On the way to the lynxes

With the cable car, you float from the valley station at the spa park to the 483-meter-high Burgberg. Alternatively, the ascent on foot is possible. A short detour to the Canossa column offers a beautiful view of Bad Harzburg and the Harz foothills up to Goslar. On a clear day, you can see Braunschweig, Helmstedt, and Salzgitter on the horizon. Through the ruins of the Harzburg, you reach the old powder tower and the castle well. Heinrich IV is said to have fled through this well during the siege of the castle by the Saxons in 1073. We then follow his escape route, the old imperial path, from Antoniusplatz to Säperstelle. At the Säperstelle junction, an old term for a wood peeling place, we hike along the Way of the Cross to the Cross of the German East. The cross, erected in 1950, was destroyed by a strong storm in 1998 and re-erected in 2000.

Following the path further, we reach an intersection. From here, we follow the path towards the lynx enclosure / Rabenklippe. The national park lynx enclosure at Rabenklippe is reached after about two kilometers. With a bit of luck and persistence, you can observe the lynxes during their daily grooming or feeding. The lynxes living here are no longer released back into the wild. They serve as ambassadors for the lynx reintroduction program in the Harz National Park, started in 2000 and supported by the Lower Saxony State Hunters Association. Visitors to the national park can observe these very shy animals here in the enclosure.

From the national park forest restaurant Rabenklippe located at the lynx enclosure, you can enjoy a view of the highest mountain in northern Germany, the 1,141-meter-high Brocken, during a rest on a fine day.

For the determined, the path continues along the Firstweg to the Tiefen Kohlstelle, an old charcoal kiln site. During mining times, charcoal was produced here from beech and spruce wood. After about 10 meters, the path leads past the Reuss pond down into the Kalte Tal. After a short stretch on the paved road, we can hike again on an idyllic forest path at the Sennhütte turning point. The Ministerweg follows the Kalte Tal stream to the Schweineteich. From there, it is only about 800 meters until we complete our circular route in Bad Harzburg.

Paid parking at the Burgberg cable car

The KVG bus line 875 goes to Molkenhaus and the lynx enclosure at the Rabenklippen.