The hills on the left-hand or northern side of the valley reach a maximum height above sea level of 514 metres in the Mückenberg and are clearly lower than those opposite.

The highest point in the west, also the start of the valley, lies on the watershed between the Rhine and Moselle rivers, separating here the catchment areas of the Speyerbach and Schwarzbach.

The four medieval castles above the valley, namely Elmstein, Breitenstein, Erfenstein and Spangenberg, guarded the sovereignty of the local territorial lords here for centuries.

Today their ruins are visited by tourists, not least because of the legend of the Leather Bridge that is supposed to have existed between Erfenstein and Spangenberg.

The Forestry Museum (Waldarbeitsmuseum) in the upper storey is concerned with comprehensively covering all activities relevant to the forest.

The valley is served by the Landesstraße 499 state road, which runs from Frankeneck to Johanniskreuz, linking the B 39 (Frankenstein–Neustadt an der Weinstraße) and B 48 federal highways (Hochspeyer–Bad Bergzabern).