Col Amic - Thierenbach and its basilica from Wuenheim

Above Wuenheim, Gros Chêne car park and start of the fitness trail. Route du Col Amic.

(S/E) Follow the forest path southwards, passing the shooting range, until you reach the crossroads in a clearing.

(1) Immediately take the first path marked with a red triangle on the right. Just before reaching the Col Amic road, cross the stream on the left via a footbridge and arrive at a fork.

(2) Follow the path that climbs to the right (marked with a red triangle). Continue along the path overlooking the campsite and join the Col Amic road to the car park and picnic area at Croix Zimmermann.

(3) Take the path on the left along the stream (marked with a yellow disc) and continue to the next crossroads.

(4) Leave the path on the left that climbs towards Hartmannswillerkopf (Vieil-Armand), take the path shortly afterwards that climbs to the right (marked with a yellow disc), towards Abri Baratin, and join a forest path.

(5) Climb up the marked trail (still yellow disc) towards the Sicurani Chapel. When you reach a marked trail on the left (yellow triangle), follow it and you will come to another fork at the chapel.

(6) Take the marked path that climbs to the right (blue triangle) to the ridge in the forest at a crossroads.

(7) Take the path on the left (marked with a yellow triangle) towards Col Amic. Cross a forest path and, further on, join the D431 (Route des Crêtes).

(8) Cross it and follow the path (marked with a yellow ring) until you reach the multiple road junction at Col Amic.

(9) Cross the Route des Crêtes and follow the road coming from Wuenheim on the right, then just after the^first bend, descend on the right through the stubble fields above the Kohlschlag farmhouse inn. Take the footpath to the left of the rear of the farmhouse inn.

(10) Go up to the left of the farm on the access road to it until you reach the crossroads at the entrance to the Soultz Communal Forest.

(11) Descend to the right along the road for about 100 metres and take the first forest path on the left (marked with a blue triangle). Pass the André Klutke memorial, a former woodcutter, and shortly afterwards the path joins a forest track (marked with a red disc). Continue straight ahead to the Holzwasen shelter at a junction of several marked trails and paths.

(12) Follow the path on the right, then the trail towards Sainte-Anne (marked with a blue cross), leaving the red disc markings on the left. Shortly afterwards, the trail joins a forest path at a fork. Take the trail (marked with a blue cross) on the left, then at the Y-junction, take the left-hand path. At Rocher des Sorcières and its junction of marked paths, take the marked path on the right (marked with a blue cross). You will arrive at a square of tree trunk benches on the left of the path.

(13) Leave the marked path and take the square, then the path on the left (marked with a blue cross) which leads directly to the Sainte-Anne site.

(14) At the entrance to the site, take the path that descends immediately to the right (marked with a blue cross and red ring) and follow it to Thierenbach and its basilica.

(15) Go around the basilica on the left, then with your back to the forecourt of the basilica entrance, take the pedestrian path along the road on the left to the entrance to Jungholtz. After passing the village cemetery, cross the road and walk past the first houses to the cemetery. Note the historic entrance gate to the Jewish cemetery in Jungholtz.

(16) Retrace your steps to the basilica car park, go around it on the left to the pond, then follow the road to the left of the crucifix and pass in front of the Violettes complex. Then take the path that climbs up the road to the starting car park (S/E).

There are several shelters along the route.
Zimmermann Cross Shelter, Baratin Shelter, Sicurani Chapel Shelter, and the largest, Holzwasen Shelter.

Col Amic: a few dozen metres below the pass on the road from Wuenheim, the Kohlschlag farmhouse inn.

Possible variations
(7) Descend directly to the Kohlschlag farmhouse inn by passing under Col Amic via the path (marked with a blue triangle). This faster alternative has a slightly lower elevation gain.

(10) From the Kohlschlag farmhouse inn, descend to the right via the path (marked with a red triangle) then climb back up to the Hotzwasen shelter via the path (marked with a red cross). This alternative route is roughly the same length but has a greater elevation gain.

Zimmermann Cross: following a traffic accident involving a cart carrying firewood on 23 December 1865, the family of the deceased (Joseph Zimmermann) erected a memorial. It should be noted that during the 1914-18 war, the front stabilised some 500 metres upstream from the Zimmermann Cross, and the Germans built numerous structures there, some of which are still relatively well preserved.

Baratin Shelter: its name comes from Captain Claude Baratin, commander of a detachment of Alpine hunters (^10thCompany of the^68th BCA), who was seriously wounded in combat in 1918.
Chapelle Sicurani: named after Captain Pascal Sicurani, who died in combat at Hartmannswillerkopf while commanding the^68thReserve Alpine Chasseurs Battalion.

Col Amic (formerly known as Col du Kohlschlag): Mountain pass on the Crêtes road between Grand Ballon and Hartmannswillerkopf, renamed in memory of French Captain Paul Antoine Émile Amic, a soldier in the^15thAlpine Chasseurs Battalion, decorated for his bravery on the battlefield at Hartmannswillerkopf (Vieil-Arman).

Sainte-Anne convalescent home and chapel: within the Medical Centre for Follow-up Care and Rehabilitation belonging to the Ugecam Alsace group, there is a chapel whose construction dates back to 1728.

Thierenbach: Basilica, former Cluniac priory, located in the commune of Jungholtz.
Jewish cemetery in Jungholtz, the oldest in the Haut-Rhin, where the oldest gravestones date back to the early 18th century (1715).

Names and meanings of the Club Vosgien markers.