Harzer-Hexen-Stieg - Brockenumgehung

You already know the way from Torfhaus to Brocken? Is the path too difficult for you? The mountain is showing its adverse side, namely not at all? Or there are simply too many people on the way? Then take the alternative! The Brocken bypass is by no means a second choice. Away from the hustle and bustle of the mountain, it continues along rustic paths through the Harz National Park. We climb along boardwalks alongside the Oderteich, once the largest and oldest reservoir in Germany. It is dammed by a "cyclopean dam" made of huge granite blocks. The Rehberger Graben transports the water from the pond to St. Andreasberg. Where it was once used for mining, today it drives turbines in the Samson mine and generates environmentally friendly electricity for the residents. The open mountain meadows around the free mountain town, which stretch almost as far as Braunlage, are a feast for the eyes, especially in summer. The Oder Valley cuts deep through the connection between the two towns. However, it is not narrowness and gloom, but light and colorfulness that determine the picture here. In Braunlage, the tourist center in the Upper Harz, the trail leads right past the foot of the Wurmberg. From here, a cable car takes you up to Lower Saxony's highest peak. The view is breathtaking. Not only to the Brocken peak directly opposite, but over the entire southern mountain range. Below the Wurmberg, the world once ended here too. We cross the former inner-German border at the crossing over the Bremke, the former border stream. Now we are in the middle of the once inaccessible border area. At Elend we reach another settlement and come across the Bode river for the first time. Here it is the Kalte Bode, whose course we follow as far as the idyllic hamlet of Mandelholz, before plunging back into the sparse forest that accompanies us to Königshütte. Before that, at the rest area in Steinbachtal, we meet the Brocken hikers of the Harzer-Hexen-Stieg.