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Return Schluchsee Dam Black Forest water power Lake Schluchsee near the community of the same name is a popular destination for tourists, as it offers ample opportunities for swimming and sailing. It is located at 930 meters above sea level and its deepest point measures sixty-one meters. It is 7.5 kilometers long and 1.5 kilometers wide. Thus, it is the largest lake in the Black Forest. To the west of it, there are two high mountains to admire, the Schnepfhalde, which is 1,282 meters high, and the Habsberg with 1,274 meters. You can hike the entire shore once on a circular path. In its present form, lake Schluchsee has only existed since 1932, when a 63-meter-high dam was built to raise the level of the lake for the use of hydroelectric power plants. The Schwarza stream, one of the inflows, was dammed until the water level had risen by thirty meters. Since then, lake Schluchsee has been Germany's highest reservoir. However, quite a few residents had to leave their homes forever for its elevation, as the shore areas were flooded. Even an old post road and a school building disappeared in the water. Today, electricity is generated with a capacity of about 520 million kilowatt hours per year. The main part of the entire power plant complex is underground. Water flows from the lake Schluchsee through three power plant stages in the direction of the Rhine, falling a total of more than 610 meters and covering a distance of about 25 kilometers. In order to supply the Schluchsee with sufficient water, this is pumped up from the Rhine in the other direction. In addition, part of the water is tapped from the upper course of the river Wutach, the Seebach. Since the water supplied from the Rhine is mostly warmer than that of the Schwarza, lake Schluchsee rarely freezes over in winter, and when it does, the ice is quite brittle. Ice skating is therefore not possible. Since the water level of the Schluchsee has to be reduced occasionally, for example to carry out maintenance work on the power plant complex, there is often discord between the power plant operators and the tourist industry, which would like to keep the level of the lake constant so that swimming and sailing can continue. Besides, the drained shores don't look very nice. Not far from the dam wall is the village of Seebrugg, which is the terminus of the Dreiseenbahn railroad. There is a diving station, from where you can make dives in the lake. If you want to enjoy a beautiful view of lake Schluchsee during a visit, you can do so from the approximately thirty meter high Riesenbühlturm, which is a tower located not far from the village of Schluchsee. If you prefer tobogganing, you can do that in the Rodel-und-Sapßpark, by the way, also in summer. In Schluchsee there furthermore is the "flower path", where you can admire various works of art made of flowers. Source: Schluchseewerk AG

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Return Milchhäusle Quite clever, the Black Forest people: A refrigerator without electricity Most of the Black Forest farmhouses are located on mountain slopes near springs. It is not uncommon for the farms to have a characteristic feature. From the spring, pipes made of wooden logs ran to a trough located not far from the main house. This trough has a wooden – rarely stone – superstructure that resembles a miniature house on stilts. In fact, it is a kind of refrigerator. It gets its cold from the flowing water of the spring, which has an almost constant temperature all year round. In this superstructure, called "Milchhäusle" ("little milk house"), the Black Forest farmers could store their milk in a cool place even on warm days. In addition to milk, other perishable goods were stored there. The farmers of those days washed in the trough, since there was otherwise no running water in the house. Last but not least, the trough had the advantage that fire-fighting water was available at a short distance from the farm in case a fire broke out. In addition to perishable food, grain also had to be stored in a protected manner. For this purpose, there were special granaries that protected it from moisture, especially from precipitation, as well as from pests. Such a granary must, on the one hand, ensure constant ventilation and, on the other hand, be built in such a way that the stored grain can be shifted as easily as possible.

