Alteburg Mountain (620 m) with a Celtic refuge

Anyone who walks in nature not only for exercise but as an essential contribution to one's quality of life will acknowledge that the aim of a long-distance hike is not simply to walk along a circular path, but rather, to increase with every step the distance to the starting point. A small foretaste to quite a "big" long-distance hike —as, for example, that offered by a one-week hike in Hunsrück along Ausonius Way from Bingen to Trier— might perhaps be a day trip to one of the most beautiful Soonwald outlooks suggested here. This trip leads from the Nahe Valley through the Soonwald foothills up to the observation tower on Alteburg mountain, where you encounter the remains of a Celtic refuge. In the Latène Age (500 - 20 BC) such fortifications served the Celtic people in the surrounding area as protection against roving enemy tribes.

We begin our tour as early as possible from Zollstock, the highest elevation in the Soonwald foothills on the road from Bad Sobernheim to Gemünden. There is a parking lot for hikers a few kilometers from Nahe Valley. From Zollstock continue upon easy forest paths down to the 1000-year-old Willigis Chapel close to the little village of Auen, where the legendary Hunter of Kurpfalz found his last resting place. From Willigis Chapel the path leads across the plateau past the vacated hamlet of Pferdsfeld to the concealed Schinderhannes Cave in the Kieselbach valley. On the Schinderhannes trail we come to the forester's house of Entenpfuhl at the foot of the Soonwald main ridge. Near the small hamlet of Entenpfuhl is a memorial to the legendary Hunter of Kurpfalz. From the forester's house the next stage is on the lonely Jäger-aus-Kurpfalz trail through the national forest up to Rennweg, from where it is only a stone's throw to Alteburg. The observation tower of Alteburg offers you a sweeping panoramic view over the Soonwald mountain range. After ample rest, we reach on the European Long Distance Trail Nr. 3 the road to Gemünden, which we cross in order to reach the ruins of Castle Koppenstein. The keep offers you an expansive view over Simmerbach Valley with Gemünden and the Hunsrück plateau. From here it is only an hour down into the valley.

The special appeal of this day trip is that, almost unnoticed, one's steps gradually lead from the rather lovely Nahe Valley into a more rugged Husrück Valley with a very different character. Thus, it is almost like a "real" long-distance walking tour.