Rothaarsteig

The Rothaarsteig is a 154.80 km long hiking trail along the crest of the Rothaargebirge mountain range in Germany in the border region between the states of North Rhine-Westphalia (NW) and Hesse (HE).

In an extremely sparsely populated region it links hills and places of interest such as the Bruchhauser Steine, the Langenberg, the Kahler Asten, the Rhine-Weser Tower, the Ginsburg and several sources of major rivers like the Ruhr, Eder, Sieg and Lahn.

From the Lenne spring the Rothaarsteig runs by the high villages of Lenneplätze, Neuastenberg, Langewiese and Hoheleye to Albrechtsplatz (728.6 m) and past the source of the Friede (740 m; a tributary of the Odeborn) to the Heidenstock (752.2 m).

Initially it runs in a southerly direction past the hamlet of Kühhude (697.2 m; a northern suburb of Bad Berleburg) and the Saukopf (715.5 m) to the suspension bridge near the source of the Hochgelmke Siepen (680,5 m; in the catchment area of the Lenne tributary, the Latrop).

It runs initially westwards past a war cemetery (Soldatengrab, 711.7 m) and the cultural monument of the Wegsperre (715.9 m) to the village of Schanze (700 m; east-southeastern suburb of Schmallenberg).

From the Millionenbank the main Rothaarsteig path continues westwards via Jagdhaus (650 m; southern municipality of Schmallenberg), where the Kapellenwäldchen natural monument is found at Heidkopf (665.9 m), to the Trudes Sonnenbank (657.3 m) mountain hut and past the source of the Somborn (680 m; in the Eder catchment area), which is located on the southeastern slopes of the Härdler (755.8 m), to the crosstracks of Potsdamer Platz (678.1 m).

After crossing that stream the walking trail runs along the Schwarzbach tributary, the Habecker Bach, to its origin and then continues to the mountain hut (621.1 m) at Rastplatz Hochheide.

The Rothaarsteig runs past the summit of the Riemen about 150 m to the east to the valley of the Elberndorfer Bach (a western Eder tributary), which it crosses in a westerly direction.

Bordering the eastern edge of the village of Großenbach, west of Bad Laasphe, where the Rothaarsteig swings towards the southwest for a few hundred metres, it runs to the source of the Rhine tributary, the Sieg (603 m), where it crosses part of the Eisenstraße.

Passing over the Tiefenrother Höhe (551 m) near Wilgersdorf on the state border and then the eastern subpeak of the Kalteiche (579,3 m), where the trail bends southeast to the Lucaseiche natural monument (440 m), the Rothaarsteig finally reaches Hesse.