Hiking Hanskuehnenburg near Braunlage by E-Bike

Friday, 24 March 2023 23:00
Written by Portal Editor

The Hanskuehnenburg is a managed mountain hut in the western Harz Mountains, near the well-known winter sports resort of Braunlage.

It stands at 811 m above sea level. NHN on the "Auf dem Acker" ridge in the middle of the Harz National Park and has an imposing lookout tower that offers a wonderful view of the Brocken and the Wurmberg, if the weather permits. Which brings us to the topic: the weather. Our goal was to approach this Hanskuehnenburg with the e-bike from the Prahljust campsite, which should mean covering a distance of about 20 kilometres. Sunny weather at the campsite also seemed to speak for the tour, since the roads were already free of snow and ice anyway. However, since we didn't necessarily want to drive on the streets, we looked for a passable route with the help of the various apps.

On forest and forest paths to Hanskuehnenburg

So it went first over the dam of the upper Nassenwieser pond, then to the right to the Huttaler Wider Waage to the Polsterhai car park, then along the Rotenberg watercourse almost to Sonnenberg at the car park.

Here we then turned right, always thinking that we were still heading in the right direction to Hanskuehnenburg.

Since some forest paths were closed due to the woodwork, so we had to cycle detours, we eventually reached the confluence of the Großer and Kleiner Söse, just before Kammschlacke, in other words completely wrong.

A forest worker brought us back to the right path, it always went uphill along the source river Aller, then sometimes so steep that the bikes had to be pushed.

Large parts of the path were so wet or stony that pushing was difficult despite the pushing aid.

Then finally, after at least 36 kilometres (about 20 kilometres were planned), we finally arrived at the Hanskuehnenburg.

A warm cocoa and the picnic we brought should quickly replace the lost energy, very important, although we didn't know what was to come. Luckily we had also used the option of recharging our batteries directly at the restaurant.

The Hanskuehnenburg Bause - also a bicycle charging station

The name of the Baude Hanskuehnenburg possibly goes back to Hans Kuehnen, who was a partner in the Lonauer Eisenhuette and the Lonauerhammerhuette from 1669 as a metallurgical worker. Perhaps Hans Kuehnen was also the discoverer of the legendary Hanskuehnenburg cliff, 300 m to the north-east, which was even visited by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe on August 14, 1784. Opposite the observation tower is the relatively small Hanskuehnenburg rock compared to the cliff. A bronze plaque was attached to this in 1999, commemorating Goethe's visit.

At the end of the 19th century, the Osterode branch of the Harz Club built the first wooden observation tower and a serviced refuge on the densely wooded ridge, which were inaugurated in 1889. The tower was not up to the weather and was so damaged in 1912 that it had to be demolished. A year later, the Hanover branch began building a stone tower on the same site, which was completed in 1914.

The Harzklub as the sponsor did not have the necessary funds for the urgently needed renovation of the property over the years and thus handed it over to the sponsorship of the district of Osterode in 1974, which tackled the conversion and expansion of the Hanskuehnenburg. In 1975 the work for 500,000 DM was completed and the Bauden operation started again.

With the 13.5 km long field trail completed in 1976, the Hanskuehnenburg became a popular resting place for cross-country skiers in winter.

Since the 1960s, the forest on the Ackerkamm has been declining more and more as a result of the forest dieback. Until then, the cottage was hidden in dense forests, but today it is visible from afar.

Hiking trails to Hanskuehnenburg

The Hanskuehnenburg can be reached from all directions via a variety of hiking trails. Longer tours are available from Osterode via the city forest and Kammweg or along the Sösetalsperre. From the direction of Herzberg, the ascent from Lonau takes place through the valley of the Große Lonau (asphalted road) or the Siebertal. You have to overcome a similarly large difference in altitude when you hike up from Riefensbeek-Kamschlacken to the chalet. However, the easiest way to reach them is from the Stieglitzecke on the Harzhochstraße.

There is a large parking lot and a bus stop. From the Stieglitzecke there are two ways to the Hanskuehnenburg. The path on the east side, the so-called Ackerstraße, is a wide forest path with only one notable incline just before the cottage. Significantly better views, especially in the morning, can be found along the Reitstieg on the western side of the field. However, this path is very uneven and therefore quite exhausting. The tower is only accessible during the opening hours of the restaurant.

The Hanskuehnenburg is included as no. 144 in the system of stamping points of the Harzer hiking nobility. We will report on this in detail later. It is also at the highest point of the Harzer Baudensteig.

And then came the way back to Clausthal-Zellerfeld

With renewed strength we then made our way back, which first began with switchbacks directly down the Bause and once again conjured up a happy smile on our faces. Then it should go along the Ackerweg to the federal highway 242, whereby even a detour to St. Andreasberg seemed possible. We were quickly taught otherwise, because the remaining snow almost discouraged us from continuing the tour, deep and icy, absolutely impossible to use the bike. So it was time to push the bikes again, no longer thinking about the detour to St. Andreasberg, especially since the forest path was still covered in deep snow. Almost to the main road, so almost 5 kilometres only pushing was announced, you don't have to have it. In the end we were happy to have reached the federal highway 242 at the Magdeburger Huette. We quickly went back to the campsite. It was always an adventure.