Wilderness Trail

The Wilderness Trail uses a wildcat as an official symbol. The trail is marked in both directions, however most people hike it from south to north.

The trail starts in Höfen at the tourist office. The start is easily reachable by bus from Monschau. The first few kilometers of the trail are stunning with beautiful small and unpaved trails running through the woods and next to creeks. This first section runs along with the GR56. After these two trails split up, the Wilderness Trail will lead further to Finkenauel, where the trail will run past a small picturesque chapel in the woods, before starting the heaviest ascent of the first stage. After the ascent, the trail descends quickly back to the valley and passes an amazing view of the Rürsee before ending the stage in Einruhr.

After leaving Einruhr, the trail runs along the shores of the Rürsee for more than 10 kilometers. Once leaving the shores, you begin the long ascent to Vogelsang, an old Nazi training camp on top of a hill. Even though the Wilderness Trail will only pass Vogelsang, this peculiar site is definitely worth a visit. There’s no entry fee and one can freely roam around. There’s also a tourist office, a museum and a brasserie. After taking in all the historic sights of Vogelsang, the trail continues down through the forests and back up to Morsbach, before descending all the way to Gemünd. For the most part, the second stage runs along with the Eifelsteig.

The third stage starts off with a climb from Gemünd to Wolfsgarten, a small and charming village. The trail continues through forests and makes a stop at Abtei Mariawald. There’s a small shop located next to the Abbey where they sell books, souvenirs, local products, and, of course, their homemade beer, Nemus Mariae. There’s also a restaurant where one can enjoy a warm meal. After leaving the abbey, the trail takes you along the cemetery and through even more forests. In the last few kilometers, you will see the castle of Heimbach (Burg Hengebach) through the trees.

The last and shortest stage of the 4-day route takes you from Heimbach. You’ll hike over meadows, hills, and wide landscapes, through more woods to eventually end at the tourist office of Zerkall. Here one can buy a drink or a souvenir to look back on the adventure. Afterward, there’s the train station of Zerkall close by to head back home.

The region Eifel in Germany has a rather moderate climate. Therefore, the Wilderness Trail can be walked year-round but due to its sometimes steep climbs, it is preferred to hike when there is no snow or slippery trails during the winter months (around December until February/March).

Even though the Wilderness Trail is considered a beginner’s trail, some sections on every stage are quite steep and require a certain beginner’s level of fitness. Do plan your stages to your own experience, it is perfectly possible to plan a rest day in the middle of your trail since there’s plenty to do in the national park.

There isn’t always good cell phone reception on the trail, especially in the first stage there aren’t many opportunities to use the mobile network. Keep that in mind when hiking the trail.

The trail is perfectly marked in both directions and it is difficult to miss one. Therefore it is easy to hike it purely on waymarkings, but a GPX file is nice to take with you just to make sure you have a backup when needed. There is a guidebook in German with more information about the region.