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35-651: Torfhaus – Brocken The Goethe Way is one of the most frequented hiking trails in the Harz National Park. Around 200,000 people walk along this path every year to the highest mountain in the Harz, the Brocken. It follows the route probably taken by Goethe in climbing from Torfhaus to the Brocken on 10 December 1777. Goethe's exact route is however not known today. Up early to Torfhause in deep snow. Quarter past ten decamped; from there up

70-621: A temple , the path seen as a procession route , the stone terraces as a religious theatre and the ruins of the small circular building were referred to as the Hexenaltar ("witch's altar"). From 1999 to 2000 further archaeological investigations on the Wurmberg were carried out under the leadership of Michael Geschwinde and Martin Oppermann. The results of this research largely showed the claims to be wildly exaggerated. The square formation proved to be

105-595: A few hundred metres north and east of the summit. During the Cold War there was a listening post on the summit plateau. In 1972 the US Secret Services built an 81-metre-high (266 ft) tower, the North Tower on the Wurmberg to monitor and record signals information. This station was demolished on 22 August 1994 and the debris removed. ( see also: listening post on the neighbouring Stöberhai ). Since 1963/65

140-576: A few hundred metres the Goethe Way reaches the Belvedere Castle , which is also often used as an entry point for Goethe Way walks. In Buchfart the Goethe Way crosses a wooden through-truss bridge ( Holzkastenbrücke ) and runs past limestone rocks in which artificial caves were once hollowed out as a refuge. The Luisa Tower ( Luisenturm ) near Großkochberg offers a fine view of the Weimar Land just before

175-455: A height of about 90 metres above the iron ore mining district on the eastern flank of the mountain and leads to the edge of the summit plateau in a terraced area with edging of similarly unhewn stones. Colloquially this flight of steps is known as the "Heath Staircase" ( Heidentreppe ), although in earlier times the name "Witch's Staircase" ( Hexentreppe ) had been common. In 1856 Heinrich Pröhle reported in his Harz Legends that, continuing in

210-596: A length of about five kilometres and a height difference of 400 metres. There are several ski jumps on the Wurmberg. See: Wurmberg ski jumps At the summit restaurant, the Wurmberg Baude is checkpoint no. 156 in the Harzer Wandernadel hiking network. During the summer months the Ski lift is used to transport downhill mountainbikes up the mountain for use on the three downhill mountain bike courses scattered through

245-477: A straight line from the steps, there was a stone path on the plateau leading to a round pile of stones. When he collected his tales of the Upper Harz in 1851 from the inhabitants of Braunlage, they reported that a pagan temple had stood on the site. Between 1949 and 1956 Walter Nowothnig (1907–1971) carried out several archaeological digs on the Wurmberg. Pröhle's collection of legends reinforced his suspicion that

280-564: Is a popular meeting point for motorcyclists . In winter, Torfhaus has various cross country skiing routes as well as hiking trails. There is also a toboggan run with a lift and a ski slope with a drag lift . The Goethe Way runs along the Torfhausmoor (a raised bog ). It is accessible on a board walk installed by the national park and enables as good view of the Brocken . Wurmberg (Harz) At 971 m above  sea level (NN)

315-542: Is about 660 m above NN . Until October 2006, the Wurmberg lay within the Upper Harz Nature Reserve ( Naturschutzgebiet Oberharz ). Since then only two areas totalling 183 hectares in area on the west and southwest slopes have been designated as the Wurmberg Nature Reserve . On the southern flank of the Wurmberg there are two striking tors or Wurmbergklippen , which are one of

350-513: The Harz Witches' Trail , and mountain biking trails run through Torfhaus. Racing and touring cyclists generally prefer to cycle to Torfhaus via the Landstraße 504 from Altenau , which is also called the "Steep Face" ( Steile Wand ); The Bundesstraße  4 , with its heavy motor traffic, is only used for round trips as an unavoidable route section. The cafe Brockenblick ("Brocken view")

385-469: The Hexentreppe , an English button from the period around 1800 was found, which finally proved the staircase to be another work by Daubert. Even the large rampart is probably an enclosure laid out by the same forester. In the round Hexenaltar the foundations of the old 1850 trig post were found. Only the age of the stone terraces could not be clarified beyond doubt. Geschwinde's team felt it probable that it

