Kammweg Etappe 16 "Vom Burgsteingebiet nach Hirschberg"

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Hischberg, Museum für Gerberei - und Stadtgeschichte

At the hikers' parking lot near the castle stone ruins you start the hike to Mödlareuth. In nearby Krebes, the illustrator Hermann Vogel (illustrations in Grimm's fairy tale books) had his house, which can still be visited today.After only a few meters, you will reach the ruins of the Burgstein, former pilgrimage churches of the bishoprics of Naumburg and Bamberg, whose bishopric borders ran above the Burgstein. From here, the ridge trail leads you along the edge of the forest to the Burgbach stream and through the forest into the wildly romantic Kemnitzbach valley. At the Kienmühle you will find the first resting place. The disused grinding and cutting mill is one of the last of its kind in the region. On the ridge trail in the Kemnitzbach Valley, be prepared for wonderfully overgrown paths, rooty forest trails and always the gentle murmur of the Kemnitzbach as background noise. The certified quality trail leads past the Unterkemnitzmühle mill to a hill before Gutenfürst with a beautiful view. After the idyllic forest pond with adjacent recreational area, the trail leads to the former German-German border station in Gutenfürst. The large built-up area still gives an idea of its importance for the GDR. What remains is a stop of the Vogtlandbahn. Past the station, a service road leads you under the railroad tracks straight ahead, then uphill into a hollow way. Once you reach the top, you will have a fantastic panoramic view of the former border area. The state of Bavaria is now within reach. Following the traces of the German-German border history, you will soon be guided by the Kolonnenweg, a concrete slab path. The Kammweg runs slightly above the Dreifreistaatenstein, which marks the border of the states of Saxony, Bavaria and Thuringia.

Now you hike on an asphalted farm road to Gebersreuth. On the heights, trees and copses line the path from time to time, leaving the hamlet of Straßenreuth on your left. After Gebersreuth you will meet the Saale-Orla-Weg in the forest, which is mostly identical to the Kammweg to Blankenstein. Leaving the forest, you will soon see the small village of Mödlareuth. Divided by the Tannbach, the southern half of the village belongs to Bavaria, the northern side to Thuringia. The German-German Museum impressively documents the history of "Little Berlin", as Mödlareuth is also called because of its border wall. At the inn "Zum Grenzgänger" you have arrived at the destination of the stage. In Mödlareuth you walk from the inn "Zum Grenzgänger" along the outside area of the museum, past the ruins of the historical mill and the museum parking lot, until you meet the Kolonnenweg running parallel to the Tannbach after a small orchard. A little later you leave the concrete slab path and change to a varied driveway, then path, which you follow to the Öhninger Hütte lookout pavilion. After the magnificent view, you descend again to the Kolonnenweg, which leads you along the impressive Saalebogen with a view of the Hirschberg Castle until just before Hirschberg. The former border strip is largely marked as a "Green Belt" protected area by numerous young birch trees, but also other deciduous trees that characterize the landscape. A pleasant path leads along the slope bordering the Saale valley on the right bank of the Saale to the beginning of the Hirschberger Hag. It goes slightly uphill and downhill, through a deeply cut depression of a brook with delightful views and vistas into the Saale valley. Slightly downhill you get closer and closer to the Saale and with it to the nature reserve Hag and the "Saalebänk" with room for 97 people, whose seat and backrest were made in one piece from the trunk of a 130 year old tree. The bench once stood in the Guinness Book of Records as the "Saalebank", the longest bench made from one trunk. Continuing toward Hirschberg, walk across the hanging jetty firmly anchored in the jagged rock face. A deer on the rocky slope proudly looks over the valley of the Saale.