Return Wutach Gorge Adventurous and wild The Wutach Gorge, cut between sixty and one hundred and seventy meters deep, is the epitome of a nature reserve in Germany. It stretches for 35 kilometers between Neustadt and Achdorf, and the area from Kappel to Wutach has been a nature reserve since 1939. The fascinating thing about this area is not only the torrent with its unhindered course, but also the richness of species among plants and animals as well as the geological peculiarities. In fact, the Wutach Gorge is the only untouched low mountain stream in Germany and thus of immense importance from a landscape-historical point of view. From its source to its mouth in the Rhine, the total watercourse is 91 kilometers long and overcomes a difference in altitude of 1,125 meters. However, it is not called Wutach along its entire stretch. It rises at an altitude of 1,440 meters above sea level near Seebuck, the side mountain of the Feldberg, and is still called Seebach here. Thus, the source is only nine meters lower than the peak of Seebuck. A 62 meter high waterfall follows before the Seebach flows through the Feldsee on the northeastern flank of the Seebuck at 1,109 meters above sea level. Afterwards, the Seebach continues in the Bärental valley until it reaches the lake Titisee, which it also crosses. At the outflow, the watercourse is then called Gutach. It flows on to Neustadt until it meets the confluence of the Haslach shortly after the Gutach bridge of the Höllental Railways. The river Wutach is formed here by the confluence of Gutach and Haslach not far from Kappel. Shortly before the two waters meet, their valleys already become gorge-like and are deeply incised. There the nature reserve begins in both valleys. The Wutach winds only briefly through the gorge before another gorge enters from the north, the Rötenbachschlucht. From here, the Wutach turns south and flows as far as the Räuberschlössle before continuing its course to the east. After a while, the Lotenbachklamm gorge opens up to the south, containing four waterfalls of up to eight meters in height, as well as a side stream, which in turn plunges into the gorge from a height of twenty meters. Very close to the confluence of the Lotenbachklamm and the Wutacht Gorge is the Schattenmühle. There you can fortify yourself in an inn before continuing your hike. Downstream the landscape changes. The river Wutach leaves the upper gorge and enters a valley with a wider bottom. Whereas the bedrock was previously granite with an upper layer of red sandstone, it now consists of shell limestone. From here one reaches Dietfurt and further to the former Bad Boll, where from the south the Boller waterfall pours into the Wutach, with its two steps and a drop height of forty meters the highest waterfall within the Wutach Gorge. Not far away follows the Tannegg waterfall. On the other side of the river is an 84 meter long cave called Münzloch. The rock walls are now increasingly made of limestone. The mosses that grow on them extract carbonic acid from the calcareous water, causing the limestone to solidify and form as sintered rock. After Bad Boll the valley narrows considerably, this is called the Middle Gorge. The hiking trail now runs above the river Wutach, nestled against the rock face. This takes you to the Schurhammerhütte, where you have the opportunity to take a break. On its further way, the Wutach inclines to the northeast and partially seeps into the subsoil. In very dry phases, the above-ground river bed can even dry up completely. After the Rümmelesteg, the Wutach flows eastward again, and about two kilometers after the seepage, the water emerges again after having flowed through a cave system. From the north, the Gauchach meets the river shortly after. The Gauchach Gorge is also protected until shortly before Döggingen. From the confluence of the Gauchach it is not far to the Wutachmühle, where the Wutach Gorge nature reserve ends. In its further course, the Wutach turns southwest with the so-called "Wutachknie" ("Wutach knee") near Achdorf and leaves the Black Forest. In its lower valley follows the Lower Gorge, the so-called "Wutachflühen". This section extends between Achdorf and Grimmelshofen. In addition, the river now forms the border between Germany and Switzerland for about six kilometers in two sections before it flows into the Rhine at a sea level of 315 meters. The fact that the Wutach Gorge was a considerable traffic obstacle in the past can be seen in a difference between the Black Forest dialects north and south of it. In the north, the "K" at the beginning of a word (e.g. "Kasten" ("box")) is pronounced as in Standard High German, so in dialect one says "Kaschte". In the south, however, it becomes "Ch" (as in "rauchen"). There it is consequently called "Chaschte". What makes the Wutach Gorge very interesting for geologists are the constant changes that take place there. Thus, in the course of the last decades, rocks have collapsed or slipped several times, and the landscape is in constant motion. All these processes can be observed here unhindered, that is, without man interfering with them or stopping them. Thus, the Wutach Gorge provides valuable information for the study of geological events. It is worth mentioning that from the Seebach more than half of its water is tapped just above the mouth into the Feldsee. It is diverted into the lake Schluchsee and ultimately fed to the hydroelectric system there. In addition to the Wutach Gorge, there are other gorge-like valleys in the Black Forest. Particularly impressive is the four-kilometer-long Ravenna Gorge, a constriction above the valley Höllental. It contains two waterfalls, the larger one has a drop of 16 meters. Course of the Sauschwänzlebahn not far from the Wutach Gorge

