Karst Hiking Trail - Circular Route 20 around Herzberg

This route connects the northern and southern branches of the Karst Hiking Trail. Start the circular hike in the morning; this way you can end it with a visit including coffee, cake, or more at the castle. The route is attractive in both directions; here it is described clockwise.

From the castle, it goes above the steep slope of the Sieber, one of the few untamed Harz rivers, through open deciduous forest. Sinkholes and landslides repeatedly form on the slope because the river water disappears into the gypsum karst beneath us. The Nüllberg consists of dolomite rock; at its foot, a side path leads to a floodwater sinkhole. The Sieber valley is filled with gravel deposits from the last ice age, which are extracted here at Hörden. Above the Sieber bridge, there is a sinkhole; the riverbed is dry for a few months each year. From Hörden, the hiking trail runs along the district road below the local mountain with a former castle site. Here the river water sinks beneath the road, which shows subsidence. Behind the access road to the B 243, it goes into the Lüderholz. The hiker encounters a species-rich deciduous forest on gravel deposits of the Große Steinau. Their water also disappears underground, dissolves the gypsum, and large and small, new and old, partly water-filled sinkholes, the “Eyes of the South Harz”, remain.

Between Mühlenberg and the Herzberg Clinic, the path leads along the forest edge with beautiful views of Herzberg, the Sieber valley, and the South Harz through an area of former copper shale mining; sinkhole fields (side path!) testify to this poor man's mining. The clinic offers a café (plus an emergency room for foot patients). Over the parking lot, it goes down into the Lonau valley and to the Lonau Waterfall, the only true waterfall of the Western Harz. From here, the last section romantically follows the mill race with explanatory panels on the history of water power use, over the marketplace and to the Juessee, the largest sinkhole lake in the entire South Harz with its summer outdoor pool. The further path leads through the nicely paved pedestrian zone (ice cream parlor, cafés, water wheel) back up to the Welfen Castle, where the round ends. Here, refreshment and a visit to the castle museum await the hiker; in the evening, cultural events (lectures, concerts, readings…) take place in the knight’s hall.