Altschloß-Pfad

The tour starts at the new forest parking lot of the hotel-restaurant Kupper. Follow the woodland path „stream without frontiers” heading west for about 600 metres.  Then turn left into the peaceful valley of Martelbachtal which is surrounded by mature mixed forest - our main species of oak, beech, spruce, douglas fir and pine. The small brook Martelbächlein accompanies you for about 350 metres on the left hand-side before you cross it and continue to follow the small brook upstream for about another 2 kilometres. After about 3 kilometres you will reach the “Helmut-Kohl hiking trail” which you continue to follow for about 100 metres to the right - now you are at the Franco-German border. If you now leave the old castle path on the right hand-side you can walk for about 10 minutes on the French side until you get to marvel at „Diana goddess of the hunt“ from Roman times - carved into the rock. Unfortunately the picture has been exposed to the elements and is a bit worn out today but the village of Roppeviller is about to restore it. Please return to the old castle path. After a small ascent you will reach the old castle rocks after about 1 kilometre. Don’t forget to briefly leave the path on the left hand-side to get to the top of the rocky massif. You will only need about 3 minutes to get to the marvelous lookout with four resting benches and two tables. Weather permitting, you will have a beautiful view over the nature park of the Palatinate Forest and northern Vosges. Then you return to the old castle path and follow the 1.5 kilometres long rocky massif named “old castle rocks” which is the longest bunter sandstone formation in Rhineland-Palatinate! 

After a small descent you will once more cross the Helmut-Kohl trail (there is another chance to sit down for a while) and after ascending for another 2 kilometres, you will get to the so-called “hollow rocks”. If you look downhill, you will see the former customs houses above the Eppenbrunn pond. When you get to these houses, please turn right in direction of Spiessweiher pond and then again after about 200 metres please turn left to reach the so-called "Sittelpfad" path, which was named after the former forester Sittel who had the path laid out.  If you walk further downhill you will get to the pond path which runs parallel to the Eppenbrunn pond. Continue to follow this path to the left-hand side for about 1 kilometre and you will get to the village of Eppenbrunn in immediate proximity of the Vita Natura clinic. Then first turn right, then left into Weiherstraße and after another 150 metres turn left again to enter the leisure park. Walk along the Eppenbrunn brook and the Himbaumstraße can be accessed via the parking lot of the Waldesruh hotel and restaurant. After about a distance of 10.7 kilometres and a pleasant 3-hours' hike you will finally reach the parking lot of hotel Kupper again. If you want to grab a bite or have a drink you may choose from the beer garden or the Jagdstube (hunter's room) of hotel Kupper (open daily, no day off!). There are three other taverns/restaurants in Eppenbrunn. One is the "Sängerklause" (closed on Mondays), the "Weinbistro Hollerith" (closed on Tuesdays) as well as the hotel-restaurant "Waldesruh" (closed on Tuesdays). Eppenbrunn also has a bakery and a petrol station.