Around the Freudeneck

The village of Freudeneck, the starting point for the hike, is located between the villages of Romanswiller and Wangenbourg-Engenthal on the D224 road. You can park in the car park behind the hotel-restaurant of the same name.

(S/E) From the car park, take the road behind the restaurant on the right, with your back to the forest, following the Blue Cross markings. It forms a circular route before reaching the RD224.

(1) Follow the road to the right for about 300 metres, then at the next intersection, turn left onto the road leading to the hamlet of Freudeneck, following the Blue Cross markings.

(2) At the next intersection, go up the road on the right, still following the Blue Cross signs (markings under the road sign for the dead end) and head towards the castle ruins.

(3) Turn right then left to reach the ruins. At the castle, ignore the path that goes up with the Kittel Felsen sign and continue on the flat path marked with the Blue Cross and Red Ring signs.

(4) At the crossroads, turn left, following the Red Ring markings. Follow this path for 100 metres, then turn right onto the road, passing a garden waste collection point.

(5) Take the forest path that climbs to the left, marked with a Red Ring or Red Diamond, and follow these markings to Wangenbourg Castle.

(6) Descending from the castle towards the village, follow the Yellow Disc markings on the path that descends to the left until you reach the Pont du Brocard bridge.

(7) After a fairly steep descent and crossing the bridge, take the forest road on the left and, at the crossroads a little further on, where three forest roads meet, take the path marked with a Yellow Disc. This crosses a first forest road and then joins a second.

(8) Continue on this second forest road called Kittel Felsen, still marked with Yellow Discs, until you reach a partially paved forest road called Route Forestière de la Baraque. Follow this road straight ahead until you reach an intersection with a forest road at a bend.

(9) At this bend, leave the forest road and continue along the path marked with a Yellow Disc, which climbs to the right into the undergrowth. The path runs alongside the road towards Bischofslaeger, then joins it. Follow this road, which climbs opposite, until you reach the Bischoffslaeger Forest House.

(10) At the forest house, at the crossroads of three forest roads, take the path that climbs into the forest on the left, marked with a Yellow Disc. Pass through a place called Les Trois Forestiers, where there is a wooden hut with tables and benches.

(11) Continue straight ahead, following the Yellow Disc markings, until you reach the Fuchsloch Forest House at the junction with the RD224.

(12) Cross the road, pass a small car park on the other side of the forest house, then continue along the forest road marked with a Red Saltire.

(13) After crossing a bridge over the Mossig, take the path on the left, marked with Red Saltires, and you will reach a wooden hut and a waterfall dedicated to Carl Otto Mencke, who was the district manager of the Wasselonne Forest in the 1870s.

(14) To see the waterfall from below, take the Red Diamond marked trail just before you reach the hut. To return to the marked trail, either climb the steep slope next to the waterfall or retrace your steps. Then continue straight ahead on the trail that continues to climb, still marked Red Saltire.

(15) At the crossroads of a forest path, turn left and then, 100 metres further on, turn left again towards Heidenschloss, following the Red Saltire signposts until you reach a Club Vosgien shelter at Heidenschloss.

(16) Turn right and continue straight ahead, following the Red Saltire signposts. Cross a first forest road, then a second, and continue until you reach Rotfels, a spot developed by the Club Vosgien with a viewpoint (tables and benches available).

(17) Take the path that descends to the left, marked with a Yellow Cross, and return to the junction with the D224.

(1) Turn left, then left again onto the road to return to the car park behind the Hotel Restaurant du Freudeneck (S/E).