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420-681: The Quitschenberg mountain - and the crags of Luisenklippen before reaching the Kaiser Way ( Kaiserweg ). After a few hundred metres where it shares the path with the latter route, the Goethe Way branches off to the east. Following a northeastern curve over the Quitschenberg it circles the Brockenfeld Moor, the source of the rivers Abbe and Cold Bode . Shortly after the Eckersprung it crosses

455-650: The Upper Harz . The river Radau rises east of Torfhaus on the Torfhaus Moor (also called Radauborn Moor ). Torfhaus lies at the heart of the Harz National Park and has inter alia a national park visitor centre, opened in 2009, as well as a youth hostel run by the German Youth Hostel Association . Numerous hiking trails , such as the Goethe Way , that runs to the Brocken , and is part of

490-637: The Wurmberg is the second highest mountain in the Harz and the highest in Lower Saxony ( Germany ). The Wurmberg lies north of Braunlage , in the district of Goslar , and west of Schierke . Its summit is located due south of the Brocken and roughly 400 m ( as the crow flies ) south of the state border with Saxony-Anhalt . The two mountains are separated by the valley of the Kalte Bode , which in this area

525-457: The 13th century in the documents and commodity schedules of the County of Regenstein-Blankenburg in connexion with the mining of iron ore . In the 19th century the mountain was still being called Wormsberg or Wormberg , but a convincing derivation of the name has yet to be found. Around 1850 the first trig post was erected on the summit of the Wurmberg to assist in surveying the Harz mountains. It

560-581: The Brocken. Snow one ell deep, but reached top quarter past one. Wonderful, bright moment, the whole world in clouds and mist and up above all was bright. What is man that you are mindful of him. Back again around four. At the foresters' hostel in Torfhause. Starting from Torfhaus, the Goethe Way runs along the Abbegraben stream past the Great Torfhaus Moor ( Großer Torfhausmoor ) heading southeast, to below

595-472: The Wurmberg and 100 m from the middle station of the Wurmberg lift is the Rodelhaus . This used to be a simple farm building before the opening of the toboggan run ( Rodelbahn ) at the beginning of 1908. It is still open as a restaurant today and is a popular destination for visitors to Braunlage. The 1,500-metre-long (4,900 ft) toboggan run begins immediately next to the Rodelhaus and runs down into

630-545: The Wurmberg gondola lift has run from Braunlage up the mountain. The construction of this lift was carried out in two sections; in 1997 the lift was then completely renovated. In a container on the summit is one of the 25 monitoring sites in the Lower Saxony air quality monitoring network ( de:Lufthygienisches Überwachungssystem Niedersachsen ). Since September 2007 a 70 cm amateur radio relay station has also been located on Lower Saxony highest mountain. The relay has

665-603: The border into Saxony-Anhalt . At the depot station the Goethe Way meets the Brocken Railway . Until the closure of the former border region by East Germany in 1961, the Goethe Way next ran on a straight line to the northeast over the Königsberg , past the Hirschhornklippen crags, and up to the summit of the Brocken. Today, the path runs along the "New Goethe Way" ( Neuer Goetheweg ) opened in 1991 running in an arc along

700-412: The callsign DB0WUR and transmits on 438.550 MHz. This enables large parts of Lower Saxony, Thuringia , Hesse and Saxony-Anhalt to be reached. The peak of the Wurmberg is covered with a variety of odd stone structures that, for a long time, were interpreted as the remnants of an ancient, pre-Christian place of worship , several millennia old. A long, straight staircase of unhewn stone begins at

735-421: The end of the walk. Torfhaus Torfhaus is a village in the borough of the mining town of Altenau in the Harz mountains of Germany and lies at a height of about 800 m above  sea level (NN) . It is the highest settlement in Lower Saxony . This small settlement consists mainly of restaurants, youth hostels, ski huts and large car parks. A resort area with hotel and cabins

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770-410: The foundation of a stone hut built between 1820 and 1840, which master forester Daubert had built. The ruins of this hut and the stone cairn mentioned by Pröhle, were used in 1890 for building the above-mentioned trigonometric tower. The circular site first appeared during the construction of this tower as an abutment for the diagonal posts that supported the tower on all sides. And on one of the stones of

805-609: The human traces of activity in the Upper Harz in the Early Modern Era . The stone quarry on the Wurmberg was established by Herrmann Bachstein as part of the construction of the South Harz Railway around 1899. From 1 September 1899 (until 1958) there was the goods station of Wurmberg at the foot of the mountain on the Brocken path. Rough and dressed stone of Wurmberg granite was loaded onto trains here. From 1925 there

