Schwarzwaldhochstraße

The Schwarzwaldhochstraße, or "Black Forest High Road", is the oldest, and one of the best known, themed drives in Germany. It is a part of the B 500 federal highway.

The Schwarzwaldhochstraße begins in Baden-Baden and rises quickly to the main ridge of the northern Black Forest, reaching the top at the Bühlerhöhe. At the top is a luxury hotel, also named the Bühlerhöhe. A small chapel with notable stained glass windows, known locally as the Adenau Church (Adenauerkirche), sits perched on an outcrop on the heights. When the weather is clear, there is a wide view over the Rhine plain toward the Vosges.

From the Bühlerhöhe, the Hochstraße runs at an altitude of between 800 and 1,000 metres above sea level past several highland hotels (Plättig, Sand, Hundseck, Unterstmatt, Mummelsee, Ruhestein, Schliffkopf). At one of the several ski areas along the route, on the Mehliskopf near Sand, is a year-round, all weather bob track. Here is also where the road branches off to the Schwarzenbach Dam and the Herrenwies Nordic ski centre.

Other ski lifts and restaurants can be found at Hundseck and Unterstmatt.

Passing below the highest mountain in the northern Black Forest, the 1,164-metre-high Hornisgrinde, the road reaches the almost circular Mummelsee, a cirque from the latest ice age.

The Naturschutzzentrum, (Nature Conservation Centre) at Ruhestein has information about the Central and Northern Black Forest Nature Park, one of a series of nature parks throughout Germany that aim to protect natural and cultural features of an area. The information centre is also responsible for the Lotharpfad, an interpretive trail showing the effects of the 1999 storm Lothar. In addition to ski lifts and cross-country trails, Ruhestein has a ski jump.

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Wikipedia