Goetheweg im Harz

The Goethe Trail is one of the most popular hikes in the Harz Mountains and, named after the famous poet and thinker Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, leads from Torfhaus up to the Brocken. The route is considered a hike of medium difficulty and leads over a total distance of 16.3 kilometres to the 1,142 m high summit. The first stage from Altenau to Torfhaus is 8.7 kilometres and the second stage from Torfhaus to the Brocken is another 7.6 kilometres. A good level of fitness and stamina are therefore required for the hiking trail, which is part of the Harzer Hexenstieg. As one of the most popular hiking trails in the region, more than 200,000 people use it every year on their way up to the highest mountain in the low mountain range.

History and origins of the Goethe Trail

Although Goethe's exact route is not entirely known, he is said to have hiked this very trail from Altenau via Torfhaus up to the Brocken summit on 10 December 1777 under the guidance of Torfhaus forester Johann Christoph Degen. According to Goethe, they set off together at 10.15 a.m. and trudged through the ice-deep snow for around three hours. Goethe himself wrote about this:

"Early to the peat house in deep snow. Set off at a quarter past 10, from there to the Brocken. Snow a cubit deep, but it carried. 1 quarter past one up there. Bright marvellous moment, the whole world in clouds and fog and everything above cheerful. What is man that you remember him. Back again at four. At the forester's inn at the peat house."

From Altenau via Torfhaus

The Goethe Trail was extended to include this section from Altenau via Torfhaus in 2021, so that hikers can now also discover the new Goethe bench or the bookcase at the water lily pond.

The section initially starts in Altenau's market garden and then runs parallel to the country road as far as the herb park in Altenau. After a short time, you will finally reach the water lily pond, where the aforementioned Goethe bench and bookcase await visitors. Here you can take a break or two to read a book on the Goethe bench with a view of the pond. Hikers on the hunt for the next Harzer Wandernadel stamp will find what they are looking for here - there is a special permanent stamping station at the pond.

The trail continues up to the Dammgraben, part of the historic Upper Harz Water Management System, which has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2010 and can be reached via the Tischlertal valley. The hiking trail then continues in the same direction as the country road along a forest path to the Hedwigsblick viewpoint. On the other side of the Torfhaus road, the trail continues along a path with small rocks and roots past the ski lift, the car park and the youth hostel to the centre of Torfhaus.

From Torfhaus to the Brocken

The rest of the section from Torfhaus to the Brocken summit begins at the Torfhaus National Park Visitor Centre and continues parallel to the B4 towards Braunlage. Hikers will soon reach the Torfhausmoor (also known as Radauer Born), which is one of the oldest moors in the Harz Mountains and can be crossed via a boardwalk. Continuing through the moorland, the Abbegraben, an artificial ditch excavated over a length of 1540 metres in 1827, runs to the right of the Goetheweg. In Goethe's time, this ditch had not yet existed for a long time.

After a fork to the right, you finally reach the Kaiserweg, which lies beneath the Luisenberg and Quitscheberg hills and which the Goetheweg crosses for a few hundred metres before continuing eastwards. Through a densely overgrown spruce forest, you finally reach the Brockenfeldmoor, after which you reach the Eckersprung in the green belt of the Harz Mountains a short time later. The source of the Ecker rises here at Eckersprung, as do many other rivers and streams in the moors of the High Harz.

After the Eckersprung, the route crosses the border to the federal state of Saxony-Anhalt and reaches Goetheweg station, a stop on the Brocken railway line. Along the railway line, it gradually becomes clear that the tree line has been reached as the landscape becomes less and less tree-covered. At this altitude, the spruce trees find it increasingly difficult to withstand the weather conditions, which is why many of the trees have died. Once you reach the Brockenstraße, you finally reach the Brocken plateau.

Extension and redesign of the Goethe Trail

Until 1961, the Goethe Trail ran in a north-easterly direction past the Hirschhorn cliffs over the Königsberg to the summit. Due to the border closure by the GDR, however, the path was closed at the time, whereupon the New Goethe Trail was extended between summer 2008 and autumn 2009. This was now partially developed as a boardwalk into a comfortable hiking trail with a width of around 3 metres. As a result, the Goethe Trail is now also easy to walk on in winter, as the route can now be cleared of snow by machine.