Bummelkuppenweg (lang)

Official hiking trail in the Hainich National Park This beautiful route starts at the Harsberg hiking parking lot and leads along a wide path slightly uphill into the national park. There are two options for the way back to the starting point: the short route leads within the national park via the primeval forest path back to the parking lot. The longer route leads out of the national park across meadows and fields past a worthwhile viewpoint with an impressive view over the Werra valley. The border between the national park and the nature park is hard to miss. Directly behind the border, the beech forest is used intensively for forestry. Highlights of the hike: - High road - Stone table - Early bloomers - Mülverstedter cross - Wild garlic - At the Kalkgrund - Plaque commemorating the plane crash Details of the highlights: - Hohe Straße: In the Middle Ages, this trade route was used to transport salt, wood and grain from the area around Bad Langensalza and Craula down into the Werra Valley. From there it continued by boat and ship to the German and Dutch North Sea ports. - Steinerner Tisch: About 800 m after the barrier, there is the first opportunity to take a break at the "Steinerner Tisch". This place probably served as a resting place for carters on the "Hohe Straße" as early as the Middle Ages. - Early bloomers: In the beautiful, old beech forest to the right and left of the path, numerous early bloomers such as wood anemones, liverworts and lesser celandine bloom in spring. - Mülverstedt cross: This 15th century field monument owes its name to the fact that it belongs to the village of Mülverstedt despite being nine kilometers away. It has no signs or inscriptions. The reason for its creation is therefore unknown. It could be a stone cross for a deceased person, like some found in the Hainich. Leave the Hohe Straße here and continue to the right along a narrow hiking trail. - Am Kalkgrund: If you would like to take a break here, you will soon have the opportunity to do so, as there is a seat on the edge of the path. You can hike down to the Kalkgrund in a south-westerly direction. A thick spruce tree stands at the edge of the path, a relic from the forestry management of the Hainich. Spruce trees would not naturally grow here. - Plaque commemorating the plane crash: There is a large stone with a memorial plaque in the Kalkgrund: eight Australian, Canadian and British soldiers died here when their Lancaster bomber was shot down on the night of March 31, 1944.