840-451: The many Harzklippen : On the topmost summit level of the crag there is a triangular offering cup ( Opferschale or Zwergenmolle ). Many legends, mostly about the "Wild Hunter" ( Wilden Jäger ) surround this artificially chiselled out rectangular hollow. The Wild Hunter usually epitomises the god Wodin (or Thor ) in Germanic mythology . The named Wormberch had already surfaced by

875-403: The mountain, and the superstition of Braunlage townsfolk appears to have assumed there were pagan rites behind them. From these tales the legend of the pagan temple emerged after a few decades. Although the notion that there was once a prehistoric religious site on the mountain can be excluded with certainty, in 2003 the Wurmberg plateau was declared an archaeological conservation area on account of

910-526: The railway line up to the Brocken Road. Here, it crosses the natural tree line and reaches the Brocken plateau shortly after crossing the road. From July 2008 to October 2009 the New Goethe Way, parts of which had previously formed a board walk, was upgraded into a three-metre-wide (9.8 ft) path. This measure which was discussed is detail beforehand allows the path to be cleared of snow by machines as

945-472: The rumour of these steps being laid by a man called Daubert, a horseman-forester who had lived in Braunlage around 1825, was no longer tenable. Nowothnig's excavations, rediscovered the stone path and also uncovered, at the end of the path, a circular rampart of roughly 10 m diameter which surrounded the ruins of a square stone building. Moreover, south of the path, the foundation of a small circular building

980-572: The valley ending at the Verlobungswiese meadow near the valley station of the Wurmberg cable car. There are six downhill ski runs on the Wurmberg with a total length of 12 kilometres. In addition to the Wurmberg Gondola Lift there are three drag lifts , which together have a capacity of 1,700 passengers per hour. The runs are graded from easy to difficult. The longest run is the Sögding with

1015-461: Was a ballast works at the goods station known as the Knacker . The Wurmberg loading station was initially linked to the lower bed of the quarry higher up the mountain by means of an inclined railway. Stone was transported down this in hoppers attached by a cable. The embankment on which the tracks of this incline were laid is still clearly visible today along its entire length. Later an aerial cableway

1050-418: Was already possible on the other section of the Goethe Way. This makes the ascent safe even in winter. The Goethe Way is part of the Harz Witches' Trail . Weimar –Saalborn–Hochdorf bei Weimar–Neckeroda– Großkochberg The Thuringian Goethe Way begins in the centre of Weimar, and runs past Blankenhain as a light footpath to Großkochberg. The route is marked with a white G on a green background. After only

1085-554: Was built in 2012/2013. The B 4 federal road, which is a major traffic route, runs from Brunswick to the north via Torfhaus to Braunlage and on into the South and East Harz. Today Torfhaus is a popular start point for walks along the Goethe Way to the Brocken, but also to the historic Dreieckiger Pfahl boundary stone and on over the mountains of the Wurmberg or Achtermannshöhe to Braunlage. Torfhaus lies about 7 km east of Altenau and roughly 9 km south of Bad Harzburg in

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1120-412: Was built on this embankment. The foundations for its pylons may still be seen in the woods today. In the 1970s the stone quarry was closed. The high stone wall in the lower part of the quarry (now a bird reserve) is still visible. The upper quarry was filled in with spoil that resulted from the construction of the Braunlage ring road (1st construction section). About halfway up the southern slope of

1155-414: Was found. In 2006, another, larger rampart was found on the western edge of the summit plateau. Nowothnig found no clues as to the age of the site, which is why it was referred to henceforth as a prehistoric site of worship of unknown period . Unscientific speculation quickly claimed that the stone structures were a Celtic place of worship. The square building inside the rampart was quickly made out to be

1190-453: Was originally a severely eroded, natural, geological formation that had later been artificially reworked. Nowothnig appears to have been so blinded by his 'legendary' discovery that he did not include in his investigations either the survey tower, that had been demolished twenty years before his excavations, or the trig post, that would have been known to him from Pröhle's report. Forester Daubert and his daughter were known for their 'feasts' on

1225-513: Was replaced in 1890 by a wooden tower, also used for trigonometric measurements, that stood until 1930. In 1922 the wooden ski jump was built with its 28-metre-high (92 ft) starting tower, which also acted as an observation tower (see below). Since the 1950s there has been a restaurant next to this tower. The Inner German Border that separated the West and East Germany during the Cold War , ran only

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