The best MTB trails around Aspach-Michelbach

Hagendorn Spring The Hagendorn spring near Burnhaupt-le-Bas is a very old and particularly abundant spring. Its name has been documented as a field name since 1412. The name “Hagendorn” probably refers to a place overgrown with hawthorn. The place name Burnhaupt is also likely connected to the old word for “spring” or “well”. The spring gained particular significance for the history of the village during the First World War. After the front stabilized in Upper Alsace, the German-French front ran approximately along the line Cernay – Pont d’Aspach – Ammerzwiller. East of and in the vicinity of this front line, German troops erected numerous concrete shelters, observation posts, and artillery positions. German fortifications were also built at the Hagendorn spring. Traces of the fortification from that time can still be seen there today, including concrete components. The spring was thus part of a larger military positional system that the German troops used during trench warfare. Numerous other shelters and observation posts from this period can be discovered along the current Sentier des Bunkers. The spring itself was re-cased or redesigned in 1931. The current structure partially conceals the remains of the wartime fortification preserved underneath. Thus, the Hagendorn spring connects two very different aspects of the village's history: centuries-old water supply and the military landscape of the First World War. Today, the spring is Station 18 of the Sentier des Bunkers, an approximately nine-kilometer-long historical circular trail through the former front landscape of Burnhaupt-le-Bas. https://burnhaupt-le-bas.fr/sentier-des-bunkers/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Charging possibility for e-bikes, although the place was closed, the farmer let me charge. (Thank you very much)

the Michelbach lake is a place where you can stop for a picnic during hikes or bike rides

The chapel was built in 1930 on the site of a former wayside cross. It is dedicated to Saint Morand, a Cluny monk who became an apostle of the Sundgau region (11th century), patron saint of the parish of Steinbach and the village's winegrowers. It is also commonly known as Lohkapala.

In his Stations of the Cross meditation—written on Good Friday 2025 in the Roman Colosseum—Pope Francis, who died a few days later (Easter Monday), invited us to let ourselves be contemplated by the crucified love of Jesus: "Our darkness seeks the light. (...) Now [the crowd] encounters the spectacle of a love never before seen, a beauty that moves them to change their minds. To those who see you die, Lord, you give the opportunity to beat their breasts and repent, to strike their hearts so that their hardness may break. Jesus, grant us, who often still observe you from afar, that we may always remember you in our lives, so that even death, when you come one day, may find us alive." (Pope Francis)

Even in pre-Christian times, it was customary in various cultures to ask pagan deities for assistance before a battle, as well as to thank them for (presumed) divine assistance after a victory. In a modified form, this cult also appears in medieval Christianity, where military successes were attributed not only to the soldiers' fighting skills or the strategy of their leaders, but also to thank the Mother of God for the heavenly assistance—which had previously been requested.

here people watch birds

A must-see place in the truest sense of the word, a whole page of French history lies before your eyes and reminds everyone that those who fought and died here did so for all of us...