After coming back from a still warm Portugal, Germany welcomed us already in full autumn. With night temperatures around 3 degrees and day temperatures around 9 degrees, summer is officially over. With the falling temperatures also the colors of the leaves are changing from green to yellow, orange and red. The play of the color can be mostly enjoyed in the woods and this is where we headed once more.
Today’s tour lead us to the small town of Geroldsau, near Baden-Baden. As Baden-Baden city already became one of the Corona Risk Zone (Red) in Germany, we were not sure what so expect. As we started this tour early we were the first car at the Geroldsau Waterfall parking lot. So far so good. We started our hike towards the Geroldsau Waterfall, following the trail near the river stream. The waterfall itself is small and unspectacular, but the surrounding area is beautiful. Full colors of autumn can be seen in the densely wooded area.
After leaving the waterfall behind we were following the signs in the direction of the Badener Höhe. The Badener Höhe is a mountain and the highest point in the Baden-Baden area. On top the Friedrichsturm can be found, which can also be climbed. Usually the tower gives a great overview over the surrounding area. In our case it was mainly foggy and there wasn’t really any view. Here we saw the first people at the hike. The place was crowded, all 4 picnic tables been taken by hikers with smaller and bigger backpacks. With that we left the place quickly, also because there have been only 4 degrees at 1000 meter above sea level.
Overall the hike was 21 kilometers long and included 800 meters up and down. The hike itself was not technical challenging, I would say medium. It leads 60 % over small paths and 40 % over forest roads. As the forest roads are not really wide, even that part was enjoyable and felt more like a hiking path. The hike itself crosses several pasture meadows with highland cows. We were even lucky to see three smalls once, which been really adorable. These are the moments we only been able to see in nature. We just have to take the effort and go out there and enjoy it for ourself.
As it is hard to predict what will come next in the Covid-19 crisis, we need to enjoy every moment we got. Right now the Corona numbers are rising dramatically all over Europe and more and more regulations are coming back again. Hopefully we will not have another lockdown ahead of us, and we do not need to repeat April. Otherwise, it will be a long, dark winter. But until then, let’s enjoy the color of autumn, the fresh air, the rain and just the change of the season.
