The Pearl of the Vosges from Mittlach

In the centre of Mittlach, we park in the car park opposite the Valneige hotel-restaurant. There are other parking spaces before the church on the left.

(S/E) From the Valneige car park, we cross the bridge and immediately turn right towards the Wormsa valley, following the left bank of the Fecht. Then we leave it behind to reach the entrance to the forest.

(1) Take the discreet path marked with a red rectangle on the left, ignore a path on the right and you will come to a fork.

(2) We leave the path and take the trail on the left at the^first fork, heading towards Fischboedle. We stay on this trail, passing numerous moraines and a few footbridges, until we come to a wide path. We leave this path shortly after the bridge and take a trail on the right. We arrive at Lake Fischboedle,^{the first} reward of the day.

(3) We leave the lake via the path on the right, heading towards Schiessrothried Lake, still following the red rectangle, crossing a rather inconspicuous path and continuing on our upward trajectory. We arrive at the Schiessrothried Lake dam.

(4) We follow it along its entire length. At the end of the dyke, we cross a path and take the^second right, slightly uphill, still marked with a red rectangle. After a few steps, we take the path on the left, marked with a red rectangle, towards the Schiessroth farmhouse inn, which we reach.

(5) We stay on the same path, heading north-east, without turning right or left, and take the time to locate the blue triangle trail that enters the gently sloping pasture. We pass by the Gaschney with its chalets and car parks.

(6) After the lodge and its large terrace, we do not take the path towards Schaefferthal but descend the path and join a track that we take to the left. The track is wide, stony and downhill. We reach a sharp right-hand bend.

(7) We descend through the forest to join another path. We turn left, pass a small clearing and immediately arrive at the edge of the forest with an information board, signposted Frankenthal, marked with a blue rectangle.

(8) We take the path downhill to the right and arrive at Frankenthal, a magnificent glacial cirque surrounded by granite rocks and numerous couloirs.

(9) After the small farmhouse inn, we turn left towards the Col du Falimont.

(10) We take a look at the bog and the rocks overlooking it and tackle the most beautiful climb in the Vosges. We arrive at the Col de Falimont.

(11) We head south, skirting the summit of Hohneck on the right towards Kastelberg and Col du Wormspel, marked in red-white-red. The circular route via the summit is obviously feasible. We reach Col du Wormspel.

(12) We keep heading south, skirting Kastelberg on the left on the snowfield trail. If you look closely, you can often see chamois in this area. We reach the trail coming from Spitzkoepfe, another climbing spot in the massif.

(13) We turn right onto the Sentier des Névés trail until we reach a spring.

(14) We continue along this balcony trail, marked with yellow crosses. We reach a bend where we can see the farmhouse inn and the car park.

(15) We stay high up on a circular loop to the right and arrive at a wide path.

(16) We cross it and continue along the path marked with a green rectangle. We pass to the left of the Firstmiss farmhouse and inn, then, after the Rainkopfe Refuge, we come to the Col du Rainkopf crossroads near the Route des Crêtes.

(17) Here, we take the Blue Rectangle marked trail, which is a variant of the GR®5. We now stay on the ridge line, passing each of the successive peaks, Rainkopf, Rothenbachkopf, and Batteriekopf, to reach the Col du Herrenberg.

(18) We begin our descent to Mittlach. To do this, we turn left at a 90° angle onto the red rectangle trail, which is the GR®5. We cross a number of trails and, above all, forestry roads. We take care to stay on the same path and follow the red rectangle markings until we reach Mittlach, Valneige car park (S/E).

Stopping at various farm inns allows you to refuel and find shelter if necessary. This route requires a certain level of fitness as the elevation gain is significant and the distance is quite long.
Note that from (16) it is possible to reach Mittlach via Lake Altenweiher; other descents are possible from Rainkopf and then between Rothenbachkopf and Batteriekopf.
It is essential to set off early in the morning so as not to be caught out by nightfall. For our part, we often spend the night at Valneige so that we can set off by 8 a.m. at the latest, and on our return we enjoy a well-deserved beer there.

The Fischboedle and Schiessrothried lakes. The Wormsa glacial valley. The Frankenthal. Some of the highest peaks in the Vosges. A challenging hike, no doubt, but an exhilarating one.