Katzensteig Waldbrunn – Odenwald und Neckartal

My tour from 2 years ago as a video (the route is still up to date)😊: https://youtu.be/QuRZww5zaAc About the route: The first 2/3 are decent to good, the last third is unfortunately a bit long, especially when it starts to rain like today 🌧️ Overall, I like the route because there is a lot to see: a castle ruin, an old ski jump, summit happiness on the highest mountain in the Odenwald, beautiful views and beautiful scenery 🥰😊

The Katzensteig has been on my to-do list for a long time. I've hiked parts of it many times, but not all the way from Eberbach to Neckargerach. Today was the day. Started in Eberbach, it first went up to the ruins of the Eberburg, further past Waldkatzenbach to Katzenbuckelsee and then up to the tower. The prospect is improbable again and again. How beautiful is the Odenwald. But no wonder that the area around the Katzenbuckel is called Winterhauch was actually very fresh 🥶 Then on the Katzenpfad to Hosenlbrunn and on to Oberhöllgrund, here I had to take a detour, the actual path consisted only of mud and giant craters from the vehicles of the forest workers and since I didn't feel like slipping in the mud and landing on the seat of my pants, that's it a "little" detour Arriving at the bottom of the mill, we went up through the Höllgrund to Mülben. It's wonderful to walk, always along the Höllbach.

Today it went high! 😄 After my Neckarsteig adventure last year, I really wanted to come back to conquer the Katzenbuckel. 💪🏻 I couldn't imagine a better tour guide for this than dear @Ursula ! 🥾🪨🏃🏻‍♀️🏃🏼‍♀️🌳☀️ And so today we had a wonderfully entertaining tour on the "Katzensteig". The Katzensteig, which begins in Eberbach am Neckar, leads over a steep climb to the ruins of Eberbach. We continued on beautiful forest paths, the plateau to Waldkatzenbach. The "Villa Katzenbuckel" is certainly worth a stop - unfortunately it wasn't open when we came by. (A number of shorter tours around the Katzenbuckel are also signposted from here.) There is a geological educational trail ("path of the crystals") on which, among other things, the history of its formation is explained. From the former quarry at Katzenbuckelsee, the path then leads up to the summit and ends at the lookout tower. At 626 meters, the Katzenbuckel is the highest point in the Odenwald. The fantastic all-round view from the 20 meter high observation tower over the entire Odenwald was totally special and inspired us, despite the not entirely clear view. After that we continued to walk very comfortably in the forest down to the Höllbachtal. Then back up to the plateau and through the forest to the forest lake above Neckargerach. It is worth taking a break there. Our conclusion: A demanding, varied & well signposted tour on mostly pleasant forest paths! 🤩 The Katzensteig is a special experience & it is worth going on a discovery tour there!