📍 Rothenbuch, Germany
📅 July 2024
The Other Oak Forest
Eichhall is the other oak forest where hardly any oaks remain – certainly far fewer than the name would suggest. Instead, beeches dominate the landscape. The parking area is only 200 metres from the spot where I had already stayed for my visit to Metzgergraben & Krone. This time, there is even a proper parking lot.
What no longer exists, however, is a proper trail. You can follow a gravel road, but then you miss exactly what makes this forest so special.
Just a Few Scratches
On my Garmin BaseCamp map, I had discovered a trail and transferred it to my navigation system. Once I arrived, however, it turned out that the trail no longer existed.
So I ended up walking cross-country through the forest. Fortunately, there is very little dense undergrowth, so there was no need for a machete. A few scratches on my lower legs were unavoidable, though.
But what are a few scratches compared to such a unique experience? Between moss-covered rocks, ancient trees and fallen trunks, parts of Eichhall feel like a forest that nature has long since reclaimed for itself.
Eichhall, the Bigger Brother
Eichhall is considerably larger than Metzgergraben & Krone. This is not a quick one-kilometre out-and-back walk. I move more slowly, stop more often and keep discovering new motifs.
What was supposed to be a short detour turns into an entire morning – and one that is well worth it. Here, nature lets its imagination run wild. Just like Lenin with his boundless energy. After all, he is not even two years old yet.