The best mountain hikes around Ochtendung

From the campsite north of the lake and along the eastern shore, there's a forest path around the lake. The path is unpaved and, in places, very dusty. This path is shared with pedestrians, so it can be busy on nice weekends, so please be considerate of others.

On January 20, 1820, Daniel Heinrich Delius, the President of the Trier government, acquired the monastery estate of Laach Abbey. Between 1840 and 1845, his descendants, the Delius and von Ammon families, as owners of the monastery estate and the lake, had a new Delius tunnel built approximately 5 meters lower and approximately 1,070 meters long, with the older Fulbert tunnel partially filled with the new excavated material. This reduced the lake's surface area by approximately 48 hectares, and the agriculturally usable area was significantly increased. Source: Display board

Even though only the upper part of the quarry is visible, it is still a beautiful geological outcrop.

Beautiful houses

🎨💚Wonderful panorama over the Moselle valley/Moseltal bridge/Kobern-Gondorf. Surrounded by vineyards💚 A great photo location with the Niederburg ruins🏰📷👌🏼. A changing picture at any time of day/year 🍃🍂🍇👌🏼. 🥾🥾The Tatzelwurmweg led us here 🥾🥾🎒

The Laacher See area is of volcanic origin🌋. The oval Laacher See 🌊 is the largest lake in Rhineland-Palatinate with around 3.3 km² and a water depth of more than 50 m. The Laacher See and the surrounding lands are owned by the Maria Laach Abbey⛪️. From a scientific point of view, however, the Laacher See is not a maar or a real crater lake, but a water-filled caldera - a crater that was created by a collapse after the magma chamber below the volcanic cone was emptied. Small bubbles rise up in the water - these so-called mofettes are rising carbon dioxide and illustrate the volcanic history of the lake🌋.

Coming from Kobern-Gondorf, you first pass a large quarry on your left, then at the transition from asphalt to composite paving, there is a bench on the left and a lounger on the right. A few meters further on, a railing in the shape of a Tatzelwurm separates the road from the narrow stream bed and the rock wall rising up behind it. A small opening has been cut into it, with a deeper hole in the middle. There are already a few stones lying here that were thrown across the stream. You have three attempts to land a stone that stays there and promises good luck.

What is difficult at the moment (7/24) is that the narrow paths are heavily overgrown and therefore barely recognizable. Stickers and the stylized Tatzelwürmer are covered by the leaves of the vines, and blackberry tendrils, burrs and thistles spoil the passage. But if you find the signposts, the path is a lot of fun! Two ladders, two narrow vineyard wall steps, a steep slate chippings passage and several "stairs" where the wooden steps are rotten and only the fixing irons stick up into the air as additional tripping hazards.