Hiking in the Black Forest

October 4-5, 2021

After saying goodbye to Sarah and Ave, they went back to Frankfurt and I traveled south, taking two trains and a bus to get me to Triberg, in the heart of the fabled Black Forest. My plans included two days of hiking while I was there.

It was pretty magical the next morning. All different shades of green, with mist hanging around in the trees. It was raining pretty good, but that's what raincoats are for.

I started my day headed to the Triberg waterfall, which claims to be the tallest waterfall in Germany. The area was pretty, with walking paths through the forest. The trees were teeming with birds and pointy-eared red squirrels.

The waterfall was very nice. There were several boardwalk view points arranged for you to enjoy the best parts of the waterfall.

While I have seen taller falls in my life, it was still beautiful. Also the area was largely deserted, probably due to it being October (aka not tourist season) and rainy.

Up the long path past the waterfalls and out the top of the park was the start of my hiking for the day. Although I couldn't figure out which way to go for the trail that I had planned (the next day I realized I was just looking at the wrong part of the sign) I figured I'd just follow the signs for 4km to Schönwald, the next town over, and see what happened.

The trail took me along logging roads through the forest. It was signed pretty well, with little diamond trail markers on trees every so often, and the big sign posts at crossroads. While the hike was different than my brain had imagined, it was beautiful and varied scenery, and a pretty flat walk, and I enjoyed myself very much.

The Black Forest actually has much more green...

I continued through Schönwald and went another 6.5km to Furtwangen, where I found a much needed bathroom and a bratwurst for lunch.

The descent down into Furtwangen started in the trees high above the town, and went down the little winding path all the way there.

I successfully managed to find a bus back to Triberg, so luckily I didn't need to walk the whole thing in reverse. I put my feet up on the couch in my room for a little bit, then found some dinner, and went to bed tired.

The next day I repeated the experiment, but went in a different direction. The waterfall was still lovely, and the sun was out which had a nice effect through the trees.

At the signpost I selected a northward trail, headed towards Shonach instead. The hike was shorter, about 4 km, and took me on some actual trails through the woods rather than all logging roads, as well as across the tops of meadows and across hills.

The meadows often times contained cows.

The sky was feeling extra dramatic that day.

At one point I went right under one of the wind turbines that dot the landscape. It's the closest I've been to one, and was tickled to hear the 'woosh, woosh, woosh' as the blades went around.

The approach to Schonach was picturesque, as per usual, and once again I managed to find a bus back to Triberg. It felt good to get some exercise, fresh air, and sunshine.

Triberg itself is a cute little town nestled into the trees.

Other than the waterfalls, it's got a cultural museum with a bewildering variety of displays, ranging from traditional clothing and hats, to grass weaving, to self-playing musical instruments, to the radio invented in the area, to bobsledding and luge.

There's a bunch of souvenir shops, and every one of them had a dedicated section for the cuckoo clocks the Black Forest is known for. While expensive and not my taste, they all had undeniably beautiful wood carving and decoration. I was glad I was never in one of the shops at the top of the hour. 

Triberg is also known for it's pom-pom hats, which are traditional for the women to wear. They are piled with giant red or black puffballs (signifying single or married) and are all over signs and souvenirs in the area. My favorite thing was the line of giant Easter Island statues along the river in town that got pom-pom hats too.

I was sad to leave the Black Forest after just a couple of days. It really is just a beautiful area, and somehow it's different than other forests I've seen and hiked in before. Maybe it's the colors, maybe it's the fact that there's both trees and fields hanging out together. Either way, 5 stars, I'd totally go back again and explore more of it.