The best traffic-free bike rides around Gernsbach

On November 1, 1945, a Douglas DC-3/C-47A-20-DK of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) (42-93041) crashed into Mount Bernstein (Northern Black Forest) near Gaggenau (Baden-Württemberg). The aircraft was en route from RAF Bovingdon base to Schleißheim airfield. The pilots entered a dense cloud layer during the climb and collided with the mountain. This CFIT (controlled flight into terrain) caused the death of 26 of the 30 occupants, including the four crew members and 22 passengers.

The cozy Grünhütte with a large terrace is accessible on foot or by bike. In winter, it is also possible to get there with cross-country skis. Authentic Swabian dishes are served on site at fair prices. The giant pancakes with blueberries are particularly well-known. In general, the portions are generous and therefore ideal for refueling. The magnificent floral decoration is particularly beautiful in summer. Further information can be found at https://gruenhuette.de/.

Rustic shelter directly on the hiking trail, with some seating available under the veranda and a view of a forest clearing.

The Baumwipfelpfad Schwarzwald is a 1250 m long treetop path on the Sommerberg west of Bad Wildbad in the district of Calw, Baden-Württemberg, at an altitude of about 750 m above sea level. It was built according to plans by the Schönberg architect Josef Stöger. The facility, opened in 2014, offers knowledge about the forest and its wildlife at various information stations, as well as an observation tower. It is operated by the company Erlebnis Akademie AG. The entrance to the path can be reached from the mountain station of the Sommerbergbahn funicular via the Emmaweg or from the public car park via a zigzag path. The treetop path runs for a length of about 636 m and a height above ground between about 4 and 20 m. It follows the terrain with a constant gentle gradient and offers various didactic stations as well as experience stations such as balance beams or wobbly elements. In addition, there are 15 comic panels along the path, which are intended to provide excitement and convey knowledge, especially to children, as part of a treetop path comic rally. The entire path, including the ramp access in the observation tower, is barrier-free and reaches a maximum gradient of 6%. At the end of the path, you reach a 38.5 m high observation tower, which is mainly made of wood and, due to the arrangement of twelve doubly inclined, layer-glued main supports, looks like a large twisted cup. The supports are arranged rotationally symmetrically at the same distance from each other and are inclined both outwards and clockwise. They are connected to each other by steel tubes, cross-braced multiple times, and partly protected against the weather by sheet metal cladding. Access from the path into the tower is at a height of about five meters on the second turn of the 614 m long access ramp, which runs within the support columns, and which, after a total of nine turns, reaches the twelve-sided, approximately ring-shaped observation platform. This is attached to the outside of the supports with steel cantilevers and offers a view far into the Black Forest, the Rhine Valley, and the Swabian Jura. Orientation arrows to visual targets and to the other treetop paths of the operating company are attached to the parapet. At a height of 25 m, between the access ramp and a steel tube support standing in the middle of the tower, there is a triangular platform, from which a 55 m .....

In some pictures, a small wooden hut can be seen. Unfortunately, it burned down. Maybe a new one will be built; that would be nice.

Below this spot, an aircraft crashed on November 1, 1945, shortly after the end of the war. In the most severe air disaster ever to occur in our region, 26 American military personnel lost their lives. The aircraft was a Douglas C-47 (DC3) transport aircraft in its military version. It was put into service a year earlier and participated in "D-Day", the Normandy invasion, as a paratrooper transport. It had space for up to 32 people and was also known as a "raisin bomber" during the Berlin Airlift. On the day of the accident, 4 crew members and 26 U.S. Air Force soldiers were on board. They had been on vacation in London and were supposed to return to their units at the Oberschleißheim Air Force Base near Munich. Despite bad weather over the mainland, the 23-year-old pilot and his 22-year-old navigator decided to fly. Shortly after takeoff, the pilot had to climb above the cloud cover due to dense cloudiness and continue the flight using instruments. According to the navigator's calculations, a point near Augsburg should have been reached after 3 hours of flight, where the pilot could descend below the cloud cover and begin the approach using visual orientation. Due to strong headwinds, the calculated position was missed by more than 200 km. Consequently, the cloud cover was descended through north of Karlsruhe, and the navigator lost orientation. They followed the Rhine in a southwesterly direction until near Wintersdorf, a 90-degree correction was made to the original course towards Munich. The DC3 thus steered directly towards the 693-meter-high Bernstein. The pilot and navigator continued to try to determine the correct position from low altitude, which became increasingly difficult due to the approaching fog. Despite the dense fog, the silhouette of the aircraft was recognizable when flying over Michelbach. Around 4:30 PM, the aircraft crashed at an altitude of 620 meters, where it broke into several pieces and went up in flames after explosions. Many victims died because help arrived too late. That help arrived at all four hours after the accident is thanks to three survivors who, despite severe injuries, made their way to Sulzbach and Bernbach. Until now, only rumors had surrounded this event, and it eventually fell into oblivion.

Right well-walkable hiking trail over some stones and roots as a direct connection to the Bernstein Felsen.

The small hut is located in a very favorable place regarding the view.