Iron Spring – Dammgraben Trail loop from Bergstadt Altenau

Hiking trails & Routes

Iron Spring – Dammgraben Trail loop from Bergstadt Altenau

Moderate

4.7

(222)

642

hikers

Iron Spring – Dammgraben Trail loop from Bergstadt Altenau

04:25

14.9km

370m

Hiking

Moderate hike. Good fitness required. Mostly accessible paths. Sure-footedness required. The starting point of the route is right next to a parking lot.

Last updated: September 25, 2026

Tips

Your route passes through protected areas

Please check local regulations for:

Nationalpark Harz

Waypoints

Start point

Parking

Get Directions

1.62 km

Dammgraben Trail on the Harzer-Hexen-Stieg

Highlight • Trail

A priceless view 🥾🍃

Translated by Google •

Tip by

2.58 km

Iron Spring

Highlight • Natural Monument

Nice rusty brown water flows out of the iron source from a pipe and after a few meters the soup runs into the clear water of the dam. Somehow bizarre …

Translated by Google •

Tip by

3.08 km

Dammgraben Trail

Highlight • Trail

At 25 km, the dam ditch is the longest man-made ditch. Its water once powered the mines in Altenau and Clausthal.
There is a beautiful hiking trail right next to the dam ditch.

Translated by Google •

Tip by

4.79 km

Großer Kolk

Lake

5.52 km

View of the Harz Mountains

Highlight • Viewpoint

It's a dream to run, the ditch winds beautifully along the slope👌😎

Translated by Google •

Tip by

5.63 km

Morgenbrodstal Ditch

Highlight (Segment) • Trail

Wonderful, natural single trail along the historic Upper Harz water system. The Siebenwochenklippe with bench invites you to linger.

Translated by Google •

Tip by

9.01 km

Great Weir and Morgenbrod Hut (HWN 146)

Highlight • Mountain Hut

Where the stream flows into the Söse, there is the large weir. This regulates the water balance of the Morgenbrodstaler Graben, which is fed by these two watercourses. The Morgenbrodshütte is located a little above the large weir.

Translated by Google •

Tip by

9.66 km

Sösestein

Highlight • Natural Monument

The Sösestein (730 meters above sea level) is a freestanding, approximately 12 meters high, single-standing rock on which you (even smaller children) can easily climb up. Upstairs, up to 3 …

Translated by Google •

Tip by

14.2 km

View of Altenau from Rosewiese

Highlight • Viewpoint

Regardless of where you look at Altenau, always the terrible block in view.

Translated by Google •

Tip by

14.9 km

End point

Parking

Way Types & Surfaces

Way Types

9.23 km

4.68 km

726 m

210 m

< 100 m

Surfaces

11.1 km

1.93 km

1.48 km

208 m

181 m

< 100 m

Elevation

Nothing selected – click and drag below to see the stats for a specific part of the route.

Weather

Saturday 10 October

9°C

6°C

65 %

Additional weather tips

Max wind speed: 22.0 km/h

to get more detailed weather forecasts along your route

Comments

March 9, 2025,Dammgraben Teil 2, HWN 146, Sonderstempel Wildnispfad Altenau

Hiking from sunrise to sunset - exactly my thing.
This time I started at the Sperberhaier Dammhaus and it took me directly to the inflow of the 4.5 km long Morgenbrodtsthaler Graben, which is the first so-called long-distance water supply of the Dammgraben.
I followed this on WWW 14.
The ditch was built in 1715 and is mainly fed by …

Showing Translation

April 14, 2024,Steiler Pfad ↘️...⚒️ zur Morgenbrodtshütte (HWN 146)... mit Power ↗️ zurück zum Parkplatz Stieglitzecke

Circular trail that begins with a steep path downhill. Then it's a leisurely and easy walk along the Upper Harz water shelf. Informative and worth seeing! After a refreshment stop at the Sperberhaier Dammhaus, the trail continues along the Harzer Hexenstieg before the climb to the Stieglitzecke car park ends the tour. A bit of basic fitness and, above all, …

Showing Translation

December 17, 2021,Entspannte Wasserläufe mit viel Aussicht - Hexenstieg Runde von Altenau.

The fourth and last Harzwinter'21 tour of our "Hexenstieg & Wasserwirtschaft" quartet begins and ends in the mountain town of Altenau.
This final round lived up to the motto, almost exactly half of the circuit led along the ditches of the "Upper Harz Water Management", whereby this part along the Dammgraben is probably one of the most beautiful and with …

Showing Translation

May 1, 2022,Vom Stieglitzecke zum Sperbenhaier Dammhaus (inkl. HWN 146)

After a long stretch in the land of the bark beetle, the path continued on beautiful dam paths and natural, steep forest paths 😀.

Showing Translation

April 16, 2022,Runde Altenau-Sperberhai-Hammerstein-Schusterklippe

The tour, which leads to Morgenbrods Hütte because it runs along the Oberharzer Wasserregal, takes its revenge on everyone who even remotely considered whether it would also be passable by MTB, with an inappropriately rocky, steep and rooted climb.

The hiker breaking out of the forest discreetly obese - still proud of having mastered the first half of the ascent …

Showing Translation

March 10, 2025,Wandern

Descent from the Hammerstein cliff is made difficult by fallen trees

Showing Translation

December 28, 2024,Morgenbrodsthaler Graben

After we had such a lovely sunny day of hiking yesterday, we took the opportunity again today.
Starting from the Stieglitzecke car park, we first went to the Hammersteinklippe.
The subsequent descent to the Morgenbrodshütte was quite arduous. We had to scramble over lots of dead wood.
It is a path that was barely recognizable.
After we reached the hut …

Showing Translation

August 3, 2025,20250803 Dammgraben - Großes Wehr - Magdeburger Hütte - Branderklippe - Dammgraben

Just a "short" ride today... 🙈
Got a late start, lots of rain, and lots of snacks along the way - we're happy to spend 5 hours on the trail for 13 km 🤣

Showing Translation