Hasel (Orb)

The Haselbachtal in Bad Orb in the Hessian Spessart is the valley of hazel, a right tributary stream of the Orb.

Geography and Landscape

The Valley of the hazel is a narrow meadow, starts at the source hazel on Bornküppel (390 m); about 4 km gently sloping to the west, bordered by mixed forests, the valley attracts up to the mouth of the creek in the Orb near the station of the spa town. On her last few kilometers upstream of the mouth hazel flows through an urban area.

In the headwaters of the hazel are the Reußbuchen, some centuries old, striking copper beeches.

Since the fields are no longer used commercially, supportive measures have been taken to hold it open for the preservation of its original vegetation and to protect against overgrowth by bracken and woody plants of conservation organizations.

Infrastructure

The headwaters of the hazel to be approached by a narrow asphalt road by car and on trails along the stream reach. At the end of the valley floor is the historic hunting lodge hazel rest in 1907 built by Walther vom Rath, in his capacity as a hunting lessee of the area as a Swedish log cabin; expire after the Second World War, it was prepared in 1964 by the town of Bad Orb and went 1972 over to a private operator, who uses it as a café-restaurant with our own fish pond.

Approx. 1 km below the cabin there is a Kneipp facility ( " Ranger Storck plant" ) with hydrotherapy and Armtauchbecken in hollowed-out tree trunks.

A fishing pond and a former mill (now restaurant ) located in the central valley; three more mills no longer exist.

Of tourist activities in addition to guided hiking and horseback riding and carriage rides are offered.

Above the hazel ground runs parallel to the north side of Winterberg's the Spessart arc - distance footpath, past an abandoned red sandstone quarry with huge rock blocks, then as a scenic route with views of the valley, steep descent through the forest to the fishing pond and the last 1.5 km to the hunting lodge to the creek. In the further course of the trail route will connect to Sölchesweiher and Mernes.

Of the Reußbuchen a perfectly straight path leads upwards to the crossroads.