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Auberge du Ried car park on the Petit Ballon road, after the intersection of the roads from Luttenbach and Wasserbourg.
(S/E) From the back of the car park on the left, facing the Auberge du Ried, take the path marked with a red disc for about 100 metres until you reach a Y-junction.
(1) Leave this red disc path on the left, which will be the return route, and take the wide path on the right (mountain bike sign, then small sign pointing towards Christlesgut/Stemlisberg). Continue slightly downhill. At a bend, ignore the path on the left towards Laymersberg and take the path on the right, descending towards Christlesgut/Stemlisberg. You will come to a Blue Disc marked path descending from the left.
(2) Turn right onto this blue disc path. After a short stony descent, at two buildings, turn left, ignoring a path coming from the right. Continue downhill and you will come to an intersection with a tarmac road.
(3) Turn left and head towards the Christlesgut farmhouse inn on a path marked with a yellow cross, towards Christlesgut/Lameysberg. Pass on the left side of the Christlesgut farmhouse inn, continue ignoring a path coming from the right and arrive at an intersection with a paved road at a place called Braeschenberg. Turn left/right to find the forest path marked with a yellow cross, heading towards Lameysberg/Sondernach. Arrive at the former Lameysberg farmhouse inn.
(4) Guided by the yellow cross, pass to the left of the farm. Go through a gate, ignore the path on the left climbing up into the pasture and continue straight ahead. On the climb, leave a new path climbing up into the pasture on your left and, immediately after, you will come to a junction. Take the path on the left, marked with a yellow cross, climbing towards Groth/Rothenbrunnen, leaving the two paths on the right. Enjoy the view of the peaks (Schnepfenried, Kastelberg, Hohneck) and the Metzeral valley. At a group of birch trees, ignore the wide path turning left and continue on the path marked with a yellow cross. You will come to a path marked with a red triangle descending to the left of Steinberg.
(5) Leave this path and, a few metres further on, the path on the right marked with a red triangle, to continue straight ahead on the path marked with a yellow cross. After about 250 metres, the yellow cross markings are replaced by blue diamond markings and signs for Rothenbrunnen/Petit Ballon. Continue until you come to a path on the right, marked with a blue diamond, leading down to Brobachrucken/Metzeral.
(6) Leave this path and continue until you reach the Ferme Auberge du Rothenbrunnen, still following the blue diamond. At the bottom of the Ferme Auberge, leave the path opposite, towards the AN/Petit Ballon refuge, and take the path on the left, marked with a red horse, towards Col du Petit Ballon. After a short climb and a magnificent view of the Crêtes, you will arrive at Col du Petit Ballon.
(7) Cross the road and, at the bench, take the path on the right, marked with a yellow ring and signposted Tour du Petit Ballon, Strohberg/Buchwald. Continue slightly uphill to the Amis de la Nature refuge in Guebwiller.
(8) With your back to the refuge, head uphill opposite, onto the yellow rectangle trail (GR®532), towards Boenlesgrab, leaving Bockwasen and the blue diamond trail leading to the summit of Petit Ballon on your right. Cross a pasture and a small wooded area before coming out onto the stubble fields. Continue towards Boenlesgrab and, before entering a forest, you will come to an intersection with the Blue Triangle trail.
(9) Follow the signs for Schellimatt/Boenlesgrab Youth Hostel and ignore the Blue Triangle trail towards Linthal. Continue along the Yellow Rectangle trail towards AJ Dynamo. Pass to the left of a blockhouse at a place called Schellimatt.
(10) Leave the Yellow Rectangle trail and take the Red Diamond trail, which climbs uphill to the Strohberg farmhouse inn. Enjoy the view over the Alsace plain and the Black Forest before arriving at Strohberg. At the Strohberg farmhouse inn, leave the path descending towards Boenlesgrab on your right and continue to the end of the car park. On your right, next to an electrical transformer, you will find a path marked with a red disc signposting Buchwald.
(11) Take this path and, after about 200 metres, you will come across a red-marked path. Continue downhill, following the red disc signs towards Buchwald. Pass the remains of a German cable car dating from 1915. Pass the Buchwald farmhouse inn and continue until you reach the road leading to the Col du Petit Ballon.
(12) Leave the Herzog trail (yellow triangle) on your right. Pass an electrical transformer and find a downhill trail (red disc) running alongside the road. On the left at the foot of the Col du Petit Ballon is the Kahlenwasen farmhouse inn. 100 m further down, cross the road carefully and take the red disc trail opposite. Join a wide carriageway and turn right, following the red disc signs for about 100 m towards Ried/Munster.
(13) Don't miss it. Take the path downhill on the left (red disc) and leave the carriageway. After a small bridge, continue on the right, guided by the red disc, towards Ried/Munster, and return to the crossroads of the circular, then the car park of the Auberge du Ried (S/E).
Visorando member
Difficult 
Easy 
Association / Club / Walk leader