Return Wildsee What is a cirque lake and where does it come from? At 910 meters above sea level, lake Wildsee is located in the southern part of the Black Forest National Park, not far from the Seekopf mountain, which rises 1,055 meters. The Wildsee is about eleven meters deep. It is surrounded by a forest area that was already declared a ban forest in 1911, which means that it has not been cultivated since then and is completely left to itself. The cirque wall behind the Wildsee is 125 meters high. Its water drains off via the Schönmünz stream, which in turn flows into the Murg. The Wildsee is a glacial cirque lake, as they are often found in the highlands of the Black Forest. Cirque lakes were formed by glaciers that created depressions on mountain slopes. The ice of the glaciers slowly sinks downhill. Underneath, debris and rock is detached from the ground and carried along. This permanent pushing causes the underlying soil to deepen into a depression. This is the basin of the later cirque lake, which fills as the glacier gradually melts. It is interesting to note that cirques in the Black Forest formed mainly on northern to eastern slopes. This is due to the fact that more snow had accumulated there and thus the amount of ice carried downhill by the glacier was greater. The cirque lakes formed during the last ice age, when the Black Forest was glaciated. Other well-known bodies of water of this type are Feldsee (near Feldberg), Mummelsee (near Seebach in the Ortenau district) or Nonnenmattweiher (Kleines Wiesental). Typical for all of them is their shape with a relatively flat, deepened bottom and a mostly steep back wall. Cirque lakes do not only occur in the Black Forest, but in principle everywhere where there were glaciers before.

Return Clock carrier On foot all over the world The profession of clock carrier developed in the Black Forest from that of glass carrier. It is documented for the first time around 1740. His trademark is also that of the glass carrier, namely the back carrier called "Krätze", woven from willow, in which the clocks were transported. The clock carriers were on foot, because means of transport such as railroads or cars did not exist at that time. Since Black Forest clocks were initially made in domestic workshops, the clock-makers themselves had little opportunity to sell their wares. At that time, however, there were the glass carriers who were already on their way to markets. Therefore, the clock-makers simply gave them their works. Thus, then developed its own association of merchants specializing in the sale of clocks, the clock carriers. They not only brought the world-famous cuckoo clocks among the people. In fact, other clocks were made in the Black Forest. The first wooden timepieces are said to have been made as early as the 17th century, the so-called "Waagbalkenuhren" ("balance beam clocks"). Somewhat better known were the lacquer shield clocks. Around 1843, there are said to have been about 750 clock carriers on the road. Some of them went far away, as far as Russia and Turkey. The clock carriers ensured not least that clocks were no longer just a luxury item. Due to the cheap wooden clocks from the Black Forest and the wandering clock carriers, many people could afford a clock. Schild-clock

Return Bollenhut comstume hat The whole world knows this hat, but not everyone knows what it means. It looks like a collection of wool balls, but it is not only part of the Black Forest costume, it is something like a landmark, the costume hat called "Bollenhut". It comes in three colors. Red for unmarried, black for married and purple for widowed women. By the way, it is only genuine if it has fourteen balls. It has been worn since 1750 and was first seen in the villages of Gutach, Kirnbach and Reichenbach (Hornberg). There it was part of the costume of the Protestant population from the time when a girl had her confirmation. However, the Bollenhut did not become really famous until the middle of the twentieth century, and then mainly through Heimatfilme, a particular genre of movies. But also the painter Wilhelm Hasemann and composer Leon Jessel with his operetta "Das Schwarzwaldmädel" ("Black Forest girl") made the Bollenhut popular. Since then it can be found all over the Black Forest. Only eleven of the fourteen balls are visible, the other three are tucked underneath and are usually somewhat smaller. The base of the hat is made of straw. In total, such a hat can weigh up to two kilograms. It usually has a black ribbon, with which it is attached to the head of the wearer. Originally, the hat of the Black Forest women's costume was probably made exclusively of straw. Such headgear still exists in some villages, such as Schonach. There the women wear such a hat with an unusually high top hat. The Bollenhut is said to have been created by a decree of Duke Friedrich Eugen von Württemberg, who ordered the inhabitants to show red or black decoration on their straw hats. It is said that at first the women only painted colorful circles on the straw. The balls made of cloth followed only later. A variation of the Bollenhut is the so-called Rose hat, a straw hat with rose decoration. The colors having the same meaning as with the Bollenhut. In St. Märgen and St. Peter there is a straw hat covered with velvet. There is also a ribbon cap that reaches over the ears. This was very practical in winter. By the way, the eleven visible balls are said to have symbolic value. Through them, the triune God, the four cardinal points and the earthly are pictorially represented.

