligkreuz over the Milseburg to Bad Neustadt 82.5 km (51.3 mi)
• The Burgen- und Schlösserweg ("Castle Way") signed with a red triangle from Schlitz via Tann to Wasungen 96 km (59.7 mi)
• The Milseburgweg ("Milseburg Way") marked with red triangles from Fulda via the Milseburg to Meiningen 67 km (41.6 mi)
• The Wasserkuppenweg ("Wasserkuppen Way"), marked with red triangles, from Giesel over the Wasserkuppe towards Fladungen 96 km (59.7 mi)
• The Heidelsteinweg ("Heidelstein Way"), from Neuhof via Gersfeld to Ostheim vor der Rhön 60 km (37.3 mi)
• The Klosterweg ("Monastery Way") marked with red triangles from Schlüchtern via Wildflecken to Mellrichstadt 93 km (57.8 mi)
• The Kreuzbergweg ("Kreuzberg Way") marked with red triangles from Schwarzenfels over the Kreuzberg to Bad Königshofen 96 km (59.7 mi)
• The Jakobusweg ("Jacob's Way") from Fulda to Schweinfurt signed with blue shells 110 km (68.4 mi)
• The Jakobusweg from Bremen in Thuringia to Herbstein signed with blue shells 83 km (51.6 mi)
• The Abtsweg ("Abbot's Way") from Fulda to Hammelburg signed with a red teardrop 84 km (52.2 mi)
• The Rhön-Paulus-Weg ("Rhön Paul Way") from Weilar via Tann to Dermbach marked with a 2/3-full green triangle 84 km (52.2 mi)
• The Geological Walk on the Wasserkuppe
• The Auersberg Nature Walk near Hilders
• The Milseburg Prehistoric Walk
• 10 circular walks in Thalau; a total of 160 kilometres (99 mi)

In addition the following pass through the Rhön:

• The Main-Werra Weg ("Main-Werra Way") from Gemünden over the Kreuzberg and Wasserkuppe to Vacha, signed with a red arrowhead 176 km (109.4 mi)
• The Rhön-Rennsteig-Weg ("Rhön-Rennsteig Way") from the Wasserkuppe over the Geba to Oberhof 89 km (55.3 mi), marked with a blue "RR" on a white background
• European long-distance trail No. 3 via Fulda to Mellrichstadt, signed with a blue cross
• European long-distance trail No. 6 via Hünfeld, Gersfeld to Bad Königshofen, signed with a white cross on a blue background