From Oderteich to Oderhaus—From a Historic Dam to the Oder Valley

​Today, we’ll hike from Oderteich into the deeply carved lower Oder Valley to the Oderhaus. The National Park Administration has its branch office here. Before that, we’ll make a detour to the cozy Rinderstall restaurant. For the return trip, we can either hike back the same way or take the 820 bus to St. Andreasberg. We’ll get off at the Schützenhaus and then take the 820 bus toward Braunlage via Sonnenberg. Get off at the Oderbrück, Oderteich stop. The ride takes about half an hour. 

> From the parking lot at Oderteich 1, we walk a short distance along the road. When we reach Oderteich, we turn right onto Rehberger Grabenweg. Immediately after that, we descend to the left via a few beautiful steps to the Striegelauslauf. This is where the Rehberger Graben begins, through which the water from Oderteich flows to St. Andreasberg. Today, the water powers turbines in seven small hydroelectric plants that generate electricity. The oak pipes that converge here are constantly submerged and thus have a long service life. Although miners took precautions long ago

so that the pipes could be replaced, the pipes laid in 1715 are still in use today. So we walk past the large spillway and climb back up on the other side. Then we turn right onto the gravel path. At the next fork, we keep to the right again, then hike steadily along this path for nearly an hour and a half along the Oder into the Oder Valley. Shortly after the second crossing of the Oder, a trail sign finally directs us sharply to the left toward Rindertall 2. Here we take a leisurely break before tackling the final stretch of the trail. We cross the Oder once more and walk past the wildlife observation station 3. Twenty minutes later, we arrive at the Oderhaus 4.