Return Children in traditional costume Children also wore traditional costumes in the Black Forest. However, in those days, childhood here was not an easy one, as the offspring had to actively help out on the family farm at a young age. Children eventually inherited the estate. However, the farm was not divided up when it was inherited. This was done to ensure that the farm could continue unimpaired and that the cattle were not taken to another farm. This affected the succession should there be more than one child. The farm was bequeathed either to the youngest son or the eldest daughter. Other children had to marry in order to be taken to another farm. If they were unsuccessful, they were left as servants or maids on their own estates. The traditional costumes for children can be admired in the Trachtenmuseum in Haslach. Here, more than a hundred traditional costumes are exhibited on life-size dolls, as well as everyday objects of the peasants of the Black Forest. Incidentally, the museum is housed in the old Capuchin monastery, which is the last remaining Capuchin complex in southern Germany.

Return Ski jumping "Almost" every place had a ski jump. In the Black Forest, snow is not uncommon in winter, even though it has become less and less in recent years due to climate change. About a hundred years ago, the amount of snow here was still considerable. So it is not surprising that the people of the Black Forest are fond of winter sports. Thus, the local ski resorts have many groomed slopes with a total length of 250 kilometers, as well as about 170 ski lifts. Speaking of ski lifts, they were also invented in the Black Forest, namely in 1908 by Robert Winterhalder from Schollach near Eisenbach. He had a mill and the idea that you could be pulled up the mountain by water power. Thus, his lift overcomes thirty-two meters of altitude over a distance of about 280 meters. What many people don't know is that winter sports in Germany started to a large extent in the Black Forest in the first place. First and foremost, there were many ski jumps in the Black Forest. Almost every town had one, even if they were quite simply built and many of them have disappeared in the meantime. The biggest ones today are in Titisee-Neustadt (Hochfirstschanze, 142 meters), Hinterzarten (Rothausschanze, 108 meters) and Schonach (Langenwaldschanze, 106 meters). Titisee-Neustadt hosts annual ski jumping World Cups, while Schonach hosts Nordic combined events. The Hochfirstschanze is not only the largest ski jump in the Black Forest, but also the largest natural ski jump in Germany. It is located directly on a slope of the mountain Hochfirst, which is 1,197 meters high. Hinterzarten hosts an international summer ski jumping event every year. This takes place on the Rothausschanze there. In general, Hinterzarten is a central place of German ski jumping. The importance of Hinterzarten is also evident from the fact that famous Olympic champions come from here. One of them is Georg Thoma. He won gold in the Nordic combined in 1960. The foundation of the ski museum, which is located in the village, also goes back to him. His nephew Dieter Thoma was even more successful in ski jumping and ski flying. He was not only Olympic champion, but also German champion fourteen times. Furthermore, Olympic champion Martin Schmitt is still to be mentioned.

Return deer Can it really jump that far? The stag is the king of the forest. In the Black Forest, as in other parts of Germany, lives the red deer. It can grow up to 1.50 meters tall and up to 2.50 meters long. It can weigh up to 250 kilograms. The typical feature of deer is their antlers, which, however, only the males wear. It is interesting to note that the antlers grow anew every year. It first falls off in spring and develops again until summer, with two more shoots growing each year. Thus, the age of a male deer can be determined by the number of antlers, although it cannot exceed twelve ends. Equally typical for deer are their roaring sounds during the rutting season, which takes place in late summer. Calves are born at the beginning of summer. They grow up in a group with several hinds, one of which leads the herd. The males live mostly solitary. However, the number of red deer in the Black Forest is no longer very high. On the other hand, it plays a not insignificant role in the culture of this region. In the valley Höllental there is the so-called "Hirschsprung" ("stag jump"), a narrow, rocky place where the mountain slopes rise 130 meters above the valley floor. At the base they were only nine meters apart, at the upper rocky edge close to fifty. There is a bronze stag figure with a height of two and a half meters, which reminds of a legend. Right here, a stag is said to have saved itself from a knight who was hunting for it with a mighty leap from one mountainside to the other. I wonder if this is true. In the course of time, however, the place was widened by man. Interesting is also the connection of the deer with the origin of the Danube source river Brigach near St. Georgen. The Brigach rises at the Hirzbauernhof. "Hirz" is the Old High German word for "stag", and indeed, not far from the source of the Brigach, there is a stone with the image of a white stag on it.

