It is a symbol of the Sonnenwald region which comprises the municipalities of Schöfweg, Zenting, Innernzell, Grattersdorf and Market Schöllnach.

According to legend, the Brotjacklriegel owes its name to a baker, Brotjackl (EN: "Bread-Jacky"), who is supposed to have hidden on the mountain during the Thirty Years' War.

However, the name probably only came into being later during survey work by the French under Napoleon when because of a misunderstanding of the Bavarian "Broada Jaga-Riegl" (Breiter Jägerriegel; EN: Broad Hunter's Sill) the name Brotjacklriegel was written down.

At the summit of the Brotjacklriegel is a TV and radio transmitter owned by the Bayerischer Rundfunk and a smaller viewing tower belonging to the Bavarian Forest Club.

From the Jackl hikers' car park above the village of Langfurth to the top of the mountain runs a roughly two-kilometre-long trail, the Sonnenwald Nature Trail (Sonnenwald-Erlebnispfad ) with 10 stations at which the forest and its inhabitants are explained.