The Palatinate Forest Trail - Day 3 from Hermersbergerhof to Rodalben

Barely four weeks have passed since our last tour on the Palatinate Forest Trail. So we returned this weekend to walk stages 3 and 4. As already mentioned, we are walking the Palatinate Forest Trail in the opposite direction. We don't choose the official stage lengths, but rather lengths between 25 and 35 kilometres that suit us. We started today's long stage at the Ruheforst, just south of Hermersbergerhof on a cold but glorious spring morning. The forest path lived up to its name here and so we walked slowly uphill along small paths. While the pine forest dominated the last stages, we now walked through a beautiful mixed forest with mainly beech trees, mixed with conifers and oaks.

The Hermersbergerhof and the Luitpold Tower

After a few kilometres we reached the small settlement of Hermersbergerhof. About 150 people live here in about a dozen houses at an altitude of 550 metres. This makes Hermersbergerhof the highest settlement in the Palatinate. The settlement is situated on a hilltop in the middle of a high plateau and is surrounded by green meadows. In 2012, the settlement was also a site for demonstrations against the planned construction of wind turbines in the Palatinate Forest. So far, the entire Palatinate Forest has been free of wind turbines, mainly because of its status as a biosphere reserve. However, plans are currently being made to erect turbines again, so that protests are currently stirring up and in this context a large banner was hung on the Luitpold Tower in March 2021 to set a sign of protest.

The Palatinate Forest Trail
The Palatinate Forest Trail has an official length of 142 kilometres and runs from Kaiserslautern to Schweigen-Rechtenbach, in the very southeast of the Palatinate Forest. It was opened in 2011 and runs entirely through the Palatinate Forest. The ascent and descent on the entire route are each about 3200 metres in altitude. Selected sights on the forest trail: Rodalber Felsenwanderweg, Gräfenstein castle ruins, Luitpoldturm, Falkenburgm Dahner Felsenland, Dahner Burgengruppe, Drachenfels castle, Deutsches Weintor. As we started the forest trail following the Palatinate Wine Trail, our route runs in the opposite direction to Kaiserslautern.

We reached the said Luitpold Tower on the Weißenberg (610m above sea level) a few kilometres after the Hermersbergerhof. The tower, built of hewn red sandstone, is 34 metres high and can be climbed via a staircase. From the viewing platform, you have a unique panoramic view of the Palatinate Forest. The tower was inaugurated in 1909, when it was organised and financed by the Palatinate Forest Association, which was founded in 1902. Incidentally, the association has over 25,000 members in 200 local groups. It is largely responsible for the development and infrastructure of the Palatinate Forest with 12,000 kilometres of hiking trails and 100 Palatinate Forest huts.

Gräfenstein Castle and the rock formations of Rodalben

From the Luitpold Tower, we walked many kilometres along small paths to the Winschertfels. Here you have a great view of the surrounding area, for example Merzalben and Gräfenstein Castle, which we then reached via a short descent and ascent. Of course, we have not yet seen all the castle ruins in the Palatinate Forest, but this is certainly one of the most beautiful. There are many well-preserved elements, which are best discovered from the keep high above. The meadow-covered areas between the ring wall and the castle invite visitors to enjoy a leisurely picnic. The history of Gräfenstein Castle goes back to the 12th century and it is, by the way, the only castle in Germany with a heptagonal keep.

We continued through Merzalben. If you are ever hiking in this area, and especially if you choose the forest trail, we strongly recommend that you take enough water with you. On the entire route to Merzalben (21km) there was no water, no springs and no streams. Due to our own misplanning, we had far too little water with us today (5 litres), which was not enough for ourselves and the two dogs. So we asked nice residents in Merzalben for a small donation of water.

We now continued to the rock formations above Rodalben. The path winds for kilometres along rocks, including the Rappenteich rocks and the Saufelsen with beautiful views of Rodalben. From here we hiked a few more kilometres to reach our sleeping place for the coming night at nightfall, namely the Pfälzerwald-Verein barbecue hut in Donsieders with its spring. It was 9pm by now, so we quickly lit the cooker to heat up some pasta from the bag and settled into our sleeping bags. A passing (presumed) control probably did not discover us and so it remained a quiet night in beautiful moonlight.

Watch the video of our tour:

The tour on Komoot: