Northern Black Forest

With its rather angular – in places trapezoidally-shaped – summits, the Northern Black Forest rises above the Rhine Plain by more than 1,000 m. By contrast, its eastern slopes descend gradually and there is less of a height difference with its neighbouring regions.

Geologically, the dominant rock of the Northern Black Forest is bunter sandstone, although in the deeply incised west its gneiss bedrock reaches the surface.

Numerous tarns in the Northern Black Forest are evidence of ice age glacial formations, The best-known is the Mummelsee on the Hornisgrinde.

The Hohlohsee and the Wildsee near Gernsbach-Kaltenbronn are raised bog lakes on the highlands between the Murg and Enz valleys that are only fed by local precipitation.

In the winter time, the Northern Black Forest region attracts tourists with the ski resorts Mehliskopf, Hundseck – Bühlertallifte, Kaltenbronn, Simmersfeld.

Western side of the Northern Black Forest on the Hornisgrinde showing the steep descent to the Upper Rhine Plain . In the background: the Vosges
Bad Wildbad
The Hornisgrinde seen from the Hohloh
The Huzenbacher See, one of the tarns in the Northern Black Forest
Hiking trail at the Mummelsee