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Return Museums in the Black Forest Here everyone gets his money's worth. The Black Forest is rich in culture in many respects. No wonder, then, that quite a few museums have established themselves here with various focuses such as art, crafts, history and so on. Almost all communities have at least one, often these are private collections that are made accessible to the public. It is worth mentioning that most of the museums are geared towards families and try to impart knowledge and make it tangible. So take a look, it's definitely worth it. In the following you will get a small selection of what you can marvel at here. A big topic in the Black Forest is clock-making. There is the German Clock Museum in Furtwangen. It shows with its rich inventory not only the history of clock-making in the Black Forest as well as the industry that emerged from it, but also offers particularly worth seeing pieces from all over the world. One thousand clocks are exhibited, the total stock amounts to 8,000. In Triberg there is a museum of local history with a historical clock-maker's workshop. You can also admire traditional costumes and automatic musical instruments. The monastery museum of St. Märgen offers another interesting collection of clocks. The German Phono Museum in St. Georgen highlights the products of the phonographic industry from its beginnings to modern times. On display are phonographs and gramophones, record players (not only from two well-known manufacturers that once existed in St. Georgen) and other devices from the field of consumer electronics. The museum was founded in 2011. Also in the town is the Hermann Papst Museum in the historic Mühlegg building, dedicated to the inventor and manufacturer of the same name. The tour continues in the valley of the river Kinzig. There, Wolfach offers a glass museum dedicated to glassblowing in the Black Forest. The Schüttesäge Museum in the neighboring town of Schiltach deals with rafting, tanning and the timber industry. It was opened in 1989 and contains a model of a Kinzig raft as a special exhibit. Tanning techniques are also demonstrated. There are corresponding leathers for each of these. In the open-air museum Vogtsbauernhöfe near Gutach you can visit historical Black Forest houses in all their diversity. In addition to a building that has stood on the spot since 1612, others have been added. Farms from various villages in the region served as models and have been faithfully reconstructed on the grounds of the open-air museum. Some of them were disassembled at their place of origin and their components were numbered in order to reassemble them in Gutach. So you could say it was a giant look-through puzzle. Another open-air museum is the Klausenhof Herrischried or the Resenhof in Bernau. The latter is a farm built in 1789 that has been used as a museum since 1977. In Hinterzarten there is a ski museum founded by Georg Thoma. It is located in the Hugenhof, a farmhouse more than three hundred years old, where not only the history of winter sports in the Black Forest is presented, but also exhibits on ski equipment and winter sports fashion. In the mountain Schauinsland not far from Freiburg there is a museum mine. There is also a visitor mine in Freudenstadt called "Holy Three Kings". On the Feldberg, more precisely the Seebuck, there is a ham museum located in a former radio tower. Bathing facilities from Roman times can be visited in Baden-Baden and in Hüfingen. In Pforzheim, the second largest city in the Black Forest, jewelry making is a theme. Therefore, there is a jewelry museum there. Not to forget, of course, several art museums and collections. These include the Grässlin Collection in St. Georgen, which is closely associated with the artist Martin Kippenberger, and especially the Frieder Burda Museum in Baden-Baden. Located right next to the Kunsthalle, it opened in 2004 and features classical as well as contemporary artworks and special exhibitions. The museum is very popular, not least because of its bright, light-filled rooms. Moreover, it is connected to the adjacent Kunsthalle by a bridge made of glass. Both houses offer joint events. Also quite worth seeing is the Museum Art.Plus in Donaueschingen, formerly called "Bidermannmuseum". Here contemporary art is offered in various exhibitions, showing both international and regional artists. The museum opened its doors in 2009 in a house built as early as 1841 with a varied history. Here you can get to some museums German clock museum Furtwangen Triberg local history museum German Phonomuseum St. Georgen Wolfach Glass Museum Schiltach saw museum Open-air museum Vogtsbauernhöfe Gutach Klausenhof Herrischried open-air museum Open-air museum Resenhof Bernau Hinterzarten Ski Museum Freiburg museum mine Freudenstadt visitor mine Feldberg Ham Museum Jewelry Museum Pforzheim Museum Frieder Burda Baden-Baden Museum Art.Plus Donaueschingen Hermann Papst Museum St. Georgen