4:05 h
16.60 km

Hiking through the forests of the Rosengarten Regional Park and through the Black Mountains makes this hike a challenging but very beautiful tour.

Black Mountains Heath Loop

The Black Mountains Heath Loop leads mainly through the dense forests of the Rosengarten Regional Park and through the Black Mountains. There are isolated areas of heathland. The sandy soil - a prerequisite for the growth of heather - is omnipresent, as are pines and beeches, which like to follow the heather.

From the small hiking parking lot near the Kiekeberg Inn, the trail first leads past the Schwarze Berge Wildlife Park into the meadow valley near the Neugraben heath cemetery. A small hollow path leads directly to three reconstructed burial mounds on the town path. Robbers have long since emptied the original graves. The Archaeological Museum Hamburg has elaborately and attractively reconstructed the double burial mounds.

Then a park-like landscape: oaks, beeches, small meadows. The Heidschnuckenweg runs along the border with Lower Saxony, coming from the Fischbeker Heide. At Tempelberg there are vacation homes hidden in the forest. At the last house, the Heideschleife and Heidschnuckenweg turn left into the sparse pine forest. The path winds its way through the blueberry bushes, occasionally interspersed with heather bushes.

A large clearing in the middle of the forest. Forest field construction on almost 200 x 200 meters. The double heath clearing. The path disappears between the trees again - towards the south, swinging up and down gently. Then the path becomes narrow, winding its way between the now dense and dark conifers, down a slope and immediately uphill again. Until the forest becomes lighter again.

The Karlstein: mighty beech trees spread a protective roof over the large, slender boulder. Charlemagne, King of the Franks, is said to have rested here before a battle with the Saxons. Indentations in the shape of a horseshoe are carved into the stone, indicating that the Karlstein may have been used as a place of judgment or worship as early as the Stone Age.

The Heideschleife and Heidschnuckenweg paths then separate. The way back to Kiekeberg is scenically varied. Behind the Großmoddereiche oak, the trail leads over a narrow ridge with short but steep and strenuous ascents and descents. Up to the Paul Roth stone, which has commemorated the "hiker, friend of the heath and the forest" and former gymnast of the Hamburg gymnastics club since 1912. The trail leaves the forest and climbs the Langen Stein (a pretty resting place with great views) and the Kiekeberg on natural paths. Pass the Kiekeberg Inn and return to the hikers' parking lot.

Length: 16.6 km

Duration: 4.5 hours

Starting point: Hikers' parking lot at the Kiekeberg Inn

Parking: Hikers' parking lot at the Kiekeberg Inn (approx. 100 m west of the inn), Am Kiekeberg 5, 21224 Rosengarten

Transport connections: Ehestorf: Museum Kiekeberg, bus route 340 (S-Bahn Neuwiedenthal - Harburg station)

Tourist information:
Regionalpark Rosengarten e.V.
Kirchenstraße 6
21244 Buchholz i.d. Nordheide
Tel. 04181 282810