Harz, like Scandinavia but in Germany – Must Go #3

Harz National Park is a reserve in the north of Germany in the states of Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. If you like Scandinavian countries, you will fall in love with this national park. You can find the same kind of landscapes than in the northern European countries. Pines trees, blueberries, lakes and peat-lands are abundant. To discover that landscape you will have unlimited choice of hiking trails.

How I end up in Harz?

Harz is not really next door to Switzerland. I had to work in Berlin for a few days. As the 1st of August is the national fest in Switzerland, I didn’t have to work. That year it was on a Thursday so I took my Friday off and could have a weekend of 4 days to visit Harz.
Susi who lives in Berlin, was with me for this four fantastic days, we did camping, hiking, canoeing and explored the area.
Harz means “mountain forest” in Middle High German. I understand why they call it like that as the full area of the park is covered by mountains and forests.
With the Hexenstieg (witches trail), the Einhornhöhle (unicorn cave) and some really dark pines forest, Harz is somehow mysterious and we liked to joke about witches when we where in some dark places. We didn’t have enough time to do the Hexenstieg hike as it’s 94km long but we could do other great hikes. You don’t need to stick into a certain route as there are about 8000km of trails in the park.

It was like to be in another place

As I said before, I like Scandinavia and if you look at a picture, you cannot guess that you are in Germany. You’ll find lakes with no house next to it, big peat-lands surrounded by deep forests and a carpet of moss and blueberries on the ground of the forest. It is exactly the kind of nature I like to be in. For me it was like to be in another place, especially when we were eating that blueberries next to a small pond with almost nobody around.
I remember during a hike, we passed near a wooden walking trail, the name was WaldWandelWeg. We can translate this word as “Changing forest path”. This 180m long wooden path is in the middle of the forest to show us an area of trees lying on the ground. The forest was devastated during a storm in 1992. The Harz National Park service decided not to clean the forest but to leave it as it is. There is sign that show visitors how the new forest will grow on and around these dead spruces.

The camping

The final highlight of my stay in Harz was the lake by the camping in Altenau. I could go to swim whenever I wanted and as it was sunny the water was not too cold even when the sun was already behind the mountain.
We also rented a canoe to do a tour on the lake. It’s a pity that in the middle of the lake was build a dam. We couldn’t go really far but it was a good excuse to return at the camping to buy a beer and drink it in the canoe.
I almost told you everything that I had in my head. I can just suggest you to pack your camping gear, to take your hiking shoes, to buy a map and to go there!