After our hike last Saturday we thought it could not get better – turns out, we were wrong! This morning we got up early again to drive to Bad Rippoldsau. We arrived there at 10:15 and parked our car at the Kurparkparkplatz. Then we followed the signs for the “Klösterle Schleife” loop trail. (The total route was 4.6 miles) This trail starts with a steep path through the forest, but by now we are used to that.. 😉 It was nice to see small streams make their way down the hillside towards the river on the bottom. I was hoping that we might finally get to see a “Lurchi” (a fire salamander) as they like these kind of areas. Alas, we were unlucky again – but we won’t give up.
Shortly before the waterfall we passed a so called “Schnappsbrunnen” (schnapps well). This one contained a multitude of chilled beverages which you can purchase right there (so bring some cash). Of course we had to take advantage of these cool refreshments. Afterwards we found a nice spot near the waterfall where we had our lunch break. What we learned today: The Burgbach waterfall is the highest, free falling waterfalls in Germany with a total height of 105 ft and a “fall height” of almost 50 ft.
Unfortunately we were driven away from the waterfall at the end of our break as suddenly a film crew showed up and started blocking paths for their shooting. Which in turn annoyed all the hikers who suddenly had to wait and/or take a detour to continue on their way. Apparently they were shooting a commercial for Deutsche Bahn… Anyway, this kind of soured our mood so we moved on towards the Burgbachfels – a very nice viewpoint with a small pavilion. From there the path took us straight down to the valley, past a a deer enclosure to the river Wolfach.
We walked the remaining stretch of our loop trail next to the river. Shortly before we arrived back at our starting point we stopped at a playground, where the kids could wear themselves out (surprisingly they still had quite some energy left!). At the car park we found another “Schnapsbrunnen” and, to our surprise and delight, a small freezer with ice cream. We decided unanimously that we had indeed earned that after this hike 🙂
