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.
Photo: From the observation tower on the Alteburg Mountain (620 m),
one not only has a grandiose view over the almost endless forests of the Soonwald,
but also down to the wide plateau of the Hunsrück with its villages, fields
and pastures.