Eichenbergweg

First, you cross the road to enter the grounds of Thiemsburg.

Medieval refuge castle

From the medieval refuge castle that once stood here, only some foundations remain today. The new guesthouse used to be the forester's house and was used as a excursion restaurant until 1964. On the left side, you see the trunk of the former "dancing lime tree," where for certain celebrations like Pentecost or Ascension Day, a band played on the platform of the sawed-off, about 800-year-old oak (not lime) and people danced. The path continues past the National Park Center and soon the signpost points right. However, it is worth taking a few more meters to look at the Old Oak. Here you see with a trunk circumference of 5.45 m one of the thickest trees in the National Park, the approximately 800-year-old Old Oak. Our hiking route leaves the wide path shortly before and turns right onto the Waagebalkenweg.

Near-natural forest

The characteristics of a near-natural forest are clearly visible, such as trees of different ages, deadwood, and a colorful mixture of native deciduous trees (e.g., hornbeam, oak, service tree). The middle spotted woodpecker particularly feels comfortable in this forest. The path now leads straight northeast and is lined like an avenue by younger beech, ash, and oak trees.

After about 500 m, we leave the Waagebalkenweg to the right. The forest is mixed with conifers, mainly spruces and pines, relics of forestry management of the area. In the young growth, there are hardly any conifers, indicating that these trees are not native to the Hainich and will naturally be displaced by deciduous trees in the future.

Hornbeam and beech

The hornbeam is often counted among the beeches because of its name and similarity to beeches. However, it is a completely different tree species, as hornbeams belong to the birch family. You can best compare these tree species when they stand side by side. This opportunity arises after a sharp left turn. Here you can closely examine the bark pattern and, depending on the season, also fruits or leaves of both species.

Two closely intertwined beeches

Just before reaching a wet hollow, visitors can admire two closely intertwined beeches at the roadside - an example of strange growth forms often found in the near-natural forests of the Hainich. Upon reaching the wet hollow, the hiking path continues with a sharp right turn heading southeast.

Old beech

Soon you pass an old beech. It becomes clear that the bark of older beech specimens is no longer nicely smooth but cracked and raised. If the bark loosens from the trunk, it is an ideal shelter, for example for bats.

Now the path goes along a wet area that clearly differs in its species composition from the surrounding area. In the hollow, you mainly find pedunculate oaks, bog birches, black alders, and greater tussock sedges. The hollow is well filled with water in spring, which is hardly noticeable to visitors in the summer months.

Further along the path, you cross the country road and continue the hike southwards before turning right onto the developed Waagebalkenweg (also Steinbergweg and bicycle path to Bad Langensalza). You repeatedly pass smaller stands of dead spruces.

A detour to the Steingraben

Shortly before the "Thiemsburg" hiking parking lot, a small detour (approx. 30 m) to the Steingraben (on the Steinbergweg) is worthwhile. It is one of the only streams in the National Park that carries water only periodically, after rain or snowmelt. Most of the year it only carries stones (hence the name!). When it does carry water, the Steingraben looks like a mountain stream. The traces of its activity are then visible in fresh bank erosion and deposits of material.

Back on the hiking path, it is only a few meters to the starting point of the hike, the "Thiemsburg" hiking parking lot.