The best walks and hikes in Michelbachtal (Lsg)

The history of the Gaggenau districts of Michelbach and Moosbronn, and the Bad Herrenalb district of Bernbach, is uniquely linked to the former state border between Baden and Württemberg. The so-called "wasp's waist" of the old state of Baden lay in the Michelbach district. At its narrowest point, it is only 17.2 kilometers from the Württemberg border to the Rhine. In the pilgrimage site of Moosbronn, the state border ran right through the village. Since the founding of the state of Baden-Württemberg in 1952 and the district reform in 1973, the communities on both sides of the old border have steadily grown together. An expression of this good neighborliness is the hiking trail "in the footsteps of the old border", which was created and signposted in 2002 on the occasion of "900 years of Michelbach" with the local administrations of Michelbach, Freiolsheim and Bernbach.

The Tannenwaldhütte was first mentioned in 1856 and destroyed by the storm "Lothar" on 26.12.1999. It was rebuilt by the nature club Michelbach, the leisure club "Ranch" and the forestry administration. Below the hut, there is a spring that does not run dry even on hot days.

Small spring with a seating area right next to it, from where there is also a good view of the Rhine plain.

The Karl-Schwarz-Brunnen was donated in 1910 by one of the founders of the Karlsruher Schwarzwaldverein and is located shortly after the source of the Michelbach. Next to the fountain, there is also an information board about its creation.

Below this spot, an aircraft crashed on November 1, 1945, shortly after the end of the war. In the most severe air disaster ever to occur in our region, 26 American military personnel lost their lives. The aircraft was a Douglas C-47 (DC3) transport aircraft in its military version. It was put into service a year earlier and participated in "D-Day", the Normandy invasion, as a paratrooper transport. It had space for up to 32 people and was also known as a "raisin bomber" during the Berlin Airlift. On the day of the accident, 4 crew members and 26 U.S. Air Force soldiers were on board. They had been on vacation in London and were supposed to return to their units at the Oberschleißheim Air Force Base near Munich. Despite bad weather over the mainland, the 23-year-old pilot and his 22-year-old navigator decided to fly. Shortly after takeoff, the pilot had to climb above the cloud cover due to dense cloudiness and continue the flight using instruments. According to the navigator's calculations, a point near Augsburg should have been reached after 3 hours of flight, where the pilot could descend below the cloud cover and begin the approach using visual orientation. Due to strong headwinds, the calculated position was missed by more than 200 km. Consequently, the cloud cover was descended through north of Karlsruhe, and the navigator lost orientation. They followed the Rhine in a southwesterly direction until near Wintersdorf, a 90-degree correction was made to the original course towards Munich. The DC3 thus steered directly towards the 693-meter-high Bernstein. The pilot and navigator continued to try to determine the correct position from low altitude, which became increasingly difficult due to the approaching fog. Despite the dense fog, the silhouette of the aircraft was recognizable when flying over Michelbach. Around 4:30 PM, the aircraft crashed at an altitude of 620 meters, where it broke into several pieces and went up in flames after explosions. Many victims died because help arrived too late. That help arrived at all four hours after the accident is thanks to three survivors who, despite severe injuries, made their way to Sulzbach and Bernbach. Until now, only rumors had surrounded this event, and it eventually fell into oblivion.

Hiking trail over some stones and roots as a connecting path to and from the Bernstein Felsen.

Historical boundary stone between the Kingdom of Württemberg and the Grand Duchy of Baden on the way to the Bernstein Felsen.

Right well-walkable hiking trail over some stones and roots as a direct connection to the Bernstein Felsen.